综合能力提升第二级 Day 1：Lesson 13 It’s only me

  After her husband had gone to work. Mrs. Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework that morning, for in the evening she would be going to a fancy-dress part with her husband. She intended to dress up as a ghost and as she had made her costume the night before, she was impatient to try it on. Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was very effective. After putting it on, Mrs. Richards went downstairs. She wanted to find out whether it would be comfortable to wear.

　Just as Mrs. Richards was entering the dinning room, there was a knock on the front door. She knew that it must be the baker. She had told him to come straight in if ever she failed to open the door and to leave the bread on the kitchen table. Not wanting to frighten the poor man, Mrs. Richards quickly hid in the small storeroom under the stairs. She heard the front door open and heavy footsteps in the hall. Suddenly the door of the storeroom was opened and a man entered. Mrs. Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had come to read the metre. She tried to explain the situation, saying 'It's only me', but it was too late. The man let out cry and jumped back several paces. When Mrs. Richards walked towards him, he fled, slamming the door behind him.

一、词汇部分

1. costume/ˈkɑː.stuːm/n. 化装服

2.  consist/kənˈsɪst/ v. 由……组成

3.  sheet/ʃiːt/n. 被单

4.  effective/əˈfek.tɪv/adj. 有明显效果的，有作用的

5.   metre/ˈmiː.t̬ɚ/n. 电表

6.  pace/peɪs/n. 一步

7.  flee/fliː/  (fled, fled)v. 逃走

8.  slam/slæm/ v. 砰地关上

二、文章讲解

1. After her husband had gone to work. Mrs. Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework that morning, for in the evening she would be going to a fancy-dress part with her husband.

10 Idiomatic Expressions To Use At Work

1)  Put Something Off

Meaning: If you put something off, you delay doing it.

e.g. I put off writing the report until the last day, and now I have to work overtime to finish it!

2) Take Off

Meaning: If something takes off, it increases or becomes popular very quickly.

e.g. Sales have really taken off this year and the company is making record profits.

3)  People Person

Meaning: Somebody who is a people person is extroverted, has great social skills, and loves interacting with people.

e.g. Ashley's been promoted to director of human resources. She'll do a great job – she's a real people person.

4)  Crunch The Numbers

Meaning: Crunching the numbers means to do a lot of calculations.

e.g. After crunching the numbers, our accounting department informed us that we don't have enough money to buy the new equipment.

5)  Have A Lot On Your Plate

Meaning: If you have a lot on your plate, it means you have a lot of work and responsibilities at the moment.

e.g. Sorry I didn't call you back sooner; I have a lot on my plate right now.

6)  Selling Like Hotcakes

Meaning: If a product is selling like hotcakes, it means  a lot of customers are buying it very fast.

e.g. The new product is selling like hotcakes. We'll need to produce more to keep up with the demand!

7) Think Outside The Box

Meaning: To think outside the box means to think in a creative way that is different from usual.

e.g. We need to come up with a really good advertising campaign. Let's tryto think outside the box.

8) Win-Win Situation

Meaning: A win-win situation is a cooperative agreement that is good for both people or companies.

e.g. This partnership will bring increased publicity to their company and new customers to ours. It's a win-win situation.

9) Test The Waters

Meaning: If you test the waters, you try something new to see if it will be successful or not.

e.g. We're testing the waters to see if changing the product's packaging will increase sales.

10)  In The Red / In The Black

Meaning: If a company is in the red, it means it is operating with debt. A company operating in the black means that it has a profit.

e.g. Our company ended the year in the red with a debt of $5,000,000.

send someone to school/work 把某人打发去学校／上班

e.g. After sending us to work, you know, cooking us breakfast, packing us lunch, my mother still has a lot to do, like cleaning the house, babysitting our baby girl.