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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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● hairdos：头发式样。这里是复数形式。
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● even：父亲所讲的话，儿女通常并不觉得可笑，可是她听了竟然也笑。
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● 最后一句并不是完全句子，只是一个副词短语和两个副词，形容上句的laughed。out of diplomacy：顾全面子起见。not…either：此二字连用，有“也不”之意。“她的笑，倒也并不是一种外交手段，而是自发地（spontaneously）真心地大笑。”
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● they=his jokes。因为她觉得他的笑话真的可笑，再则，她也喜欢看见老人家心里高兴（in a good mood）。
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现代英文选评注 Merry Christmas圣诞快乐
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William Saroyan (1908—1981)
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威廉·萨洛扬美国小说家、剧作家，原为土耳其和俄罗斯交界地区亚美尼亚（Armenia）的移民。他的文字通俗，最善描摹小儿口吻，故事富于人情温暖，很适宜于初学阅读。本文采自1953年12月号的《家政杂志》（Good Housekeeping）。
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First I would like to say to you, “Merry Christmas.” It is like this—when I say it, I want it to mean what it means. Not just words under a picture on a card, dropped in the mailbox on the corner, or handing you something wrapped up in red paper which I have bought. I want it to say what it says, the way a child says it.
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● I would like：有些文法书主张I should like才是合文法的，但是I would like现在很常用。大致正式论文演说用I should like为妥，普通说话写信用I would like可以给人一种“熟不拘礼”的亲切之感。
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● Merry Christmas：Merry有寻欢作乐之意。说“Merry Christmas”即隐祝对方“玩得痛快”。Happy New Year的happy即不一定含有“热闹庆祝”之意。
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● It is like this：事情是这样的。口语常用。when I say it之it指Merry Christmas这两个字人人会说，但是意义或不尽相同，作者所指的是它的真正的意义。
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● 第三句不完全。说完全了大约是It does not mean just words….
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● words：祝贺圣诞的文辞。a picture：圣诞卡上的图画，文辞通常印在它的下面。dropped（过去分词）：投寄（形容card）。corner：街道转角处。handing（动名词）：亲手交付。which I have bought为定语从句，形容something。圣诞卡上的套语，红纸包扎的礼物，这些都不能代表Merry X’mas的真正意义。
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● “the way…”在这里是习惯用法，很难分析它的文法构造，《简明牛津字典》里有这么一个例子：
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[I] don’t like the way she smiles.（我不喜欢她笑的样子。）
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she smiles是“定语从句”，前面省略一个relative adverb “that”。同样的用法如“The instant he saw me, he took to his heels”（他看见我就逃），he saw me的前面也省略一个“that”。但是这种句子的that通常都是省略的。
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萨洛扬文里的句子同《简明牛津字典》的例子又不一样，在那例句里，the way是名词；在本文中，the way a child says it的the way也是名词，却有副词的功用，形容what it says中的动词says。
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名词可以当副词用吗？可以，而且很普通，随便举两个例子：
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I go to school every morning.
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