By D’Arcy Adrian-Vallance 任小玫 译
1. Memory回忆
He suddenly realized that the speaker’s name had slipped his mind.
他突然意识到自己忘记了演讲者的姓名。
A woman was having dinner with a friend and her husband, when she noticed that her friend always called her husband loving names like Honey, Darling, Sweetheart etc. While her husband was out of the room, the woman said, “It’s 70 years since you two tied the knot but you still call him those pet names. That’s wonderful. It must take some doing to keep romance alive for so long.” Her friend answered, “The truth is that his name slipped my mind about ten years ago.”
一位女士正与朋友及其丈夫吃饭，这时她注意到朋友总用“亲爱的”、“宝贝”、“甜心”等爱称称呼她的丈夫。朋友的丈夫不在房间时，这位女士说：“你们结婚都70年了，你仍然用爱称称呼他，真棒。这么久还能保持浪漫可真不容易啊。”朋友回答说：“事实是，大约十年之前，我就忘了他的姓名。”
+tie the knot 结婚
+take some doing 不容易
+slip someone’s mind 忘记
2. Listening 倾听
I can’t make head nor tail of it.
我压根儿就听不懂。
Learners of English sometimes say, “I don’t listen to English on the radio because it’s too fast and I can’t make head nor tail of it.”
But think about that. When you were a few months old, learning your own language from scratch, did you understand it all? No! But you listened and learned. Then you learned to speak and read and write. But listening came first. So even if you don’t feel confident, have a go at it.
英语学习者有时说：“我不听英语广播，因为它语速太快了，我听不懂。”
但是请想一想：你几个月大时，从零开始学母语，那时你完全听得懂吗？听不懂！可是你边听边学，然后你就学会了说话、阅读和写作。但是听力先行。因此，即使你不自信，也试试吧。
+(can’t ) make head nor tail of （不）明白
+from scratch 从零开始
+have a go 试一下