时间:2019-01-02 作者:英语课 分类:Take Away English


英语课






Cartoon of flying pig
'Pigs might fly'





I'm a pig, my son is a rabbit, I have snakes for daughters, and my wife, believe it or not, is a dragon! Do I live in a zoo? No, of course not! I am talking about our Chinese zodiac signs.

Depending on the year of your birth, each person has an animal for a sign. That's why I am a pig and my wife is a dragon.


February the 18th is Chinese New Year and 2007 is the year of the pig, so let's take a closer look at this interesting animal.


Pigs were first domesticated 1 by man about 9,000 years ago, and are still a very common farm animal in many parts of the world. We don't just use pigs for their meat – almost every part of the animal is used. The bones and skin are used for glue and footballs. The hair is used for artists' brushes and insulation 2. The fat is used in the manufacture of insecticides, floor waxes, rubber and plastics. Amazingly, pigs are a source of nearly 40 pharmaceutical 3 drugs and their heart valves can be used in surgery to replace human ones.


Pigs have also been important in the world of entertainment. In 1995 the film 'Babe' starred a loveable talking pig as its main character. The film won an Oscar and was nominated for 6 more.


In England you can even go to watch pig racing 4. A farmer, Rob Shepherd, has been raising money for charity by staging pig races on his farm. The events have been very successful. People don't just want to eat pigs, it seems!


Pigs also feature in the English language. To say that something is unlikely to happen you can say "Pigs might fly!" A man that thinks men are superior to women is a "chauvinist 5 pig". Hungry? Well then, you can "pig out" and eat lots of food. And what if someone rescues you? Well, you can say that they "saved your bacon".


If you, like me, were born in the year of the pig, then you are brave, thoughtful and loyal. The year of the pig is filled with good fortune. Happy Chinese New Year!







GLOSSARY 词汇表


 








zodiac
十二生肖




glue
胶水




insulation
绝缘




insecticides
杀虫剂




pharmaceutical drugs
药制品




loveable
可爱的




charity
慈善




chauvinist
沙文主义者




brave
勇敢的




loyal
忠诚的






domesticated
饲养的




brushes
刷子




manufacture
生产




waxes





heart valves
心脏瓣膜




nominated
提名




staging
举行




bacon
咸肉




thoughtful
考虑周到的




good fortune
好财运








 




adj.喜欢家庭生活的;(指动物)被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务,烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.隔离;绝缘;隔热
  • Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
  • It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。
adj.药学的,药物的;药用的,药剂师的
  • She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
  • We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
n.沙文主义者
  • I don't know how she can live with him;he's such a male chauvinist pig!我真不理解她怎么能与他一起生活,他是个典型的大男子主义者。
  • How can you do the Muslim chauvinist thing?你怎么能做穆斯林沙文主义的事情?
标签: take year pig 猪年
学英语单词
acoustic mine sweeping
alveolar process (or alveolar border)
Arizona ruby
be taken into account
big-dog
binagacay hemp
bleeder
board and batten
chair organ
chiweshes
colessors
coloradans
common courts
complementary strategic alliance
contract of suretyship
current outlay
Cytostatin
distributed packet switching
dogsbody,dog's-bodies
electorate of brandenburg
electromagnetic level
emergency chiller
endoerythrocytic
environment attribute
estimated uncollectible interest and penalties on taxes
food debris
full-gear
gargariscus prionocephalus
gath
gencos
gentiobiosyloleandrin
gjyzari
glycostatic
Haldane B.
half-whispereds
handmaid
hereditary alkaptonuria
highlight overload protection
institucional
intermediate-image spectrometer
intermedullary
international foreign exchange market
jet propulsion gas turbine
lithium germanium oxide
lock horns with
make an ass of oneself
Maraco
Methanococcaceae
miettinen
modern method of directive breeding
multistage amplifiers
nonmenopausal
o.c.c
out of controversy
overbeaten cloth
palatable taste
palmar contraction
permit for warehousing of the customs
plastic aerated building
power-off relay
prebendal stall
press button key
printed amplifier
proacts
puba
pure existential character
push the envelope
quadrivalent atom
redimension
repair standard values
Scleria biflora
second-order hexagonal dipyramid
secondary ship shore station
sfsrsosnsts-s
shorties
skhl steel
social mobility
soft x-ray spectrometry
Songza
special scheme
Spiraea veitchii
spray droplets collector
start-end graph
stepped-up
synthetic program
tanha
test on filter efficiency
thermogravimetric diagram
third hand tap
tip outs
to bend
tv broadcasting
type I alveolar cell
undertend
utrum
vector Markov process
video oscillator
vocational counselling
waked up
white prairie asters
with arms