Unit 1 Writing for Myself
Useful Expressions
1. 断断续续 off and on
2. 对…感到腻味 be bored by ...
3. 觉得…枯燥难懂 find ... dull and difficult
4. 以…而出名have a reputation for ...
5. 据说某人… sb. be said to be ...
6. 拘谨刻板，落后于时代 formal, rigid and out-of-date
7. 随笔小品文 an informal essay
8. 躺在沙发上 lie on a sofa
9. 不得不面对… face up to ...
10. 围坐在晚餐桌旁 be seated around the supper table
11. …重现在我脑海中 ... reawake in my mind
12. 自得其乐for one’s own joy
13. 违反规定 violate the rules
14. 不及格分a failing grade
15. 别无选择，只好做…There is no choice but t o do ...
16. 更重要的是，而且what’s more
17. 专心地听 listen attentively
18. 乐呵呵地开怀大笑 laugh with open-hearted enjoyment
19. 心花怒放pure delight
20. 最后的时刻 at the eleventh hour
Sentence Translation
1. The idea of becoming a writer had come to me off and on since my childhood in Belleville, but it wasn’t until my third year in high school that the possibility took hold.
Paraphrasing: Ever since I was a child in Belleville, I had thought of becoming a writer from time to time, but I didn’t make up my mind until I was in the eleventh grade.
从孩提时代，我还住在贝尔维尔时，我的脑子里就断断续续地转着当作家的念头，但直等到我高中三年级，这一想法才有了实现的可能。
2. Until then I’d been bored by everything associated with English courses.
Paraphrasing: Up to then I had lost interest in things related to English courses.
在这之前，我对所有跟英文课沾边的事都感到腻味。
3. I hated the assignments to turn out long, lifeless paragraphs that were agony for teachers to read and for me to write.
Paraphrasing: I found it painful to write long, boring essays as required by teachers; neither did teachers enjoy what I wrote.
我痛恨那些长而乏味的段落写作，老师读着受累，我写着痛苦。
4. When our class was assigned to Mr. Fleagle for third-year English I anticipated another cheerless year in that most tedious of subjects.
Paraphrasing: When it was decided that Mr. Fleagle would teach us English during my third year in high school, I expected the English course to be as boring as before. 弗利格尔先生接我们的高三英文课时，我就准备着在这门最最单调乏味的课上再熬上沉闷的一年。
5. Mr. Fleagle had a reputation among students for dullness and inability to inspire.
弗利格尔先生在学生中以其说话干巴和激励学生无术而出名。
6. Late in the year we tackled the informal essay.
Paraphrasing: Late in the year we learned how to write informal essays and practiced writing them.
后半学期我们学写随笔小品文。
7. None was quite so simple-minded as “What I Did on My Summer Vacation,” but most seemed to be almost as dull.
像“暑假二三事”那样傻乎乎的题目倒是一个也没有，但绝大多数一样乏味。
8. Lying on the sofa, I finally faced up to the unwelcome task, took the list out of my notebook, and scanned it.
我躺在沙发上，最终不得不面对这一讨厌的功课，便从笔记本里抽出作文题目单粗粗看了一下。
9. 我的目光落在“吃意大利细面条的艺术”这个题目上。
The topic on which my eye stopped was “The Art of Eating Spaghetti.”
10. This title produced an extraordinary sequence of mental images. Paraphrasing: At the sight of the title I saw an unusual series of pictures in my mind’s eye.
这个题目在我脑海里唤起了一连串不同寻常的图像。
11. 突然我就想描述那一切，描述当时那种温馨美好的气氛，但我把它写下来仅仅是想自得其乐，而不是为弗利格尔先生而写。
Suddenly I wanted to write about that, about the warmth and good feeling of it, but I wanted to put it down simply for my own joy, not for Mr. Fleagle.
12. To write it as I wanted, however, would violate all the rules of formal composition I’d l earned in school, and Mr. Fleagle would surely give it a failing grade.
照我希望的那样去写，就会违反我在学校里学的正式作文的种种法则，弗利格尔先生也肯定会打它一个不及格。
