歌词
--- lesson 46 Do it yourself
自己动手
--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
^听录音，然后回答以下问题。
--- Did the writer repair his lawn mower in the end? why/why not?
So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour.
^现在我们自己动手做事的热情很高，结果对于专业工人的依赖越来越少了。
No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications.
^由于出版了不计其数的教人自己动手做事的书报杂志，没有人再能说对某事一无所知。
Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes.
^新婚夫妇找来合适的工具和材料，喜气洋洋地开始布置新房。
Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying out their own gardens;
^特别是男人，常利用空闲时间安装壁炉、布置花园、建造车库、制作家具。
building garages and making furniture. Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers.
^有些热衷于自己动手的人甚至自己组装电脑。
Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices,
^为了满足自己动手热的需要，商店不仅为初学者提供专门的咨询服务，
but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home.
^而且为顾客准备了各种零件，供他们买回家去安装。
Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.
^这些东西为人们潜在的创造力提供了一个绝妙的用武之地。但不幸的是，我们并非人人都是能工巧匠。
Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything.
^妻子常常认为她们的丈夫无比聪明能干。
Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics.
^甚至那些连一枚钉子都钉不直的男人都被认为是天生的电工、木匠、水管工和机械师。
When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate,
^每当电灯保险丝烧断、家具榫头松动、管道堵塞、吸尘器不动时，
some woman assume that their husbands will somehow put things right.
^有些妻子认为丈夫总有办法。
The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything, even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong.
^自己动手的例子中最糟糕的是，有时甚至是男人尽管接连失败却还误以为自己什么都行，
It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
^原因就是要面子。
Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower.
^今年春天，妻子让我请人检查一下我家的割草机。
It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it.
^那台割草机去年夏天就坏了，尽管我答应修，但一直没抽出时间，
I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself.
^我不愿听妻子的建议，说我自己会修。
One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it.
^一个星期六的下午，我把割草机拉到了花园里，仔细检查了一番。
As far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment:
^在我看来，只需稍加调整即可。
a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new.
^这儿紧紧螺丝，那儿固定一下，再加几滴油，就会像新的一样了。
Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple.
^事实上，修理工作远不是那么简单。
The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it.
^修完后割草机还是纹丝不动。于是，我决定把它拆开。
The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower.
^一会儿工夫，割草机便被拆成一个个金属零件，乱七八糟地堆在花园里。
But I was extremely pleased with myself.
^但我却非常高兴，
I had traced the cause of the trouble.
^因为我找到了毛病所在。
One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped.
^驱动轮子的链条断了一节。
After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again.
^我买来一根新链条后，面临的就是如何把这些令人眼花缭乱的拼板重新组装起来。
I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it,
^等我装完后，那台割草机仍然一动不动，对此我倒并不感到吃惊。
for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere.
^原因很简单，因为还剩下几个形状奇特的零件似乎哪里也装不上去。
I gave up in despair.
^我无可奈何，只好罢休。
The weeks passed and the grass grew.
^几个星期过去了，草长了起来。
When my wife nagged me to do something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow.
^妻子喋喋不休让我想点办法。我告诉她，要么买一台新割草机，要么让草长下去。
Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle.
^不用说，我家现在已被丛林包围。
Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.
^深草丛中的某个地方有一台正在生锈的割草机，那就是我曾答应某日要修理的割草机。
专辑信息