Lesson 52 A pretty carpet

We have just moved into a new house and I have been working hard all morning. I have been trying to get my new room in order. This has not been easy because I own over a thousand books. To make matters worse, the room is rather small, so I have temporarily put my books on the floor. At the moment, they cover every inch of floor space and I actually have to walk on them to get in or out of the room. A short while ago, my sister helped me to carry one of my old bookcases up the stairs. She went into my room and got a big surprise when she saw all those books on the floor. 'This is the prettiest carpet I have ever seen,' she said. She gazed at it for some time then added, 'You don't need bookcases at all. You can sit here in your spare time and read the carpet!'

我们刚刚搬进一所新房子，我辛辛苦苦地干了整整一个上午。我试图把我的新房间收拾整齐，但这并不容易，因为我有1,000多本书。更糟糕的是房间还非常小，所以我暂时把书放在了地板上。这会儿，书把地板的每一点空隙都占据了，我实际上是踩着这些书进出房间的。几分钟前，我妹妹帮我把一个旧书橱抬上了楼。她走进我的房间，当她看到地板上的那些书时，大吃一惊。“这是我见过的最漂亮的地毯，”她说。她盯着“地毯”看了一会儿，又说：“你根本用不着书橱，空闲时你可以坐在这儿读地毯！”

Grammar

1. 动词时态：现在完成时和现在完成进行时

2. 固定搭配词组及词性

现在完成进行时表示动作从过去开始一直延续到现在的时间。其动作是否继续下去，则由上下文而定。其结构为：have/has been doing。

Exercise

1. You know, I __________ for a job for three months, and this is my first formal interview.

A. had looked   B. am looking   C. have looked   D. have been looking

2. She gazed __________ the little cat for a long time.

A. at   B. in   C. on   D. for

解析：

1. 答案：D。考查的是现在完成进行时，意为“找工作找了3个月，直到现在”。

2. 答案：A。固定搭配，有方向性地盯，介词使用at，gaze at sb.意为“盯着某人看”。