My friend, Hugh, has always been fat, but things got so bad recently that he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. First of all, he worte out a long list of all the foods which were forbidden. The list included most of the things Hugh loves: butter,potatoes,rice,beer,milk,chocolate,and sweets. Yesterday I paid him a visit. I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Hugh was still as fat as ever. He led me into his room and hurriedly hid a large parcel under his desk. It was obvious that he was very embarrassed. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guiltily and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained that his diet was so strict that he had to reward himself occasionally. Then he showed me the contents of the parcel. It contained five large bars of chocolate and three bags of sweets!
New words and expressions 生词和短语
reward n.报尝
virtue n.美德
diet n节食
forbid v.禁止
hurriedly adv.匆忙地
embarrass v.使尴尬
guiltily adv.内疚的
strict adj.严格的
reward v.给奖赏
occasionally adv.偶尔地
Notes on the text 课文注释
1 Reward for virtue,virtue 作“美德”讲，此处揹“节食”一事。
2 but things got so bad,但是情况变得如此糟糕。动词get 作“变得”，“成为”讲。
3 go on a diet(=be on a diet),实行节食。
4 first of all,首先。
5 I paid him a visit.我去拜访他。
6 as fat as ever. 像以往一样胖，其中的as ever实际上是状语从句as he ever was的省略形式。
7 It was obvious that he was very embarrassed.显然他感到很尴尬。that 引导的从句是一个名词性从句，在句子中作主语，it 是先行主语。