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● 第三小节：儿子向老子开口要买汽车了，老子说：“你自己要一辆汽车！请听听他的话看！乳臭未干的小孩子，自己想要一辆汽车了！”will you之you并不指什么人，只是老子生气时所说的话，旁边未必有第三者在听他说话。wet behind the ears，相当于中文的“乳臭未干”，“胎毛未干”，原义是“你还要母亲给你洗脸呢！”
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This is the sort of thing that goes on every day. Sarcasm, grumbling, out-and-out rage—how else should a father in this modern world express his affection and concern for his own son?
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● the sort of thing含混得好。如用the sort of conversation反而不确切；thing的范围比较conversation来得广，父亲骂儿子也不好算是conversation。这里要找一个确切的字很难，用了一个含糊的thing，读者也知道是怎么一回事了。
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● sarcasm：讥刺；反唇相讥。grumbling：叽喔咕噜地骂人；喃喃怨语。out-and-out：完全的，十足的。rage：盛怒；大发雷霆。affection：亲爱。concern：关怀。“这个年头，做老子的还有什么别的法子（how else）可以表示他对于他亲生儿子的慈爱和关切呢？”
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But between a father and his daughter it isn’t so easy. Because a father can’t yell at his daughter, or wave his fist at her threateningly, or call her a good-for-nothing. More than one father has, of course. But he usually ends up with a terrible feeling of guilt over it. And then, when she smiles up at him and puts her hands on his shoulders and murmurs that pet name which he’s always been a sucker for, the most determined father in the world is as helpless as a baby.
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● wave his fist at her：拳头在她面前晃。threateningly：威胁状；作势欲打。good-for-nothing：无用之人；没出息的。
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● 第二句是Because开头的独立附属从句，照文法规定，这样写法是有毛病的。因为because是个subordinate conjunction，应该改用for（它是coordinate conjunction）。但是用because开头的独立句，现在很常见到。
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● More than one father has后面省去yelled，waved，called等字。这一句的has也有问题。既然是More than one，是不是该用have（动词复数形式）呢？但是这里的has没有错，林语堂的《开明英文法》中[5
:42(6)]说：
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Each, many a and more than one with nouns in the singular almost always take the singular verb.
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该书又举了两个例子：
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More than one person was suspected.
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But there are more than one person involved in the matter.
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第一例的动词紧跟着one person，故用单数形式was；第二例的动词紧接more，故用复数形式are。这样的用法合理吗？英文用法，本来只是习惯沿袭而已，并没有人来立过什么“法”。要是不合理，也只好由它去了。
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● ends up with：结局。照中文的想法（也是比较合理的想法），应该是“这件事情是如何如何的结局”，可是英文里面偏偏用人（he）来做主语。父亲骂了女儿，结局总是痛自后悔。feeling of guilt：歉疚之感。over=concerning，about。
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● smiles up at之up有“抬头”之意。
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● pet name：表示亲爱的称呼，如“好爹爹”之类。sucker（美国俗语）：易受欺之人（上海话里的“瘟生”；北平话里的“二百五”；广东话里的“寿仔”）。这种特别称呼一叫出来，父亲一向就乖乖地甘愿上当吃亏了。
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● determined：决心（管教儿女）的。helpless：束手无策。
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Such was the case with Dan Waxman. His daughter Barbara—Bobby he called her, this was his favorite nickname for a girl—was his only daughter. Ever since she was old enough to cry or flutter her eyelashes, she had very little trouble getting her way with him. But she more than paid him back for this. When she was little she paid him back in laughter and high spirits, in showing him how much she enjoyed her life. “Sarah”, he used to say to his wife, “what are we bringing up in this household, a little girl or a wild Indian?” “A wild Indian!” Bobby used to shout out gleefully, and jump around the living room giving war whoops.
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● Bobby he called her：这样的说法在这里是不是比He called her Bobby更顺口一点呢？favorite nickname for a girl：普通女孩子的各种绰号之中，他就喜欢这一个。a girl=any girl。
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● old enough：这里的old不是老（three months old，five years old中的old也不是老）。flutter her eyelashes：（眨眼时）眼睫毛上下颤动。getting her way with him：使他听从她。
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● paid him back：父亲听从女儿（for this），女儿也有报答。more than：女儿的报答是使父亲高兴，假使父亲稍稍地依从了女儿，女儿便可使父亲大大地高兴一下，那么女儿便不止是报答亲恩，更是积极地膝下承欢了。注意more than后面可以跟动词。high spirits：兴高采烈。女儿活泼好弄，父亲看了高兴，那便是女儿的报答。
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● wild Indian：野蛮的印第安人。父亲故意这么问：“我们家里养了一个小姑娘呢，还是小野人呢？”gleefully：意气扬扬地。war whoops：印第安人作战时的呼哨声。小姑娘欣然以小野人自居，并且在起居室里跳踉奔走，嘴发怪声，好像是印第安人出兵打仗一般。
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And now that she was almost grown up, she paid him back in quieter, more ladylike ways. She told him her secrets, the ones she wanted him to hear. She asked his opinion of her clothes and her hairdos. She even laughed at his jokes. Not out of diplomacy either, but heartily and spontaneously, because she thought they were funny and she liked to see him in a good mood.
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● now that（连词）：既然。ladylike：合乎小姐身份的。
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● the ones=the secrets；秘密不能全部公开，有一部分她是愿意父亲知道的，她就拿这个跟他来谈。把父亲引为知己，亦是博老人高兴之一法。
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