Practical English 实用英语
 

      Push the boat out（大肆庆祝）

     在重要的节日或纪念日里，我们常会到餐馆大吃一顿或买些好吃的来庆祝。在英语中，这种做法可以用“push the boat out”来表示。
     “push the boat out”意思就是“慷慨而奢侈地花费”，不过它跟“paint the town red”的意思不同，后者意为“狂欢、胡闹”；而前者表示“虽然出去玩乐，但并不是以一种不负责任的方式”，强调“花费虽然大，但也是必要的”。例如：
     Jack has just passed his exams and wants to push the boat out by inviting us all out for a celebratory dinner. 杰克通过了考试，他打算请我们出去大吃一顿来庆祝。


      如何回答“How are you ？”

    很多人在听到别人问“How are you？”的时候，下意识的反应就是“Fine, thank you. And you？”其实这句问候可以有很多种回答，一起来看一下吧。
     1. If you must know, I feel terrible.
     如果你一定要知道的话，我感觉糟透了。
      2. Actually I’m a bit under the weather.
     实际上我有点不舒服。
     3. Been better.
     不太理想。
     4. Not bad.
    还不错。
    5. So-so.
    一般般吧。
    6. I’m better than I deserve.
    挺好。
    7. Fine, thank you for asking.
    很好，谢谢关心。
   8. Right as rain.
    一切顺利。
    9. Better than ever.
    好得不能再好了。
    10. I am just wonderful!
    我感觉好极了！


     Read for fun 轻松阅读


      Virtual fitting room“试衣魔镜”

    俄罗斯一家公司发明了一款“试衣魔镜”，到底它有什么好处呢？
      Getting undressed to try on clothes in shops could be a thing of the past thanks to a high-tech new invention.
     A Russian company has invented what is called a “virtual fitting room”, which projects a 3D image of the clothes onto the shopper as they stand before a screen.
Shoppers can even change clothes without moving, simply turning their hand on virtual buttons on the screen to change clothes.（肖燕玲）

     Culture 

      Father's Day

      Father’s Day is a fairly new celebration in the British calendar compared with Mother’s Day, which has been a very popular and well celebrated festival in the UK for a very long time.
       The origins of the celebration are American and it was inspired by the actions of a man named William Smart. He was a veteran of the US Civil War and his wife died giving birth to their sixth child. He raised six children alone without remarrying, which was undoubtedly unusual back in those days.
His daughter, Sonora Dodd, realized when she was an adult what her father had sacrificed for his children. It was in the early 1900s and she was actually at church one day, listening to a sermon on Mother’s Day. She thought there should also be a Father’s Day celebration.
　　And so the tradition was born, on the third Sunday every June, close to the anniversary of Sonora’s father’s death. Britain took the idea of Father’s Day from the American celebration and it has been celebrated officially since the 1970s.（泳　清）