英语博客：A volcanic project.

　　"Mum, I want to make a volcano," said my son Cass on Sunday morning. "You know, the kind that we can make out of paper," he added. That is an unusual request for a Sunday morning. Papier mache is what he was talking about. I remember making heads and masks out of papier mache in school. We would blow up balloons, and then cover them with a mixture of torn up newspapers, flour, and water, and then leave them to dry for a couple of days. Then, the balloons would be popped and removed, and we would paint and decorate the project. Sounds like fun. This would be a bit more special because, in its center, we would put a plastic container, into which vinegar and baking soda¹ could be poured, in order to get the bubbling, lava²-like reaction. We sat and brainstormed⁴ for a while: what its base would be, did we have enough newspaper, how to make the lava realistic, could we put model villages at the base of the volcano, etc etc. Our imaginations took off. After we came to a consensus⁵, we made the preparations. We covered the diningroom table with newspaper, mixed the glue, tore up lots of pieces of newspaper, and decided⁶ who would do what. Oh, it was so messy! The flour water mixture was wet and gooey, and I had to really supervise my kids who unintentionally would flick⁷ the goo from their fingers, and it would go all over the place. Slowly, slowly, the volcano took shape. It even has a lake on one of its slopes. It is drying at the moment in the garage, soon to be painted, varnished⁸, and made more real. Some people I know are quite anxious to see the lava flow, and the warring villagers fight.
Grammar notes.
Practice of the past continuous with related vocabulary: gooey, warring, to brainstorm³, to tear.
1. When I was little, my brother and I would make gooey mud pies in the garden by mixing soil and water.
2. The warring island nations would stop fighting for a few years, and then start all over again.
3. Our high school English teacher would make us brainstorm in groups, in order to get lots of ideas for stories.
4. Oops! I have torn a page in my book. I used to do that deliberately⁹ when I was a toddler.

1 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

2 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

3 brainstorm   

vi.动脑筋，出主意，想办法，献计，献策

参考例句：

• The women meet twice a month to brainstorm and set business goals for each other.她们每个月聚会两次，在一起出谋献策，为各自制定生意目标。
• We can brainstorm a list of the most influential individuals in the company.我们可以集体讨论，列出该公司中最有影响的人员的名单。

4 brainstormed   

集中各人智慧猛攻( brainstorm的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The marketing team brainstormed for hours in designing the marketing campaign for the new product. 行销小组脑力激荡多时，集思广益，设计新产品的行销策略。
• The team brainstormed the CAR response. 这队有人提供脑力激荡或意见者。

5 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

6 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。

7 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

8 varnished   

浸渍过的，涂漆的

参考例句：

• The doors are then stained and varnished. 这些门还要染色涂清漆。
• He varnished the wooden table. 他给那张木桌涂了清漆。

9 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。