The end of a dream
Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed. For the first time in his life, he became the proud owner of a bed which had springs and a mattress. Because the weather was very hot, he carried the bed on to the roof of his house. He slept very well for the first two nights, but on the third night, a storm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into the courtyard below. The young man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground. Although the bed was smashed to pieces, the man was miraculouslyunhurt. When he woke up, he was still on the mattress. Glancing at the bits of wood and metal that lay around him, the man sadly picked up the mattress and carried it into his house. After he had put it on the floor, he promptly went to sleep again.
【課文翻譯】
德黑蘭的一個年輕人由于對睡地板感到厭倦, 于是積蓄多年買了一張真正的床. 他平生第一次自豪地擁有了一張既有彈簧又帶床墊的床. 由于天氣很熱, 他便把床搬到了他的屋頂上. 頭兩天晚上, 他睡得非常好. 但第三天晚上起了風暴. 一陣大風把床從屋頂上刮了下來, 把它摔碎在下面的院子里. 那年輕人直到床撞到地上才醒了過來. 盡管床摔成了碎片, 但年輕人卻奇跡般地沒有受傷. 他醒來時, 仍然躺在床墊上. 年輕人看了一眼周圍的碎木片和碎金屬片, 傷心地撿起了床墊, 把它拿進了屋. 他把床墊往地板上一放, 很快又睡著了.
【生詞匯總】
spring n.彈簧
mattress n.床墊
gust n.一陣狂風
sweep v.掃，刮
courtyard n.院子
smash v.碰碎，摔碎
miraculous adj.奇跡般的
glance v.掃視
promptly adv.迅速地
【短語匯總】
be tired of厭倦，苦于，受夠了，如：I am tired of your lies.我受夠了你的謊言。
save up攢，存(錢)
for the first time第一次，首次
pick up撿起來，接走(某人)，如：my father will pick me up today. 今天我爸爸回來接我的。
【知識點講解】
1 Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed.
德黑蘭的一個年輕人由于對睡地板感到厭倦, 于是積蓄多年買了一張真正的床.
(1)tired adj. 辛苦的，厭倦的
這個詞由名詞tire變化而來。tire是輪胎的意思，如“spare-tire”就是我們常見的“備胎”。輪胎一直轉，是汽車磨損最快的一個部件，所以它對應的形容詞自然就是“勞累的”“辛苦的”的意思
I strongly advised my boss to hire a "spare-tire", because I am so tired. But he refused.
我強烈建議我們的老板再招一個人，我實在是太累了。但是他拒絕了。
(2)Teheran
伊朗首都德黑蘭。世界上各個國家的首都記憶是一項很重要的工作，應按照區(qū)域記憶。如，中東區(qū)域的幾個國家(尤其是新聞中經常涉及的)放在一起進行記憶，效果事半功倍。
(3)for+時間段的時間狀語
一般我們講這樣的時間狀語對應的是完成時且只能對應完成時，但是在新概念中經常會涉及到這樣的情況：save up“存款”這樣一個概念是沒必要強調其時態(tài)是完成時的，存款本身意思上就不可能是瞬間，只可能放在時間段內。
時間段類時間狀語包括：since+時間點，for+時間段，from…to…這樣三個
2 he became the proud owner of a bed which had springs and a mattress
他平生第一次自豪地擁有了一張既有彈簧又帶床墊的床.
專講定語從句中which這樣一個連接詞的用法。當定語從句中的先行詞(也就是我們常講的“被定詞”)是一個非人的東西的時候，我們常用which 和that作為其后的銜接詞。只用which的情況包括兩種：銜接詞前有介詞，如“in which”“within which”等;銜接詞前有“，”。
3 The young man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground.
那年輕人直到床撞到地上才醒了過來
not…until和not…unless類似，都是主句否定，后句采用這兩個詞，所以要注意not一詞的添加;如果沒有not，until用when代替，如果沒有not，unless用if代替。
