Stefan学习笔记：看《小屁孩日记》学英语

91talk

《小屁孩日记》，Diary of a Wimpy Kid，主人公Greg被他母亲要求写日记，他以日记的形式，加上漫画与涂鸦，在日记本上记录生活中的事情，讲的故事轻松幽默，特别搞笑，读着读着你就会想起小时候发生类似的趣事。以下学习笔记转自公众号：Stefan英语学习笔记，欢迎加关注。

1. dog-eared是“狗耳朵”？
What's been very rewarding to me as an auther has been seeing kids carrying their dog-eared copies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid with them.

dog-eared书折角的，书的一页折起来，像不像是狗耳朵呢？还有一个意思是shabby;worn破旧的，dog-eared furniture破旧的家具

2.“澄清”怎么说？
The other thing I want to clear up right now is that this was mom's idea, not mine.
clear up意为“澄清，解释”，这里表示消除误会，Greg的妈妈要求Greg在日记本上写下他的感受，不是他自己要写的。“clear up”还可以表示“天气放晴”，“大扫除”可以在两个单词之间用上连字符“clear-up”,以前小学每周五放学前就会有一次大扫除“a big clear-up”。


3. “有用”你只想到了useful吗？
The only reason I agreed to do this at all is because I figure later on when I'm rich and famous, I'll have better things to do than answer people's stupid questions all day long. So this book is gonna come in handy.
句型：The only reason I agreed to do this at all is because...我同意这么做的唯一原因是......
作者没说This book is useful.而是用了come in handy。以后说某物很有用就说sth comes in handy。

4. 如果让我做主的话？如果我说得算的话？

If it was up to me, grade levels would be based on height, not age. But then again, I guess that would mean kids like Chirag Gupta would still be in the first grade.
up to me由我决定，由我说得算。“你自己决定，今晚你想出去玩吗？”就可以说“It's up to you-do you want to go out tonight or not?”“up to”还可以表示“occupied or engaged with做什么”你去约人出去看电影前就可以来这么一句，“你今晚有空吗？要不咱俩去看电影吧？Are you up to anything tonihgt? Do you want to catch a move?”


5. might as well是什么意思呢？
Today is the first day of school, and right now we're just waiting around for the teacher to hurry up and finish the seating chart. So I figured I might as well write in this book to pass the time.
今天是开学第一天（the first day of school），学生等着老师来排座位，反正闲着也是闲着，所以Greg决定在这时候在日记本上写点东西，消磨时间（pass the time）。
might as well（should do sth, typically there's no reason not to）反正也没有更好的办法，要不就...... 例如，The deadline is today, you might as well sent it in anyway, they may still accept it.

6. 超级，特别，很怎么说？very much?a lot?
Man, I don't know what is up with girls these days. It used to be a whole lot simpler back in elementary school.
What's up with these girls?=What's wrong with these girls?这些女孩是怎么回事？
a whole lot（to a very great degree or extent; a lot）例如，The kids enjoyed the show a whole lot.


7. get credit for sth
But of course now I don't get any credit for sticking with the girls all this time.
Greg一直跟女孩们混在一起，他什么好处也没有得到。小学的时候，如果你在班级里是跑步最快的，班里的女孩都喜欢你；现在更加复杂了（It's a whole lot more complicated.）现在比的是谁穿的衣服好看，谁更有钱等等，会更受女孩子欢迎。造个句子，Even though Jack did all the hard work on the project, Mary was the one who got the credit for it.Jack这么辛苦做事，结果功劳都让Mary得去了，你说气不气人？

8. 说了跟没说一样，左耳进右耳出，听过就算了？
I try to explain all this popularity stuff to my friend Rowley, but I think it just goes in one ear and out the other with him.
Greg试着跟他的好朋友讲如何才能受到女孩的喜爱，他朋友听过就听过了，左耳进去，右耳出来了，goes in one ear and out the other with him，一点都没放在心上，哈哈哈。例如，晚上我妈让我第二天早上出门的时候把垃圾带到楼下扔掉，有时候早上起床晚了，急急忙忙就忘了这茬事，第二天晚上被批了，I aske you to throw out the trash in the morning, but you didn't. I think it just goes in one ear and out the other with you!"

9. sure enough 果不其然
Today we had Phys Ed, so the first thing I did when I got ouside was sneak off to the basketball court to see if the Cheese was still there. And sure enough, it was.
上体育课时，Greg偷偷溜到篮球场上（sneak off to the basketball court）去看看那块奶酪（去年春天就在球场上，在奶酪附近没人愿意打球）还在不在，果真还在，怕是发霉发臭了，啧啧啧。
sure enough（as expected）例如，He said he's left the book on the desk, and sure enough, there it was.
篮筐a hoop，篮网a net。

10. end up 以......告终
I ended up taping ming together so they'd stay crossed all the time. I got a D in handwriting, but it was totally worth it.
Greg不想自己的手沾上发臭的奶酪，于是就用胶带把手指粘起来了，这样就没事了，结果写字上得了个D，不过做得很值（It was totally worth it.）。
Thanks to that traffic jam, I ended up being late to the meeting.由于交通堵塞，最后我开会迟到了。


11. 这段话对于学生时代的你是否有同感？
I'm having a seriously hard time getting used to the fact that summer is over and I have to get out bed ecery morning to go to school.

have a hard time doing sth做啥事很困难。文中说Greg对于夏天结束了难以接受，夏天结束意味着Greg得每天早起上学去了。
               

91talk

                                                                                                    1. 严厉责备怎么说？

chew someone out 严厉责备，例如，The coach chewed his team out for playing so badly.教练责备球队表现太差。

tag along 偷偷跟着

have a screw loose 精神错乱

2. 这里的“apply”是“运用”？

Greg的母亲总是说Greg是一个很聪明的小孩，就是Greg他自己不肯好好学习。

apply youself to something（you work hard at it）勤奋，努力

3.“非常烦人”怎么说？看到bug这个词你会想到什么？

Greg有个烦人的弟弟Manny，小时候Manny还是个小宝宝的时候因为brother发音发不好，于是就叫Greg“Buddy”，到现在好几岁了还在叫他“Bubby”。bug虫子，这里作为动词，to annoy or worry someone，就像虫子钻来钻去，特别烦人。可以学会这个句型，The thing that bugs me the most is...

Greg过生日的时候，他的朋友们发现有生日礼物上写着“To Bubby！”差点被发现Greg有一个绰号叫“Bubby”。

close calls（a narrow escape from or avoidance of a situation, often an unfavorable or dangerous one.）侥幸脱险，例如，Getting to the airport on time was a close call.

4. 一直唠叨个不停，烦不烦人啊？

Greg打游戏打得很厉害，可是Greg的父亲总是让Greg多出去运动运动，今天晚饭过后父亲又开始不停烦起来了，Greg争论说，玩足球游戏也是一种运动啊，而且还不会出很多汗呢，多好啊。

get on sb about...（to remind someone about something）提醒去做啥啥啥，以后要用remind就可以用get on sb about替换啦。

hassle 烦扰，纠缠，还不是一遍就完事的那种，而是一遍又一遍不停地，重复地烦。

when it comes to（when considering some particular person, thing, or action） 涉及到......例如，There's nothing she doesn't know when it comes to computers.

5. 反对与支持disagree or agree？

父亲反对（He was against the idea of...）Rodrick组乐队，而母亲给Rodrick买了第一套架子鼓，非常支持组乐队（She was all for it.）

6. 插头插座怎么说？

crank up the volume really high 把音量放很大，可以用turn up替换crank up。

Greg趁着半夜大家都睡着了，偷偷溜到楼下听CD，耳机戴在耳朵上，音量么放最大，结果耳机线没插到音响上，放了才三十秒就把父亲引来了。

sth plug into sth 插线连接，plug表示“插头”，三相/两相插头就可以说“a three-pin/two-pin plug”那么“插座”怎么说呢？An electric socket，造个句子，Is there a plug in the bedroom that I can use for my cell phone?这里有没有给手机充电的插座？

厨房洗涤槽排水孔塞也叫plug。

7. ground表示“地面”，还有其他意思吗？

父亲不准Greg玩游戏两周，sb be grounded from doing sth... 某人被禁止做...... be ground惩罚不准出门，监禁。

父亲生气后，过一会马上就不生气了，When he gets mad, he cools off real quick, and then it's over.这里的cool off有一种开水慢慢变凉的感觉，生气像开水一样烫，接着随着时间的流逝，开水温度渐渐下来了，慢慢不生气了，calm down。

8. in some water在热水里？

be in hot water可不是字面意思，在热水里，而是“陷入困境；惹上麻烦be in trouble”，Rodrick为什么会惹上麻烦呢？因为Manny在Rodrick的杂志上撕了一页下来，那页上面是一个穿比基尼的女人，拿去给同学看了，影响不太好，估计老师会跟母亲好好沟通了。

               

91talk

                                                                                                   
1. make a killing 大赚一笔

Greg看到学校外的鬼屋很受欢迎，于是想自己整一个鬼屋来赚钱，还让Rowley也入伙了（Greg brought Rowley in on the deal.）最后在Rowley家的地下室建一个鬼屋，接着发了很多传单（a bunch of flyers）宣传他们的鬼屋，传单上的价格是50美分每人，看着外面排了二十多个小孩，Greg想大赚一笔（make a killing），就说传单上写错了（a typo），实际上门票是2美元每人。
make a killing在这里表示“to make a lot of money in a short time获得暴利，发大财”，例如，股票升升跌跌，有时候在很短的时间里可以赚很多钱，He made a killing on stock exchange.


2. “缩成一团”怎么说？

所谓的“鬼屋”其实只是Greg跟Rowley在床的两头发出奇怪的声音，吓唬小孩而已，第一个进鬼屋的小孩吓得在床底下缩成一团（curl up in a ball），缩成了一个球一样，动都不敢动（He wouldn't budge.）
蜷缩在沙发上看电视就可以说“I curled up on the sofa to watch TV.”

有时候一两岁的小孩用手指抓住你的手指，你怎么都扒不下来。He tried to drag his hand away, but it wouldn't budge.

再比如下面这张图一样，这个人无论怎么使劲推这个大石头，石头一动也不动。

3. 抄近道怎么说？

Greg跟Rowley在回家的路上碰见了一群开着开车的小屁孩们，因为被水喷了，Greg骂了小屁孩们几句，结果他们踩急刹车（slam on the brakes）开始倒追他俩，经随其后（right on their heels），接着Greg他俩抄小路来到祖母的房子（They cut through a couple backyards to get there.）。


4. pay the price for it是“付钱”吗？

Greg跟Rowley好不容易从祖母房子里逃出来，一路上丝毫没有放松警惕（Neither one of them let their guard down on the way home. ），害怕被那群小屁孩们抓到，可谁知道，Greg完全忘记了之前躲在树丛后面会泼水的父亲，结果好不容易要来的糖果全都湿透了（They got soaked.），他俩为此付出了惨痛的代价啊（They paid the price for it.）
以前读书那会晚上要是睡得很迟，白天起来就会困得不行，上课趴在桌子上睡着了。I sure paid the price for styaing up late when I fell asleep at my desk.

5. get hang of sth 熟练掌握

体育老师宣布接下的六周时间里会上摔跤课，学校里的男孩都特别喜欢摔跤（Most boys are into wrestling.）体育课下课后就到饭点了，食堂里乱成了一锅粥（The cafeteria was a complete madhouse.）Greg不想被摔成肉饼，所以他在录像带上学习摔跤，没学多久，他就觉得自己已经开始慢慢入门了（He was starting to get the hang of wrestling）。

我妈之前在学上街买菜的时用微信扫一扫付钱，我就总跟她说，多用几次你就知道怎么用手机付钱了。Just keep practicing and you'll get the hang of it.
               

91talk

                                                                                                   
1. turn... upside down 翻个底朝天？


This wrestling unit has totally turned our school upside down.字面意思是指“摔跤课把我们学校翻了个底朝天”，也就是把学校弄得乱七八糟，怎么个乱七八糟呢？学生在楼道里，在教室里，在学校的角角落落都在摔跤，真是乱的一塌糊涂。造个句子，I turned my room upside down but I couldn't find the letter.我把房间翻了个底朝天也没有找到那封信，可见那封信对我是多么的重要。

you name it（anything you can think of）

这里是指除了楼道，教室以外其他任何地方你能想到的地方，比如说厕所，操场等等。you name it用于几个事物之后，例如，Gin, whisky, beer - you name it, I've got it.杜松子酒，威士忌，啤酒——随你点，我这儿都有。

trip over sth 被......绊倒
2. get in shape 有形状？
Greg一开始想通过吃垃圾食品来增加体重（At first Greg thought he should just start loading up on junk food.）接着决定要增重的是肌肉，而不是肥肉（He decided to gain his weight in muscle, not fat.）像这句话就写得很简单，要是你没看这篇故事之前想想你会怎么表达“增加肌肉，而不是增加肥肉”？
Greg以前对健身塑形毫无兴趣，但是他心想要是现在开始增肌增重（bulk up），肯定也不是什么坏事，四月份摔跤的时候就会大有不同（It'll be a whole different story.）。

get in/into shape（to become strong or fit）  保持身材，没有走样。人到中年，特别是久坐的工作，一般都会有小肚子，He's gotten pretty out of shape after two years working behind a desk. He really need to get into shape.在办公室里工作两年，久坐让他有了身材走样，身体也不好，他真的需要强身健体，保持身材。

3. 怎么用一个词形容“肌肉猛男”？

晚饭过后，Geg跟父母讲了他的增肌计划，先买一些锻炼器材，接着给他们看杂志上那些肌肉猛男，Greg吹嘘说自己以后也会是一个肌肉猛男。
想到另外一个词组，rip sb off 敲竹杠，马上十一国庆长假来了，不要被当地的出租车司机敲竹杠了，Tourists complain of being ripped off by local cab drivers.

rip跟off加上连字符，rip-off表示“索价过高，物非所值的东西”，比如你花了很多钱买了个搅拌机，结果发现还是坏的，真是太不值了！你就可以说，I can't believe I spent so much on this blender, and it's already broken. What a rip-off!
4. take matters into one's own hands 依靠自己解决问题

do sit-ups/push-ups 仰卧起坐/俯卧撑

jump jacks 开合跳

a bench press 胸推器械

Greg跟母亲解释说，买了那些器材，他才会增重增肌，可是她一点都没听进去，父亲说那就等到圣诞节吧，或许母亲会答应买那些器材。父母那里找不到办法，Greg只能够靠自己解决器材了（Greg has to take matters into his own hands.）

keep one's fingers crossed（To hope for good luck or that something will happen.）希望好事会发生。

有时候让别人去做的事情别人没做好或没解决，你只能自己去做。比如，钥匙不见了，你让母亲去找，母亲没找到，你只好自己去找了。Mom was doing nothing about finding my keys, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and look for it myself.

5. “准备好了”你只会用ready吗？

Greg得不到健身器材，他就自己用两个塑料瓶，里面装满沙子，再连上一根棍子，DIY（do-it-yourself）了一个杠铃（barbell）。健身器材准备好了以后（Once he had the equipment all set），他开始了举重锻炼。

你今天学到了什么有趣实用的英文表达呢？一起来分享吧~