02. Tuesdays with Morrie 共读 —— Sep 1, 2025
1. Acknowledgments
这一部分可以给论文致谢的英文表达提供很好的参考。
- I would like to acknowledge the enormous help given to me in creating this book.
“我想感谢在我写这本书过程中给予我巨大帮助的人/支持。
acknowledge the enormous help → “致谢、感谢巨大的帮助”，学术写作、书籍前言里很常见。
given to me in creating this book → 表示“在创作这本书的过程中给予我的帮助”。
其他可替换表达：
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance I received in writing this book.
I am deeply grateful for the enormous help I was given in creating this book.
- For their memories, their patience, and their guidance, I wish to thank Charlotte, Rob, and Jonathan Schwartz, Maurie Stein, Charlie Derber, Gordie Fellman, David Schwartz, Rabbi Al Axelrad, and the multitude of Morrie's friends and colleagues .
the multitude of + [plural noun] → 表示“一大群/大量的……”，更正式、更书面。
在这里，意思就是 “莫里的众多朋友和同事”。
用法举例：
the multitude of stars in the sky → 天空中无数的星星
the multitude of challenges we face → 我们面临的众多挑战
- Also, special thanks to Bill Thomas, my editor, for handling this project with just the right touch.
special thanks to ... 常见于致谢里，用来单独强调某个人。
with just the right touch 处理得恰到好处。touch 在这里表示 手法、风格、处理方式。
- And, as always, my appreciation to David Black, who often believes in me more than I do myself.
my appreciation to … 致谢中的替换表达
2. The Curriculum
curriculum /kəˈrɪkjʊləm/
- The last class of my old professor's life took place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience.
in the study 在书房
hibiscus plant 指的是 木槿属植物，中文一般翻译为 扶桑 或 木槿，具体取决于语境：
/hɪˈbɪs.kəs/
🌺 Hibiscus rosa-sinensis → 扶桑花（热带常见，花色鲜艳，大红最典型）
🌸 Hibiscus syriacus → 木槿（韩国国花，中国庭院里也常见）
The class met on Tuesdays.
met 在这里不是“见面”而是“开会、聚会”，即 the class took place 的意思。所以 The class met = “课程举行”。
on Tuesdays 表示习惯性、重复性 → 每周二。
- No grades were given, but there were oral exams each week. You were expected to respond to questions, and you were expected to pose questions of your own. You were also required to perform physical tasks now and then, such as lifting the professor's head to a comfortable spot on the pillow or placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Kissing him good-bye earned you extra credit.
隐喻 (Metaphor)： 把生命最后的交流描写成“课堂”
respond to questions 回答问题
pose = 提出（正式用词）pose questions 提出问题
now and then 时不时
the bridge of his nose 鼻梁
Kissing him good-bye 动名词短语作主语。good-bye 在这里是副词用法，修饰动作“kissing”。
类似结构：
wave good-bye（挥手告别）
kiss good-night（吻别，说晚安）
- A funeral was held in lieu of graduation.
举行了葬礼而不是毕业典礼。
in lieu of = “代替 / 取代”，正式、书面语，常用于法律、正式文件或文学里。
liue 两个发音 /ljuː/ 和 /luː/
常见替代表达（不同正式度）
- instead of（最常见，口语 & 书面都能用）
He chose tea instead of coffee. 他选择了茶，而不是咖啡。
- in place of（书面，但没那么正式）
She used yogurt in place of cream. 她用酸奶代替奶油。
- as a substitute for（更学术/正式）
Digital tools are increasingly used as a substitute for face-to-face interaction. 数字工具越来越被用来代替面对面交流。
- It is the late spring of 1979, a hot, sticky Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of us sit together, side by side, in rows of wooden folding chairs on the main campus lawn. We wear blue nylon robes. We listen impatiently to long speeches. When the ceremony is over, we throw our caps in the air, and we are officially graduated from college, the senior class of Brandeis University in the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. For many of us, the curtain has just come down on childhood.
sticky /ˈstɪk.i/ 此处指天气潮湿，也有黏腻的意思
lawn /lɔːn/ 草坪
Brandeis /ˈbrændaɪs/
Waltham /ˈwɔːlθæ̃m/
Massachusetts [ ,mæsə'tʃu:sits ]
the curtain has come down on... = “帷幕落下”，隐喻“某个阶段结束”。
- Afterward, I find Morrie Schwartz, my favorite professor, and introduce him to my parents. He is a small man who takes small steps, as if a strong wind could, at any time, whisk him up into the clouds. In his graduation day robe, he looks like a cross between a biblical prophet and a Christmas elf. He has sparkling blue green eyes, thinning silver hair that spills onto his forehead, big ears, a triangular nose, and tufts of graying eyebrows.
takes small steps 走路小碎步
whisk him up → whisk = 迅速带走/卷走
looks like a cross between A and B → 固定表达，= “介于 A 和 B 之间的混合体”。
biblical prophet → “圣经里的先知”。
Christmas elf → “圣诞精灵”。
👉 这里制造了一种强烈的对比幽默：庄严 vs 俏皮。
thinning silver hair that spills onto his forehead
thinning → 变稀疏。
spills onto → 动态感很强，好像头发“洒落到前额”。
tufts of graying eyebrows → tufts = 一绺/一撮，形容杂乱又有点滑稽的眉毛。
graying → 渐渐灰白
- Although his teeth are crooked and his lower ones are slanted back—as if someone had once punched them in—when he smiles it’s as if you’d just told him the first joke on earth.
crooked 形容词= 不整齐的、歪斜的。在这里修饰 teeth → “牙齿不齐”。
常见搭配：a crooked smile（歪嘴笑）、crooked nose（歪鼻子）。
slanted back
slanted = 倾斜的、歪斜的。back 作方向补语 → “向后倾斜”。
👉 下排牙齿“往里缩”的感觉。
the first joke on earth 强调“笑容的纯真、像第一次听到笑话一样”。
- Before we leave, I hand my professor a present, a tan briefcase with his initials on the front. I bought this the day before at a shopping mall.
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