Step 1: Intensive reading.
Try to answer the question below while you’re reading:
Question: Did the writer repair his lawn mower in the end? Why/Why not?
Vocabulary:
plead v .找（借口），辩解
fuse v .由于烧断保险丝而短路
ignorance n .无知，不懂
rickety adj .要散架的，晃动的
publication n .出版物
clog v .堵塞
newlyweds n .新婚夫妇
delusion n .错觉
gaily adv .愉快地，高兴地
lawn mower 割草机
leisure n .空闲
adjustment n .调整
keen adj .热心的，渴望的
screw n .螺丝钉
advisory adj .咨询的
dismantle v .拆卸
novice n .新手
chunk n .（厚）块
consumer n .消费者，顾客
snap v .绷断
assemble v .装配，组装
insurmountable adj .不能克服的，难以对付的
outlet n .出路
creative adj .创造性的
jigsaw n .线锯
handyman n .手巧的人，能工巧匠
nag v .唠叨不休
rust v .生锈
resourceful adj .足智多谋的
Passage:
So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming
increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a
subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the
right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own
homes. Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own
fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture. Some
really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers. Shops cater for the
do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices, but by
offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home. Such things
provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us
are born handymen.
现在我们自己动手做事的热情很高，结果对于专业工人的依赖越来越少了。由于
出版了不计其数的教人自己动手做事的书报杂志，没有人再能说对某事一无所知。
新婚夫妇找来合适的工具和材料，喜气洋洋地开始布置新房。特别是男人，常利
用空闲时间安装壁炉、布置花园、建造车库、制作家具。有些热衷于自己动手的
人甚至自己组装电脑。为了满足自己动手的需要，商店不仅为初学者提供专门的
咨询服务，而且为顾客准备了各种零件，供他们买回家去安装。这些东西为人们
潜在的创造力提供了一个绝妙的用武之地。但不幸的是，我们并非人人都是能工
巧匠。
Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix
anything. Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born
electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics. When lights fuse, furniture gets
rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, some women assume
that their husbands will somehow put things right. The worst thing about the
do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can
do anything, even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong. It is a question of
pride as much as anything else.
妻子常常认为她们的丈夫无比聪明能干。甚至那些连一枚钉子都钉不直的男人都
被认为是天生的电工、木匠、水管工和机械师。每当电灯保险丝烧断、家具榫头
松动、管道堵塞、吸尘器不动时，有些妻子认为丈夫总有办法。自己动手的例子
中最糟糕的是，有时甚至是男人尽管接连失败却还误以为自己什么都行，原因就
是要面子。
Notes:
1 So great is our passion for doing…, 这句话的基本句型是 so…that…引导的结果
状语从句，为了强调 great 这个词，把 so great 提到句首，因此主谓语要倒装。
2 embark on, 开始干。
3 lay out, 布置。
4 go so far as to(do), 竟到了……的程度。
5 cater for, 迎合。
In spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower. It had
broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got
round to it. I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself. One
Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As
far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment: a turn of a screw here, a little
tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair
job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to
dismantle it. The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made
up a lawn mower. But I was extremely pleased with myself. I had traced the cause of
the trouble. One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After
buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing
jigsaw puzzle together again. I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused
to work after I had reassembled it, for the simple reason that I was left with several
curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere. I gave up in
despair. The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do
something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the
grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buried
somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to
repair one day.
今年春天，妻子让我请人检查一下我家的割草机。那台割草机去年夏天就环了，
尽管我答应修，但一直没抽出时间。我不愿听妻子的建议，说我自己会修。一个
星期六的下午，我把割草机拉到了花园里，仔细检查了一番。在我看来，只需稍
加调整即可。这儿紧紧螺丝，那儿固定一下，再加几滴油，就会像新的一样了。
事实上，修理工作远不是那么简单。修完后割草机还是纹丝不动。于是，我决定
把它拆开。一会儿工夫，割草机便被拆成一个个金属零件，乱七八糟地堆在花园
里。但我却非常高兴，因为我找到了毛病所在。驱动轮子的链条断了一节。我买
来一根新链条后，面临的就是如何把这些令人眼花缭乱的拼板重新组装起来。等
我装完后，那台割草机仍然一动不动，对此我倒并不感到吃惊。原因很简单，因
为还剩下几个形状奇特的零件似乎哪里也装不上去。我无可奈何，只好罢休。几
个星期过去了，草长了起来。妻子喋喋不休地让我想点办法。我告诉她，要么买
一台新割草机，要么让草长下去。不用说，我家现在已被丛林包围。深草丛中的
某个地方有一台正在生锈的割草机，那就是我曾答应某日要修理的割草机。
Notes:
6 get round to, 抽出时间，腾空。
7 I would not hear, 我不愿意听。
8 jigsaw puzzle, 拼板玩具。
46.2【阅读理解】Do it yourself
Step 2: Comprehension questions.
1 Are we becoming less dependent on specialized labour? (Yes, we are.)
2 Why can no one plead ignorance of a subject any longer? (Because there are
countless do-it-yourself publications.)
3 What do many newlyweds embark on? (Decorating their own homes.)
4 What do some really keen enthusiasts do? (They build their own computers.)
5 Do shops run special advisory services for novices? (Yes, they do.)
6 What else do they offer consumers? (Bits and pieces which they can assemble at
home.)
7 What do some wives assume that their husbands can do? (Fix anything.)
8 What are most men supposed to be? Born…? (Born electricians, carpenters,
plumbers and mechanics.)
9 Why did the author's wife suggest that he 'call in a man”? (To look at their lawn
mower.)
10 Had the author repaired it the previous summer? (No, he hadn't.)
11 Did the author decide to fix it himself? (Yes, he did.)
12 As far as he could see, did it need a major or a minor adjustment? (A minor
adjustment.)
13 Was the repair job that simple? (No, it wasn't.)
14 Why did he decide to dismantle the lawn mower? (Because it refused to mow.)
15 What was the cause of the trouble? (One of the links in the chain that drives the
wheels had snapped.)
16 What did he do after he bought a new a chain? (He put the thing together again.)
17 What did the machine do after he had reassembled it? (It still refused to work.)
18 Did the author give up? (Yes, he did.)
19 Is the house now surrounded by a beautiful lawn? (No, it's surrounded by a jungle.)
20 And where is the lawn mower? (Somewhere deep in the grass waiting to be
repaired.)
46.3【拓展写作】Do it yourself
Step 3: Composition
Write a composition in about 300 words on the following:
• Describe a similar 'do-it-yourself' experience of your own.
Key to composition
Title: The dripping tap
Introduction: Dripping tap—didn't want to call in a plumber— charge a lot of money
—so did it myself—surely a fairly easy job—what can go wrong?
Development: First thing—turn off water at mains—couldn't find it—finally found it
under the kitchen sink—never noticed it before—turned it off
Turned on kitchen tap—stopped running—unscrewed tap—took off old washer—new
washer wouldn't go on—cut it a little—went on, no problem—put everything back
together — turned on mains—pleased —five minutes later, tap started dripping worse
than ever
Conclusion: Never again — will always call in professional
Composition
Friends have often told me that one of the simplest plumbing jobs in a house is
changing the washer dripping tap. We had a dripping tap in the kitchen. It had been
dripping for weeks. I didn't want to call in a plumber because they charge a lot of
money, so I decided to do it myself. Surely, it's a fairly easy job, I thought. What can
go wrong!
I really did not think that it would be difficult. I knew that the first thing I had to
do was to turn off the water at the mains. Unfortunately, I couldn't find where to turn
off the water. Was it under the sink in our kitchen? Or was it outside somewhere?
Eventually I found it under the kitchen sink on a pipe coming up from the ground that
I had never noticed before.
When I had turned off the mains tap, I turned on the kitchen tap until it stopped
running. So far, so good! Then I gaily embarked on the task of unscrewing the tap and
taking off the old washer. When I tried to put the new washer on, however, I realized
that I had a problem. Whatever I did, it just wouldn't go on. So I cut it a little and it
went on with no I problem. Then I put everything back together and turned on the
mains. I was so pleased with myself — until, five minutes later, the tap started
dripping worse than ever.
As a result of the experience, I have made a decision. I will never attempt to
change a washer again, and I will call in a professional for any plumbing, building or
electrical job that ever needs doing in the house.
课外练习：
1 why did the writer's wife suggest calling in a man to look at the mower?
(a) To get her husband to mend it, believing him to be a born carpenter.
(b) She had forgotten that her husband had promised to mend it.
(c) She suspected it would otherwise remain unrepaired and the grass uncut.
(d) Her husband had repeatedly tried mending it already without success.
2 The writer decided to dismantle the mower because .
(a)it was a Saturday and he had the time to spare
(b) he had discovered the cause of the trouble
(c) he thought it was a sure way of proving it would not work
(d) what repairs he had already carried out had not proved adequate
3 The writer's house is now surrounded by jungle because .
(a) he lost several pieces of the mower in the process of dismantling it
(b) by now the lawn mower is too rusty to cut the grass with
(c) besides not having cut the grass, he has failed to cut down the trees
(d) his wife was not prepared to let him buy a new lawn mower
4- that we are dependent on specialized labour as we used to be. (l. 1-2)
(a) increasingly less
(b) becoming not so
(c) not nearly as
(d) becoming less
5 Whatever it is, a fused light, furniture, a clogged pipe, a broken-down
vacuum cleaner, wives automatically assume...
(a) shaked
(b) a shaken
(c) a shaky
(d) shaky
6 -my wife said to me: ‘Darling, call someone in to look at the lawn
mower?’(1. 18)
(a) why don't you.
(b) why you don't
(c) would you be kind to
(d) do you kindly
7 -which I have promised to get round one day. (1. 19)
(a) to repair it
(b) to repairing
(c) repairing
(d) to repairing it
8 To plead ignorance of a subject is no longer a , for there are ... (l. 2-4)
(a) wise precaution
(b) literary discussion
(c) legitimate excuse
(d) reasonable allowance
9 Men, spend hours of their leisure time on do-it-yourself. (l. 6-7)
(a) mostly
(b) especially
(c) rather
(d) specially
10 Some women assume that their husbands will somehow put things .
(a) in order
(b) well
(c) in straight
(d) correctly
11 I was left with bits of metal which did not seem to anywhere. 1. 28)
(a) fasten
(b) suit
(c) go
(d) fix
12 , our house is now surrounded by jungle. (l. 30-31)
(a) As a matter of fact
(b) As you can imagine
(c) As a result
(d) As a last resort
答案：1c 2d 3d 4c 5d 6a 7b 8c 9b 10a 11c 12b