365个英语简短小故事-341. The Chipped Teeth

“Don’t get your teeth veneered,” Elmer’s girlfriend said. “I know a girl who did that, and she has had bad breath ever since.”

Elmer had never heard of such a thing. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Veneers¹ are made of plastic. Plastic doesn’t give you bad breath.”

Hannah asked him if he had ever used a public phone right after some stranger had talked on it. “The plastic phone stinks² from their breath,” she said. “Why do you always have to argue with me?” He told her that he didn’t argue with her—she was the one who always argued with him.

Elmer saw his dentist a week later. He asked if veneers could cause bad breath. The dentist told him that it was possible, because plastic can retain odor. He said a more common cause of bad breath from dental work was fillings. Several patients had come to him because they thought they had gotten bad breath from new fillings. He replaced the fillings with different material, and their bad breath went away.

“Well, should I get veneers for my two front teeth?” Elmer asked. “I used to have tiny chips in each tooth. Now, those chips are bigger.” His dentist told him that applying veneers would require destroying too much enamel³, which the two teeth were already deficient⁴ in. “I’ll bet you used to suck on lemons,” he said. Elmer nodded.

His dentist suggested grinding down the chipped areas a little bit so that their edges wouldn’t be so jagged. The grinding, accompanied by a burning odor, took only a couple of minutes. When Elmer ran his tongue over his “new” teeth, they felt nice and smooth. So he decided⁵ that the $100 dentist bill was probably worth it. More importantly, he wouldn’t have to worry about losing his girlfriend because of a couple of veneers.

 

1 veneers   

n.饰面薄板( veneer的名词复数 )；虚假的外表；虚饰；牙罩冠

参考例句：

• In plywood the wood has been cut into veneers. 在制胶合板时，把木材切成单板。 来自辞典例句
• Glues for veneers, plywood, interior woodwork such as panels and so on. 用来粘合美耐板、三夹板，或是壁板、门板等室内木制品的粘胶。 来自互联网

2 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 enamel   

n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质

参考例句：

• I chipped the enamel on my front tooth when I fell over.我跌倒时门牙的珐琅质碰碎了。
• He collected coloured enamel bowls from Yugoslavia.他藏有来自南斯拉夫的彩色搪瓷碗。

4 deficient   

adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的

参考例句：

• The crops are suffering from deficient rain.庄稼因雨量不足而遭受损害。
• I always have been deficient in selfconfidence and decision.我向来缺乏自信和果断。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。