Houses in Grandma’s Eyes

王琴芳　陳淑芳

Words: 347字建議閱讀時間為：5分鐘 難度：★★★☆☆

After decorating my new apartment, I went to the countryside and fetched my grandma. She had a look at the apartment and asked me about the cost. I told her the price, but she was at a loss and made no response.

Looking at her expression, I drew an analogy(比方), “The apartment costs the money for 200 bulls, each worth 3,000 yuan.” Grandma was shocked, saying, “When did you become a landlord? The richest family in the village had only ten bulls before!” said Grandma.

Knowing I had to spend 20 years paying off the mortgage, grandma said anxiously, “Your grandpa was a tenant paying a debt all his life. Your father was liberated after a hard struggle. But now why are you reduced to a tenant?”“In new times, you are still talking about the obsolete practice,” said I. I spent some time making it clear that I wasnt a tenant of the past who had to work for the landlord all my life to pay a debt. Eventually grandma believed me. I added, “In the past we raised a loan to buy land and kill hunger, while at present we borrow money to buy property for a better life. Thats the difference!” Grandma became confused again.

Suddenly, grandma pointed to the ceiling, asking, “Is that above yours?” “Of course, it is,” I answered. “What about whats below?” Grandma asked again, pointing to the floor. I was puzzled by what she said.

“Your ceiling is the floor of the upper apartment and your floor is the ceiling of the lower apartment, both of which are shared with your neighborhood. Why do you say they are yours? Moreover, the left and the right walls are shared. Only the front and the back walls belong to you!” Grandma said. What she discovered surprised me.

“Neither the upper and lower nor the left and right are yours. Why should the apartment cost the money for 200 bulls?” said grandma reasonably. She almost became a philosopher, by whom I was convinced totally.

【理解試題】

1. How much is the apartment the author bought?

A. 200 bulls B. 600,000 yuan C. 3,000 yuan D. 10 bulls

2. Whats the aim of raising a loan to buy land in the past?

A. To live a better life. B. To show off their property.

C. To kill hunger. D. To let others live in.

3. From the grandmas response when hearing the cost of the house, we can conclude that

.

A. grandma cared little about the high price

B. grandma didnt hear the high price clearly

C. grandma could not know how to accumulate the price

D. grandma was poor during her life and she had no idea of such a great sum

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The author paid much for the 200 bulls.

B. Grandma lives in the countryside.

C. Neither the front and the back of the apartment belongs to the author.

D. The author admired his grandma because she was a philosopher.

5. Whats the main idea of the passage?

A. The new apartment in grandmas eyes.

B. The higher housing costs in the present situation.

C. The difference of the tenant between in the past and now.

D. Grandmas disappointment with the houses structure.

【文章大意】本篇文章為記敘文。講述了奶奶從農村到城里觀看孫子花了600000元買的新房子后的看法。總而言之，過了一輩子貧窮日子的奶奶認為花這么多錢買這樣的房子不值得。

【答案分析】

1. B。計算題。200×3000就是答案。

2. C。細節理解題。根據第三段的“In the past we raised a loan to buy land and kill hunger”可知答案。

3. D。推理判斷題。根據全文可知奶奶苦了一輩子，以及后面作者又打了一個比方可知，奶奶對于這一大筆錢是沒有概念的。

4. B。根據全文第一段可知奶奶是住在鄉下。A和C和文章是不符的。D項根據結論，可知奶奶說的這些話很有道理，作者認為奶奶都成了哲學家了，但這不代表奶奶是哲學家身份，因此，D項是錯的。

5. A。主旨大意題。根據全文的奶奶對新房子的看法，可見這篇文章就是講奶奶眼中的新房。D項不對，文中并沒有提到奶奶對房子的結構有什么不滿的。

【詞匯講解】

1. at a loss 茫然，不知所措

例如：I was at a loss when I first entered the classroom with these students. 我第一次和這些學生走進教室的時候，深感茫然。

Many parents are at a loss how to narrow the generation gap. 很多父母都不知道該怎樣縮小代溝。

2. pay off還清債務；一次性付款給某人解雇某人；取得成功，得到回報

例如：They pay off their credit card debt so they can move on. 他們會付清信用卡債務，以便開始新的生活。

After ten years of hard work, his efforts paid off. 經過10年的辛苦工作，他的努力終于成功了。

His secretary was often late, and as a result, he paid him off. 他的秘書總是遲到，結果他一次性付給他錢，把他解雇了。

【注意】pay back表示“還錢”；pay... for... 表示“付……錢買了……”。

例如：I paid the money back to him the moment I saw him yesterday. 我昨天一看見他就把錢還了。

The book was so valuable that I paid 35 yuan for it. 這本書太有價值了，以至于我花了35元買下它。

3. eventually adv. 最后；終于

例如：She will probably be late but she will come eventually. 她也許會遲到，但終究會來的。

【注意】eventually指特定的環境或偶然事件的結果將必然發生；而at last通常表示“（在久久等待后）終于（發生）”。

例如：I waited for him for a long time and at last he turned up. 我等了他很久，最后他終于出現了。

4. share 作為動詞“分享”，常與with連用；作為名詞表示“一份；一股；一部分”。

例如：Eli shared his chocolate with the other kids. 伊萊把他的巧克力和其他孩子一起分著吃了。

Let me go shares with you in the taxi fare. 我和你分攤計程車費吧。

5. puzzle 作為動詞表示“使……迷惑”，puzzling作為分詞形容詞，表示“令人迷惑的”，常修飾物，puzzled作為分詞形容詞，表示“呈現迷惑的”，常修飾人。作為名詞，表示“迷惑；謎語”等。

例如：What he said puzzled me. 他所說的使我迷惑。

When I heard the puzzling news, I felt puzzled. 當我聽到這個令人迷惑的消息，我感到迷惑不解。

I can not make out the word puzzle. 我不理解這個字謎游戲。

6. belong to 屬于，此短語沒有被動語態和進行時態。

例如：The book belongs to me. (=The book is mine.) 這本書是我的。

We should help the country belonging to the Third World. 我們應該幫助這個屬于第三世界的國家。

7. convince 使信服，使確信。常構成短語convince sb. of sth.；be convinced of/to do/that...。

be convinced to do表示“被說服、勸服做某事”。

例如：Her arguments didnt convince everyone, but changes were made. 她的論點不能說服所有人，但是還是引起了一些變化。

I have been convinced of the fact he said to me just now. 我已經信服了他剛才告訴我的事實。

【長句分析】

I spent some time making it clear that I wasnt a tenant of the past who had to work for the landlord all my life to pay a debt. Eventually grandma believed me. 我解釋了半天，奶奶總算相信我不是過去的佃戶，需要替地主工作來還債。

該句中的it為形式賓語，that到結尾部分是真正的賓語從句。在賓語從句中含有一個以who引導的定語從句(who had to work for the landlord all my life to pay a debt)，其先行詞為a tenant，of the past 是先行詞的后置定語。

【語法點撥】

1. The apartment costs the money for 200 bulls, each worth 3,000 yuan. 這套公寓花了200頭牛的錢，每頭牛3,000元。

each worth 3,000 yuan 是“代詞+形容詞詞組”構成的獨立主格結構。獨立主格結構由“名詞/代詞+名詞/形容詞/副詞/介詞短語/不定式/分詞（包括現在和過去分詞）”構成，在句中相當于各種狀語。

例如：He left the room, with lights on. 他離開了房間，讓燈亮著。

Money stolen, he had to walk home alone at night. 錢被偷了，他只好獨自在晚上步行回家。

All the children jumped with joy, each having flowers in their hands. 所有的孩子們都興高采烈的跳起來，每一個孩子手里拿著花。

2. Grandma asked again, pointing to the floor. 奶奶指著地板又問道。

這里的pointing to the floor是現在分詞短語，作伴隨狀語。因為point和Grandma是主謂關系，所以用現在分詞。

例如：He used to sit under the big tree in front of his house, murmuring something. 他過去總是坐在房前的那棵大樹下，嘴里嘟嘟囔囔著什么。

3. Neither the upper and lower nor the left and right are yours. 上下左右（的墻）都不是你的。

這里的neither... nor...表示“既不……也不……”，是并列關聯連詞，在這里連接兩個對等的主語。謂語的數應該使用就近原則。因此，這里的謂語和the left and the right保持一致，為復數。

例如：He is neither my neighbor nor my friend.他既不是我的鄰居也不是我的朋友。

Neither you nor he has been to the restaurant Tom referred to. 你和他都沒有去過湯姆推薦的餐館。

4. She almost became a philosopher, by whom I was convinced totally. 奶奶快成了哲人了，我被奶奶徹底折服了。

這里的by whom...是“介詞+關系代詞”引導的定語從句。sb. be convinced by sb. 表示“某人被某人折服了”，定語從句為被動句，執行者用by引出，因此，用by whom結構。

例如：I was talking with Li Yang, by whom the poem was written. 我正在和這首詩的作者李楊交流。