【英语趣味课堂】他的坏习惯-His Bad Habits

 Maria: Any habits you'd like to change?

Alex: I would like to change my habits of buying bad food and drinks.

 

Maria: Oh, yes.

 

Alex: It's so easy.

 

Maria: So dangerous.

 

Alex: And especially when you're at university and they only sell the bad stuff¹ because it's just so much easier to do than to cook a good meal. I'm a pretty good cook.

 

Maria: I noticed.

 

Alex: Thank you. My mother taught me to cook well but I don't, I don't know, sometimes I just cannot be bothered so I wish I had the habit of just always being much better with my food. That would help with the weight as well. What else? Habits, habits? I have some bad habits that I would like to change. I have the bad habit of having to sleep with a duna, a duvet cover on. I have to have something like heavy otherwise I can't sleep.

 

Maria: Why do you see that as a bad habit?

 

Alex: Because in summer, I have to crank the air conditioning up to really, really high so as a result you know I end up wasting electricity so easy. I wish I had the habit of turning my computer off as well. I leave it on all the time.

 

Maria: So you're an electricity waster?

 

Alex: Yeah, sorry, sorry world. Where is it the islands are flooding in the South Pacific?

 

Maria: Everywhere.

 

Alex: It's all my fault. So yeah, turning lights off, remembering my key would be good. I always forget my key. I actually thought I lost my key the other day and nearly had a coniption fit so yeah.

 

Maria: Drinking habits, any good, any bad?

 

Alex: Drinking? Alcohol²?

 

Maria: That was the point.

 

Alex: I get too excited too quickly and just want to go dancing but the good thing about the dancing is that then you don't drink alcohol because at a certain point you have to drink water.

 

Maria: That's true.

 

Alex: Do you know what I mean? So like I don't go too far off the deep end.

 

Maria: You can't really drink anything when you're dancing then you spill³ it all over the floor.

 

Alex: Yeah, so that helps I guess.

 

Maria: That does help.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

cannot be bothered

 

My mother taught me to cook well, but sometimes I just cannot be bothered.

 

When you 'cannot be bothered' to do something, you think it takes too much time and effort. Notice the following:

 

Sometimes I cannot be bothered to dry my hair.

He cannot be bothered to get out of bed right now.

crank up

 

I have to crank the air conditioning up to really, really high.

 

You can use the phrasal verb⁴ 'crank up' to refer to using something at a high level or to its full potential. Cranking up the air conditioning means⁵ that you are using the air conditioning on high power at its coldest setting⁶. Notice the following:

 

I love this song. Crank it up.

I'm freezing. We need to crank up the heat in here.

a conniption fit

 

I lost my key the other day and nearly had a conniption fit.

 

A 'conniption fit' is a hysterical⁷ outburst of emotions, usually anger, frustration⁸ or worry. Notice the following:

 

If I don't find my keys in the next five minutes I am going to have a conniption fit.

When she doesn't get her way she has little conniption fits.

at a certain point

 

At a certain point you have to drink water.

 

When you get to 'a certain point,' it means that you have reached a certain place or level.  Notice the following:

 

At a certain point I knew that I would never be able to swim to the other side.

At a certain point it really doesn't matter if it gets much colder because you can't feel your feet anyway.

go off the deep end

 

I don't go too far off the deep end.

 

Here, going 'too far off the deep end' refers to getting too drunk⁹ or going too crazy. Notice the following:

 

When he hears that news, he is going to go off the deep end.

Keeping things at the house organized usually keeps her from going off the deep end.

 

1 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

2 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

3 spill   

n.溢出，溅出，涌出，摔下，暴跌，溢出量，木片，小塞子；vt.使溢出，使散落，洒

参考例句：

• The coffee is so full that it might spill over.咖啡太满可能会溢出来。
• He took a spill when he rode the horse.他骑马时从马上跌了下来。

4 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

5 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

6 setting   

n.背景

参考例句：

• The play has its setting in Vienna.该剧以维也纳为背景。
• Where and when a story takes place is called the setting.故事发生的地点和时间称为故事背景。

7 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

9 drunk   

adj.醉酒的；(喻)陶醉的；n.酗酒者，醉汉

参考例句：

• People who drives when they are drunk should be heavily penalised.醉酒驾车的人应受重罚。
• She found him drunk when she came home at night.她晚上回家时，经常发现他醉醺醺的。