新概念英语第四册05-03

let us (speaker exclusive) – Let’s (speaker inclusive)

get down to fundamentals

fundamental = basic 基本的

fundamentalist 信奉正统基督教的人

after all – 退一步( 毕竟)

like – (介词) 省略了谓语 are

people are just like their elders

glorious future 光辉的未来

splendid future 光辉的未来（已过去的，对老年人而言）

where the rub is 症结所在，问题就出在这

hatred : 憎恨 ironical 讽刺的，用反语的

uncertain 后面省略的用法

I would have been 虚拟语气

something: 重要的东西 You are somebody. 你是重要人物

so .. as … 后置定语

出色： outstanding

stand out 站出来，鹤立鸡群 独树一帜

cut figure 崭露头角

one of the things 正是其中之一

seeking = looking for

exciting 令人激动的

air of freedom 无拘无束

= carefree , freedom from care

commitment 专注(to + 名词/动名词)

love = seek 追求 mean v.意味着，n.小气 卑鄙 = disgusting

anxious 虎视眈眈的

polish 擦，磨 apple polisher 溜须拍马

bootlicker 拍马屁者

Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings--people just like their elders. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.

When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain--that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers,