Five pound too dear

原文

Small boats loaded with wares sped to the great liner as she was entering the harbour. Before she had anchored, the men from the boats had climbed on board and the decks were son covered with colourful rugs from Persia, silks from India, copper coffee pots, and beautiful handmade silverware. It was difficult not to be tempted. Many of the tourists on board had begun bargaining with the tradesmen, but I decide not to buy anything until I had disembarked.

I had no sooner got off the ship than I was assailed by a man who wanted to sell me a diamond ring. I had no intention of buying one, but I could not conceal the fact that I was impressed by the size of the diamonds. Some of them were as big as marbles. The man went to great lengths to prove that the diamonds were real. As we were walking past a shop, he held a diamond firmly against the window and made a deep impression in the glass. It took me over half an hour to get rid of him.

The next man to approach me was selling expensive pens and watches. I examined one of the pens closely. It certainly looked genuine. At the base of the gold cap, the words 'made in the U.S.A.' had been neatly inscribed. The man said that the pen was worth &10, but as a special favour, he would let me have it for &8. I shook my head and held up a finger indicating that I was willing to pay a pound. Gesticulating wildly, the man acted as if he found my offer out-rageous, but he eventually reduced the price to &3. Shrugging my shoulders, I began to walk away when, a moment later, he ran after me and thrust the pen into my hands. Though he kept throwing up his arms in despair, he readily accepted the pound I gave him. I felt especially pleased with my wonderful bargain--until I got back to the ship. No matter how hard I tried, it was im-possible to fill this beautiful pen with ink and to this day it has never written a single word !

译文

小船上载满了货物，向那艘大客轮疾驶而去，因为它正在驶入港口。在它抛锚之前，那些小船上的人已经爬上了船，甲板上很快就铺满了色彩斑斓的波斯地毯、印度的丝绸、铜咖啡壶和漂亮的手工银器。很难不受到诱惑。船上的许多游客已经开始和商人们讨价还价，但我决定直到下船后再买东西。

我刚一下船，就有一个男人向我兜售一枚钻石戒指。我根本没有买的意思，但我无法掩饰自己对那些钻石大小的印象。有的钻石大得像弹珠似的。那人竭尽全力证明那些钻石是真的。我们走过一家商店时，他把一颗钻石牢牢地按在橱窗上，在玻璃上刻下了很深的印痕。我花了半个多小时才摆脱了他。

下一个走近我的人在卖昂贵的钢笔和手表。我仔细检查了其中一支钢笔。它看起来确实是真货。在金笔帽的底部，刻着“美国制造”几个字。那人说这支笔值10英镑，但作为特别优惠，他可以以8英镑卖给我。我摇摇头，伸出一根手指，表示我只愿意出1英镑。那人疯狂地比划着，好像我的出价令他大为震惊，但最终他还是把价格降到了3英镑。我耸耸肩膀，开始走开，不一会儿，他追了上来，把笔塞到我手里。尽管他绝望地举起双臂，但他欣然接受了我给他的1英镑。我对我的这笔美妙交易感到特别得意——直到我回到船上。不管我怎么努力，都无法把墨水注入这支漂亮的笔，而且直到今天，它还没有写过一个字！

词汇表

loaded

形容词, 动词

英:/ˈləʊdɪd/

美:/ˈloʊdɪd/

定义

1. 装载的；负担的 - Filled or burdened with something.

例子: The truck was loaded with goods for delivery.

例子: She felt loaded with responsibilities at work.

2. 装载 - As a verb, to put a load on or into.

例子: They loaded the boat with fresh fish.

例子: Please loaded the software onto the computer.

近义词

burdened: 强调负重或压力，常用于抽象语境，如情感负担，而 'loaded' 更侧重物理装载。

filled: 更泛指填充空间，'loaded' 则暗示特定重量或内容的添加。

packed: 侧重紧凑排列，'loaded' 可包括非紧凑的装载，如松散物品。

反义词:

unloaded, empty, unburdened

用法

常用于描述物体被填充或携带物品的场景，尤其在交通或运输语境中；作为动词，用于行动描述；文化背景中，可隐喻情感或压力。

形式:

复数: N/A (形容词), 过去式: loaded (动词), 过去分词: loaded

深入解析：关键句型 "No sooner had [subject] [verb] than [clause]"

定义

这个句型用于描述两个动作紧接着发生的序列，常表示一个动作刚完成，另一个动作立即跟上。结构为：No sooner had + 主语 + 过去分词 + than + 从句。例如，在文章中如 "I had no sooner got off the ship than I was assailed by a man." 它强调事件的快速 succession（相继）。权威教材如《新概念英语》第三册中，这种句型被定义为一种高级时间状语从句，突出过去事件的即时性，类似于其他时间状语如 "as soon as"，但更正式和文学化。

用法

此句型主要用于叙述过去事件，强调动作的急剧变化，常出现在故事、叙述性文章中。规则是：主句使用过去完成时（had + 过去分词），而than从句使用简单过去时；它必须以 No sooner had 开头，以 than 连接两个部分。在语法体系中，它属于时间状语从句的一部分，与其他从句如 "before" 或 "after" 相关联，帮助学生理解时间关系的复杂性。跨语法点联系：它与过去完成时紧密结合（如文章中的 "had got off"），并可与条件句或叙述句结合使用，例如在描述突发事件时，如 "No sooner had I arrived than it started raining." 这有助于学生从基本时间状语过渡到更精确的表达方式。

注意事项

学生易犯的错误包括：错误使用时态，例如用简单过去时代替过去完成时（如说 "No sooner I got off than..." 而非 "No sooner had I got off than..."），导致句子不自然；另一个常见偏误是省略 had，或将 than 误用为 when，使句意模糊。纠正建议：总是记住 had 是句型的必要部分，并通过练习倒装结构避免错误。此外，在口语中，这种句型较正式，学生应避免在 casual（非正式）对话中使用，以免显得生硬；还要注意主谓一致性，如主语后跟正确动词形式。

练习

一个额外的例子："No sooner had the train left the station than it started to rain heavily." 通过这个例子，学生可以尝试替换 [subject] 和 [verb]，如 "No sooner had I finished my homework than my friend called."，并在实际写作中应用，以强化对时间顺序的把握。

额外内容

背景知识：这个句型源于英语的文学传统，常在小说或历史叙述中出现，对比分析：它类似于法语中的 "à peine... que..."，但在英语中更强调倒装形式。补充信息：掌握此句型后，学生能更好地处理复杂叙述，提升阅读和写作水平，例如在描述个人经历时使用，以增加故事的生动性。