ESL杰夫的一天 第94期:做晚饭 吃晚饭和清洗餐具讲解(8)

 My wife and I "talk about our long day," meaning we had many things happen today, and maybe we are very tired, so we had a long day. 我妻子和我“聊着我们漫长的一天”，意思是今天我们身上发生了很多事，或者是我们很累，所以这天对我们来说很漫长。

"My wife says that she'll do the dishes." “我妻子说餐具由她来洗”，

To do the dishes means¹ the same as to wash the dishes. “To do the dishes”是“洗碗”是的意思。

My wife offers to "do the dishes" because "I cooked, but of course," since I am a wonderful husband, "I help out by drying" the dishes. 我妻子说她来“洗餐具”，因为饭是我做的，当然由于我是个好丈夫，我会帮忙擦干餐具。

To help out means the same here as to help. “To help out”是“帮忙”的意思。

But if we are talking about helping² another person do something, 但如果我们说到帮另一个人做某事，

maybe something that we don't have to do, but we want to be nice, we would say we help them out. 或许不是我们必须要做的某事，但我们想当好人，我们会说我们帮他们的忙。

So, I helped my wife out by drying the dishes. 因此，我帮我妻子擦干餐具。

"First, I have to "put some of the leftovers³ in a Tupperware container." “首先，我得“把一些吃剩的食物放进特百惠容器里”

Leftovers, "leftovers," (all one word) is extra food — food that you did not eat. 吃剩的食物（leftovers）（一个字）是多余的食物——你没有吃的食物。

1 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。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。