Next Time That You Think You're Having a Bad Day...

Next Time That You Think You're Having a Bad Day...

当你觉得自己倒霉时，看看这……

                               

1. The average cost of ¹⁾rehabilitating one seal after the (Exxon) Valdez oil ²⁾spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively-saved animals were released back into the wild ³⁾amid cheers and ⁴⁾applause from ⁵⁾onlookers. A minute later a ⁶⁾killer² whale ate them both.

阿拉斯加瓦尔迪兹发生过石油泄漏后，救援每只海豹的平均花费高达八万美元。在一个特别仪式上，有两只花巨款拯救回来的海豹在旁观者的欢呼与掌声中被放回大自然。但一分钟后，它们双双被一头杀人鲸吞进肚中。

 

2. In 1992, Frank Perkins of Los Angeles made an attempt on the world flagpole-sitting record. Suffering from the flu, he came down eight hours short of the 400-day record; his ⁷⁾sponsor had ⁸⁾gone bust³, his girlfriend had left him and his phone and electricity had been ⁹⁾cut off.

1992年，洛杉矶的弗兰克·柏金斯决心打破坐旗杆的世界记录。由于染上感冒，他在还差8小时就破400天纪录时下来；随后发现他的赞助人已经破产，女朋友早拂袖而去，而且他的电话和电都被停了。

 

3. A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking ¹⁰⁾frantically⁴ with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric ¹¹⁾kettle. Intending to ¹²⁾jolt⁵ him away from the ¹³⁾deadly ¹⁴⁾current, she ¹⁵⁾whacked him with a ¹⁶⁾handy ¹⁷⁾plank⁷ of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places. Until that moment, he had been happily listening to his walkman.

一名妇女回到家中，看到丈夫在厨房里疯狂乱晃着身体，似乎腰间有根电线直连电热壶。为了救他于危难之中，她就近从后门边上抄起一块厚木板照他劈去，把他的胳膊劈成两段。其实此前他一直快乐地听着随身听。

 

4.Two animal rights protesters were protesting the cruelty of sending pigs to a ¹⁸⁾slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and ¹⁹⁾stampeded, ²⁰⁾trampling the two hapless protesters to death.

波恩的两名动物权利保护者正在抗议送猪到屠宰场是残忍行径时，两千头猪突然从破篱笆中受惊跑出，踩死了这两名倒霉的保护者。

 

5. Iraqi terrorist, Khay Rahnajet, didn't pay enough postage on a letter bomb. It came back with "return to sender" stamped on it. Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.

伊拉克一名叫凯·拉纳加的恐怖主义分子在寄邮件炸弹时没有付足邮资。邮件被盖上“退返寄信人”的印戳退回。而他忘了那是炸弹，于是开信，被炸成碎片。

 

注释：

1) rehabilitate⁸ [7ri:hE5biliteit] v. 使身体康复

2) spill [spil] n. 溢出

3) amid [E5mid] prep. 在……中

4) applause [E5plC:z] n. 鼓掌声

5) onlooker¹ [5RnlJkE(r)] n. 旁观人

6) killer whale 老虎鲸，杀人鲸

7) sponsor [5spCnsE] n. 赞助人

8) go bust 破产

9) cut off 切断，使停止

10) frantically [5frAntikEli] adv. 疯狂似地

11) kettle [5ketl] n. 壶，罐

12) jolt [dVEult] v. 震摇

13) deadly [5dedli] a. 致命的

14) current [5kQrEnt] n. 电流

15) whack⁶ [wAk] v. 重击

16) handy [5hAndi] a. 手边的，就近的

17) plank [plank] n. 板条，厚板

18) slaughterhouse [5slC:tEhaJs] n. 屠宰场

19) stampede [stAm5pi:d] v. 惊跑

20) trample⁹ [5trAmpl] v. 践踏

1 onlooker   

n.旁观者，观众

参考例句：

• A handful of onlookers stand in the field watching.少数几个旁观者站在现场观看。
• One onlooker had to be restrained by police.一个旁观者遭到了警察的制止。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

4 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

5 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

6 whack   

v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• He gave me a whack on the back to wake me up.他为把我弄醒，在我背上猛拍一下。

7 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

8 rehabilitate   

vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造

参考例句：

• There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
• He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。

9 trample   

vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯

参考例句：

• Don't trample on the grass. 勿踏草地。
• Don't trample on the flowers when you play in the garden. 在花园里玩耍时,不要踩坏花。