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Luca Spaghetti's birthday falls this year on America's Thanksgiving Day, so he wants to do a turkey for his birthday party. He's never eaten a big, fat, roasted American Thanksgiving turkey, though he's seen them in pictures. He thinks it should be easy to replicate1 such a feast (especially with the help of me, a real American). He says we can use the kitchen of his friends Mario and Simona, who have a nice big house in the mountains outside Rome, and who always host Luca's birthday parties.
So here was Luca's plan for the festivities--he would pick me up at around seven o'clock at night, after he'd finished work, and then we would drive north out of Rome for an hour or so to his friends' house (where we would meet the other attendees of the birthday party) and we'd drink some wine and all get to know each other, and then, probably around 9:00 PM, we would commence to roasting a twenty-pound turkey . . .
I had to do some explaining to Luca about how much time it takes to roast a twenty-pound turkey. I told him his birthday feast would probably be ready to eat, at that rate, around dawn the next day. He was destroyed. "But what if we bought a very small turkey? A just-born turkey?"
I said, "Luca--let's make it easy and have pizza, like every other good dysfunctional American family does on Thanksgiving."
But he's still sad about it. Though there's a general sadness around Rome right now, anyway. The weather has turned cold. The
sanitation2 workers and the train employees and the national airline all went on strike on the same day. A study has just been released saying that 36 percent of Italian children have an
allergy3 to the gluten needed to make pasta, pizza and bread, so there goes Italian culture. Even worse, I recently saw an article with the shocking headline: "Insoddisfatte 6 Donne su 10!" Meaning that six out of ten Italian women are sexually unsatisfied. Moreover, 35 percent of Italian men are reporting difficulty maintaining un'erezione, leaving researchers feeling very perplessi indeed, and making me wonder if SEX should be allowed to be Rome's special word anymore, after all.
In more serious bad news, nineteen Italian soldiers have recently been killed in The Americans' War (as it is called here) in Iraq--the largest number of military deaths in Italy since World War II. The Romans were shocked by these deaths and the city closed down the day the boys were buried. The wide majority of Italians want nothing to do with George Bush's war. The involvement was the decision of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister (more commonly referred to around these parts as l'idiota). This intellect-free, soccer-club-owning businessman, with his oily film of
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收听单词发音
1
replicate
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v.折叠,复制,模写;n.同样的样品;adj.转折的 |
参考例句: |
- The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
- It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样,它还可以被轻易的复制。
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2
sanitation
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n.公共卫生,环境卫生,卫生设备 |
参考例句: |
- The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看,这个地段非常糟糕。
- Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。
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3
allergy
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n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症 |
参考例句: |
- He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
- The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。
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4
corruption
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n.腐败,堕落,贪污 |
参考例句: |
- The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
- The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
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5
lewd
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adj.淫荡的 |
参考例句: |
- Drew spends all day eyeing up the women and making lewd comments.德鲁整天就盯着女人看,说些下流话。
- I'm not that mean,despicable,cowardly,lewd creature that horrible little man sees. 我可不是那个令人恶心的小人所见到的下流、可耻、懦弱、淫秽的家伙。
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6
whatsoever
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adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么 |
参考例句: |
- There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
- All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。
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7
vendetta
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n.世仇,宿怨 |
参考例句: |
- For years he pursued a vendetta against the Morris family.多年来他一直在寻求向莫里斯家族报世仇。
- She conducted a personal vendetta against me.她对我有宿仇。
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8
resentment
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n.怨愤,忿恨 |
参考例句: |
- All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
- She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。
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9
relatively
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adv.比较...地,相对地 |
参考例句: |
- The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
- The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
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10
feminist
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adj.主张男女平等的,女权主义的 |
参考例句: |
- She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
- From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起,男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。
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11
joint
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adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合 |
参考例句: |
- I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤,肩膀脫臼了。
- We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
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12
groves
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树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) |
参考例句: |
- The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
- The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林,还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。
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13
grove
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n.林子,小树林,园林 |
参考例句: |
- On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
- The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。
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14
exquisite
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adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 |
参考例句: |
- I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
- I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。
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15
crumbs
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int. (表示惊讶)哎呀
n. 碎屑
名词crumb的复数形式 |
参考例句: |
- She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
- Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊,天哪!都这会儿啦?
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16
perfectly
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adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 |
参考例句: |
- The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
- Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
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17
gratitude
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adj.感激,感谢 |
参考例句: |
- I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
- She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。
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18
forth
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adv.向前;向外,往外 |
参考例句: |
- The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
- He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
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19
testimony
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n.证词;见证,证明 |
参考例句: |
- The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
- He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。
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20
benevolent
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adj.仁慈的,乐善好施的 |
参考例句: |
- His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。
- He was a benevolent old man and he wouldn't hurt a fly.他是一个仁慈的老人,连只苍蝇都不愿伤害。
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21
loyalty
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n.忠诚,忠心 |
参考例句: |
- She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
- His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。
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22
gnawing
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a.痛苦的,折磨人的 |
参考例句: |
- The dog was gnawing a bone. 那狗在啃骨头。
- These doubts had been gnawing at him for some time. 这些疑虑已经折磨他一段时间了。
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