Lesson 39 Nothing to worry about 不必担心The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from. Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simply had no sense of danger at all. No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders: The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine. Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes. But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure. In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped. Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car. We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep. Even this had no effect. Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course. Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt. A yellow light on the dash-board flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine! New Words and Expressions 生词和短语rough (1. 1) /rʌf/adj. 崎岖不平的boulder (1. 3) /'bəuldə/ n. 大石块pit (1. 3) /pit/ v. 使得坑坑洼洼perturb (1. 4) /pə'tə:b/ v. 使不安underestimate (1. 6) /'ʌndər'estimeit/ v. 低估swerve (1. 9) /'swə:v/v. 争转变scoop (1. 9) /sku:p/ v. 挖出hammer (1. 10) /'hæmə/ v. (用锤)击打，锤打ominously (1. 10) /'ɔminəsli/ adv. 有预兆的，不祥的rip (1. 10) /rip/ v. 划破，撕，扯petrol (1. 11) /'petrəl/ n. 汽油stretch (1. 13) /stretʃ/ n. 一大片(平地或水)obstacle (1. 14) /'ɔbstəkəl/ n. 障碍clump (1. 14) /klʌmp/ n. 丛，簇fissure(1. 15)/'fiʃə/n. (石，地的)深缝renew (1. 15) /ri'nju:/ v. 重复pleading (1. 15) /pli:diŋ/ n. 恳求gear (1. 17) /giə/ n. (汽车) 排档astride (1. 18) /ə'straid/ prep. 骑，跨crack (1. 18) /kræk/ n. 缝隙zigzag (1. 18) /'zigzæg/n. “之”字形halt (1. 21) /hɔ:lt/n. 停shallow (1. 20) /'ʃæləu/ adj. 浅的dashboard (11. 21-22) /'dæʃbɔ:d/n. (汽车上的)仪表盘grind (1. 21) /graind/ (ground/graund/, ground) v. 磨擦 Notes on the text 课文注释1 get sb. to do sth. ，说服某人做某事。
2 in the least，一点儿也不，完全不3 It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. 这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难4 sooner or later，作“迟早”、”总有一天”讲5 giving way to a stretch of plain，出现了一片平原give way to…，此处作“为……所代替”解6 charge at，冲向 参考译文穿越平原的道路高低不平，开车走了不远，路面愈加崎岖我们想劝说布鲁斯把车开回到我们出发的那个村庄去尽管路面布满石头，坑坑洼洼，但布鲁斯却一点儿不慌乱他瞥了一眼地图，告诉我们前面再走不到20英里就是一个村庄这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难，而是他压根儿没有一点儿危险感他认为不管路面情况如何，车必须以最高速度前进我们在尘土飞扬的道路上颠簸，车子东拐西弯，以躲开那些大圆石车轮搅起的石块锤击车身，发出不祥的锤击声我们相信迟早会飞起一个石块把油箱砸开一个窟窿，或者把发动机砸坏因此，我们不时地掉过头，怀疑车后是否留下了机油和汽油的痕迹突然大石块不见了，前面是一片平地，唯一的障碍只有一簇簇灌木丛。
这使我们长长地松了口气但是更糟糕的事情在等着我们，离我们不远处，出现了一个大裂缝我们再次央求布鲁斯小心，他这才把车停了下来我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝，他却呆在车上我们告诉他那个大裂缝长50码，宽2英尺，深4英尺这也没有对他产生任何影响布鲁斯挂上慢档，把两只前轮分别搁在裂缝的两边，顺着弯弯曲曲的裂缝，以发疯的速度向前开去我们还未来得及担心后果，车已重新开上了平地布鲁斯又看了一眼地图，告诉我们那座村庄离我们只有15英里了下一个障碍是一片约半英里宽的浅水塘布鲁斯向水塘冲去，但车开到水塘当中，嘎吱一声停住了仪表盘上一盏黄灯闪着刺眼的光芒，布鲁斯兴致勃勃地宣布发动机里没油了！笔记New words and expression 生词和短语Rough a崎岖不平的=no smoothBe rough on sb对某人苛刻、无礼Don’t be rough on your friends.Cut up rough 发脾气We’d better not take the rough road.Perturb v.使不安=very upsetBe perturbed about sthHis threats didn’t perturb her in the least.Disturb 并非用心去扰乱，语气弱得多It is disturbing to think that a wild animal is still at large in the quite countryside.Plague 病痛或类似事情的折磨而使人苦恼The terrible disease plagued him.Trouble 搅扰别人的安宁，舒适等Sorry to give you trouble./sorry to trouble you.Worry 表达不安的心情到了忧虑的程度He is worried about his son’s safety.Fret 持续的忧虑、哀伤或焦急，表示烦燥的心情He freted himself all the time for news of her.Upset 内心忐忑不安I feel upset now because I am afraid I hurt you.Dismay 使沮丧Scoop v.（用勺子）挖出，铲出She scooped out some suger.Make a scoop走运，赚大钱，抢先得到新闻That guy made a scoop.Ominously adv有预兆地Ominous adjLook at those ominous black clouds.Omen n./v预示着，预兆This is a good/bad omenThe clouds omen rain.Rip v.用力地撕开=Tear Rip the letter openRip one’s mask away.Let things rip:=let things beRip into攻击Rip off 偷窃Rip up the back 背后说坏话Stretch n.一大片A stretch of landA stretch of waterAt a stretch连续地，不停顿地We worked for hours at a stretch.We drove fast on。