Lesson 41  Do you call that a hat?

'Do you call that a hat?' I said to my wife.

   'You needn't be so rude about it,' my wife answered as she looked at herself in the mirror.

   I sat down on one of those modern chairs with holes in it and waited. We had been in the hat shop for half an hour and my wife was still in front of the mirror.

   'We mustn't buy things we don't need,' I remarked suddenly. I regretted saying it almost at once.

   'You needn't have said that,' my wife answered. 'I needn't remind you of that terrible tie you bought yesterday.'

   'I find it beautiful,' I said. 'A man can never have too many ties.'

   'And a woman can't have too many hats,' she answered.

   Ten minutes later we walked out of the shop together. My wife was wearing a hat that looked like a lighthouse!

“你把那个叫帽子吗？”我对妻子说。

“你说话没必要这样不客气，”我的妻子边回答边照着镜子。

我坐在一个新式的满是网眼儿的椅子上，等待着。我们在这家帽店已经呆了半个小时了，而我的妻子仍在镜子面前。

“我们不应该买我们不需要的东西，”我突然发表意见说，但马上又后悔说了这话。

“你没必要这么说，”我妻子回答说，“我也不必提醒你昨天买的那条糟糕透了的领带。”

“我觉得它好看，”我说，“男人有多少领带也不会嫌多。”

“女人有多少帽子也不嫌多。”她回答。

10分钟以后，我们一道走出了商店。我妻子戴着一顶像灯塔一样的帽子。

Grammar

must, have to 和need的用法。

must表示必须、必要，表示是不可逃避的义务或指责或严厉的警告，其否定形式是：mustn’t 意为“禁止”；must引导的一般疑问句的回答方式有：

肯定回答：must；否定回答: need not / don’t have to

Exercises.

1. You __________ wash all those cloths! We have a washing machine to do that sort of thing.

A. needn’t    B. can’t    C. mustn’t    D. daren’t

2. Don’t be late again. You __________ be here on time.

A. must    B. need    C. should    D. may

1.解析：本题考察情态动词need的用法，本句为否定形式needn’t表示“不必”，所以答案为A。

2.解析：本题考察情态动词must的用法，本句表示“必须” 所以答案选A。