Lesson 51 Reward for virtue 對美德的獎賞
My friend, Hugh, has always been fat, but things got so bad recently that he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. First of all, he wrote out a long list of all the foods which were forbidden. The list included most of the things Hugh loves: butter, potatoes, rice, beer, milk, chocolate; and sweets. Yesterday I paid him a visit. I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Hugh was still as fat as ever. He led me into his room and hurriedly hid a large parcel under his desk. It was obvious that he was very embarrassed. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guiltily and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained that his diet was so strict that he had to reward himself occasionally. Then he showed me the contents of the parcel. It contained five large bars of chocolate and three bags of sweets!
參考譯文
我的朋友休一直很胖，但是近來情況變得越發糟糕，以致他決定節食。他是一星期前開始節食的。首先，他開列了一張長長的單子，上面列了所有禁吃的食物。這張單子上的.大多數食物都是休喜歡吃的：黃油、土豆、米飯、啤酒、牛奶、巧克力和糖果。昨天我去看望了他。我按響了門鈴，當看到休仍和往常一樣胖時，我並不感到驚奇。他把我領進屋，慌忙把一個大包藏到了桌子下面。顯然他感到很尷尬。當我問他正幹什麼時，他內疚地笑了，然後把那個大包拿到了桌上。他解釋說，他的飲食控制得太嚴格了，以致不得不偶爾獎賞自己一下。接着他給我看了包裏的東西。裏面裝了5大塊巧克力和3袋糖果！
reward n. 報償
virtue n. 美德
diet n. 節食
forbid v. 禁止
hurriedly adv. 匆忙地
embarrass v. 使尷尬
guiltily adv. 內疚地
strict adj. 嚴格的
reward v. 給獎賞
occasionally adv. 偶爾地
My friend, Hugh, has always been fat, but things got so bad recently that he decided to go on a diet.
He explained that his diet was so strict that he had to reward himself occasionally.
So… that…的意思是“如此地…以致於…”，它引導結果狀語從句。在口語中，so…that…的that常被省去。例：
She felt so sad that tears came to her eyes．
她非常悲傷，淚水盈眶。
John was so drunk（that）he could not stand still．
約翰醉得站也站不住了。
He spoke so rapidly（that）we could hardly follow him．
他說得很快，我們很難聽清楚他在說什麼。
did my friend decided to go on a diet?
did he begin?
did he do first?
did the list include?
he as fat as before when he opened the door for me?
did he hide when I enter the room?
did he reward himself?
did the parcel contain?
