Lesson 40  Food and talk

Last week at a dinner party, the hostess asked me to sit next to Mrs. Rumbold. Mrs. Rumbold was a large, unsmiling lady in a tight black dress. She did not even look up when I took my seat beside her. Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a short time, she was busy eating. I tried to make conversation.

   'A new play is coming to "The Globe" soon,' I said. 'Will you be seeing it?'

   'No,' she answered.

   'Will you be spending your holidays abroad this year?' I asked.

   'No,' she answered.

   'Will you be staying in England?' I asked.

   'No,' she answered.

   In despair, I asked her whether she was enjoying her dinner.

   'Young man,' she answered, 'if you ate more and talked less, we would both enjoy our dinner!"

在上星期的一次宴会上，女主人安排我坐在兰伯尔德夫人的身旁。兰伯尔德夫人是一位身材高大、表情严肃的女人，穿一件紧身的黑衣服。当我在她身旁坐下来的时候，她甚至连头都没有抬一下。她的眼睛盯着自己的盘子，不一会儿就忙着吃起来了。我试图找个话题和她聊聊。

 “一出新剧要来‘环球剧场’上演了，”我说，“您去看吗？”

 “不，”她回答。

“您今年去国外度假吗？”我又问。

“不，”她回答。

“您就呆在英国吗？”我问。

“不，”她回答。

失望之中我问她饭是否吃得满意。

“年轻人，”她回答说，“如果你多吃点，少说点，我们两个都会吃得好的！

Grammar

第二类条件句，非真实条件句的用法。

1.在新概念1—24课中我们已经学习了真实条件下的if从句，本课学习的是非真实条件下的if从句，其结构为：if +一般过去时，主句用过去将来时，可简称：从句一过，主将过。

2.需要注意的是第一人称I am，第三人称单数形式he/she/it is在非真实if从句中需要变成：If I/he/she/it were.  

Exercises.

1. If you spoke clearly, you would __________.

A. understand it                  B. have understood

C. have been understood     D. be understood

2. If I __________ you, I wouldn’t return the call.

A. be    B. am    C. was     D. were

1.解析：本题考察非真实条件句和被动语态的用法，结构为would have been done，所以答案为C。

2.解析：本题考查非真实条件下的if从句，“如果我是你”的表达为“If I were you”， 所以答案选D。