时间:2019-02-19 作者:英语课 分类:听播客学英语


英语课

   Today we meet a cat called Casper, and we learn about the English verb “to commute 1”.


  Let’s start with the verb. “Commute” has an interesting history, because its modern meaning is quite different from its original meaning.
  Originally, to “commute” meant to exchange one thing for another. It was a boring word and we used it mainly for technical, financial matters. Imagine that you work for the government’s tax office. Every day you go to work; you write letters, you fill in forms, you calculate 2 how much tax people have to pay, and you do other interesting things. After 40 years, you retire, and the government gives you a pension 3. It is possible that you will be able to choose exactly how you want to receive the pension. You can choose to receive a payment 4 every month; or sometimes you can choose to take some money now and receive a smaller monthly 5 payment. This is called “commuting 6” – you have exchanged part of your regular monthly pension payments 7 for a lump 8 sum of money.
  You are probably asleep by now, or wondering why I am telling you this. But think of someone else who exchanges regular payments for a single payment. Someone who buys a season ticket on the railways or the buses pays a sum of money now, instead of buying a train or bus ticket every day. At some time in the 20th century, we started to call a person who bought a season ticket a “commuter”. And from there, we started to use the word “commute” to mean to travel from your home to work and back again, by any means of transport. Today, we can say “I commute by car”. That means, “I travel to work and back by car every day”. We can say that a railway station is crowded with commuters – that means that it is full of people travelling to work or back home again. We can say “I commute for 50 miles” or “My commute is 50 miles”, and this means that I travel a long way – 50 miles – to go to work every day. If I was a millionaire, I might commute from my home in the south of France to my work in London in my own private aeroplane.
  Now that you understand about the word “commute” and how it has changed its meaning, it is time to meet the cat. His name is Casper, and he lives – or rather, he used to live – in Plymouth in the south west of England. Plymouth is famous for its naval 9 dockyards, where military ships are built. Casper used to stand at the bus stop outside his home in Plymouth with the other bus passengers. He used to get on the bus and go to sleep on one of the seats. He would travel all the way to the terminus and then come back again. The bus drivers knew Casper, and made sure that he got off the bus at the right stop. Casper travelled on the buses in Plymouth for over 4 years. People called him “Casper the commuting cat”.
  Recently, however, and very sadly, Casper was hit by a car during one of his journeys around Plymouth, and he has now died. There is a notice at his bus stop about his death, and flowers. We are all very sad.

vi.乘车上下班;vt.减(刑);折合;n.上下班交通
  • I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
  • Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。
vt.计算,核算;估计,推测;计划,打算
  • He must calculate the probability of failure.他必须计算一下失败的概率。
  • I'll calculate what it will cost.我要估计一下那要花多少钱。
n.退休金,年金,抚恤金;v.发给退休金
  • The country provided a pension to the old person.国家给老人们提供养老金。
  • She went to the company to draw her pension.她去公司领退休金。
n.付款,支付,偿还,偿还,报应
  • I gave ten pounds in payment for the goods I bought.我买那些东西付了10英镑。
  • This last payment will wipe out your debt to me.这最后一笔付款将了结你欠我的债务。
adj.每月的,持续一个月的,每月发生的;adv.每月,按月; n.月刊;(复数)monthlies:月经
  • The rent on his apartment was his biggest monthly expense.他的房租是每个月最大的开支。
  • The monthly rent is $15,inclusive of light and water.每月租金15美元,包括水电费在内。
交换(的)
  • I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
  • Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说,不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。
n.支付,付款,缴纳,报酬( payment的名词复数 );付出的[要付出的]款项;报答,报偿
  • Welfare payments cease as soon as an individual starts a job. 一旦就业,即停发福利救济。
  • The law can compel fathers to make regular payments for their children. 这项法律可强制父亲定期支付子女的费用。
n.块状,瘤,很多;v.使...成块状,混在一起,忍耐
  • I thanked him with a lump in my throat.我哽咽着向他道谢。
  • If you don't like it,you may lump it.你不喜欢,也得容忍一下。
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的
  • He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
  • The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。
标签: 英语播客
学英语单词
A-57132
add-to system
aguacate
aica
antisubmarine attack plotter
Armenia Inferior
at a great
auxiliary assembly
bayonet type intestinal spatula
bituminous rock
blenniidaes
bscs comprehensive final examination
bullit
Cantos Negros
capital saving technical progress
carboboration
carpophage
circumferential crack in plate
cloaking device
coccin
colazide
command block
commonsource small-signal output capacitance
control division header
core-loss current
coresidence
date terms
declarative alvey compiler target language
devil bird
donarite
drm-free
electroencephalography in space medicine
elephantopus mollis
emptysis
Epocryl
femke
fixed ladder
fordells
Fourth Earl of Chesterfield
gospel according to lukes
home monitoring
homogeneous isotopic exchange
honeystone
hydro-planing
hydrogenation catalyst
hypothetic(al) parallax
inter-individual
Japanese character typewriter
King Charles' spaniel
knock your block off
Landau-de Gennes model
leather wear
lenticular nucleus
local session identifier
Lössnitz
Makemake
message transfer service
montien
morus atropurpurea roxb.
multifacetedly
nearside tank
nose hold
novinol
offprinting
ophthalmometr
phosphorus pentoxide
pin-hold lens
price signals
process controllei
Raffrey
reaction to pests
reflex sympathetic dystropy
reigning wind
rooting
segregationalists
Selenodiglutathione
separate frame construction
shao huo wu
simplified measurement
soft spun
soil classification tests
solar room
solid state imaging method
stage game
stainless steel bolts
statoscopes
stein estimator
strobed
sweetie pie
tetradeconic acid
Timber Lake
tofu skin
Tolbugen
training allowance
uniformly bounded below
unit magnetic mass
untanked
vacant number signal
van Buren's disease
vassiliou
video bridge
woven hose