现代大学英语精读1 paraphrasing

Unit 1

1. They did not make me happy, however, as this was the day I was to be thrown into school for the first time. (1)

Paraphrase:

But my new clothes did not bring any happiness to me, because it was the day I was forced to go to school for the first time.

2.“Why school” I asked my father. “What have I done”(3)

Paraphrase:

Why do I have to go to school I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong to be punished like this.

3. I did not believe there was really any good to be had in tearing me away from my home and throwing me into the huge, high-walled building. (5)

Paraphrase:

I didn’t think it was useful to take me away from home and put me into that building with high walls.

4. It was not all a matter of playing and fooling around. (15)

Paraphrase:

What we did at school wasn’t just playing and wasting time doing nothing useful.

5. In addition, the time for changing one’s mind was over and gone and there was no question of ever returning to the paradise of home. (16)

Paraphrase:

Besides, it was impossible for us to quit school and return to the good old days when we stayed home playing and fooling around all day. Our childhood was gone, never to come back.

Unit 2

1. If banks were required to sell wallets and money belts, they might act less like churches. (para. 1)

Paraphrase:

Banks act like churches which usually control people’s life and can interfere in people’s life. So, the author thinks it is ridiculous for banks to act like churches.

2. It was lunchtime and the only officer on duty was a fortyish black man with short, pressed hair, a pencil mustache, and a neatly pressed brown suit. (para. 3)

Paraphrase:

uncurled hair, a thin mustache looking like a line drawn by a pencil, and a neat and tidy brown suit

3. Everything about him suggested a carefully dressed authority. (para. 3)

Paraphrase:

Everything about him—his clothes, manner, etc. indicated that he was a carefully dressed man who had an important position and power.

4. I moved in for the kill. (para. 19)

Paraphrase:

I began to prepare to kill, destroy or defeat my enemy.

5. I zeroed in on the officer. (para. 20)

Paraphrase:

I’m going to have a strong argument to silence the bank officer.

6. Look, … we’re just wasting each other’s time. (para. 29)

Paraphrase:

Look, let’s stop talking a bout this because it is a waste of time./You are just talking nonsense.

I don’t want to listen to you any more.

7.… has been shaking this boy down… (para. 30)

Paraphrase:

… has been getting money from the boy by using threats…

8. Anyway, the police are on the case… (para. 30)

Paraphrase:

Anyway, the police are working on the case…

9. Not that I ever heard of. (para. 32)

Paraphrase:

I have never heard of such rules.

Unit 3

1. My husband moved into our house as is the way with us in Esarn. (para. 1) Paraphrase:

When we got married, we followed the tradition in Esarn and my husband came to live with my family.

2. He has ears which don’t hear, a mouth which doesn’t speak, and eyes that don’t see. ( para. 2)

Paraphrase:

He does not notice what is happening around us and to our children, nor does he express his thoughts and feelings. (The woman is complaining that her husband does not bother about their children’s troubles.)

3. … and it is no longer fertile, bleeding year after year and, like us, getting old and exhausted. (para. 3)

Paraphrase:

Our land is getting poorer with each passing year, like us who are getting old, weak and tired.

4.… but in a bad year, it’s not only the ploughs that break but our hearts, too. (para. 3) Paraphrase:

When there is a draught, the soil is so hard that it breaks the ploughs and we feel so sad that our hearts break too.

5. Only ten years ago, you could barter for things, but now it’s all cash. (para. 4)