5月26日
Vacation in the Seaweed
I headed to Maine for a week of vacation-and left with a few aches and pains. But I also received something few other visitors get: a unique taste of the local life
The mother lode
Eventually we happened upon a cove that looked ripe for the picking: It brimmed with thick green and yellow seaweed swaying in the gentle currents. We killed the engine and jumped into the waist-high water. Everywhere I turned I saw seaweed! I set to raking the seaweed into large piles, then gently pushed the floating mounds over towards the boat. As I raked and hefted the mounds of seaweed into the nets, I had to stay mindful of keeping a foothold on the uneven rocky shelves. One wrong step and I could either make a desperate, flailing grab for the boat or be over my head in water! Lucky for me, the boat was never too far away to save me from getting soaked!
The “salty’ seaweed harvester
Rake. Gather. Heave. We repeated this process over and over and over. I muttered that the piles were growing at an agonizingly slow rate. Doug responded with a knowing chuckle.
Like many Mainers, Doug is well-versed in life on the water. Before he started college, he labored in the local shipyard and hauled lobster traps. He considers himself pretty tough and “salty,” and I’m sure he took pleasure in showing this landlubber the ropes. While Doug appeared immune to it, the repetitive motion of grabbing and heaving seaweed produced a growing ache in my hands, wrists and shoulders. My vacation was quickly turning into a pain-fest.
In time, the piles had grown so large that the seaweed I threw on top now slid over and fell into the water on the other side. The skiff was visibly burdened by the enormous weight of the seaweed. It looked to me as if the boat would sink at any moment!
Specialized Terms
Landlubber (n) 不懂航海的人；不习惯海上生活的人 a person with little knowledge or experience of ships or traveling by sea
Vocabulary Focus
Mother lode (n) a place where you can find a lot of a particular type of object
Cove (n) 小海湾
Brim (v) to become full of something, especially liquid
Rake (v) 把...耙在一起
Mound (n) a large pile of something
Heft (v) to left something heavy
Foothold (n) A place providing support for the foot in climbing or standing
Flail (v) swing or wave wildly
Heave (v) lift or drag (sth heavy) with great effort
Agonizingly (adv) in a manner causing extreme physical or mental pain
Chuckle (v) laugh quietly or to oneself
Well-versed (adj) knowing a lot about something
Show someone the ropes (idiom) to show someone how to do a job or activity
Discussion Question
Describe one thing in which you are well-versed.
Extra Exercise
1. Translate the following sentence into Chinese, ‘One wrong step and I could either make a desperate, flailing grab for the boat or be over my head in water!’
2. According the audio, what’s the meaning of ‘ripe for the picking’?
说明：
1.文本摘自《Advanced 彭蒙惠英语》，由chandler30亲自录入。
2.回帖内容为大家讨论类话题，如非个人隐私，请不要选中“只有楼主可见”，以便大家交流。
3.参考答案在二楼，回复可见。
4.参与讨论问题奖励50沪元，回答问题奖励50沪元，本栏目谢绝灌水!