Lesson 54 Sticky fingers 粘糊的手指 冠词

The children were at school, my husband was at work and the house was quiet.

• at school ^在上学
• at work ^在上班
• at home ^在家休息

school 和 work 前都不加冠词，因为不是指具体那个学校或具体干什么工作，只是泛指他们在干什么。home 为副词，所以也不加冠词。

In a short time I was busy mixing butter and flour and my hands were soon covered with sticky pastry.

be busy doing sth. ^{忙于做某事}

• Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a short time, she was busy eating.
• Meanwhile, my tongue was busy searching out the hole where the tooth had been.
• I hate to interrupt a man when he's busy working, but would you mind coming with me to the station?

be covered with… ^盖满…

• He picked up a long pipe which was covered with coins and opened one of the baskets.

At exactly that moment, the telephone rang.

at exactly that moment ^{就在那时，恰恰在此时}

• That’s exactly what I wanted to tell you.

Nothing could have been more annoying.

I picked up the receiver between two sticky fingers and was dismayed when I recognized the voice of Helen Bates.

pick up the receiver ^{捡起、拾起话筒、拿起听筒、话筒}

• The receiver had already clicked into place.^{听筒咔的一声放回原位了。}
• She picked up the receiver and started to dial.^{她拿起听筒开始拨号。}

It took me ten minutes to persuade her to ring back later.

At last I hung up the receiver.

I had no sooner got back to the kitchen than the doorbell rang loud enough to wake the dead.

no sooner…than… = hardly…when… ^{刚…就…（用于过去完成时）}

The + 形容词^{（表一类共同特性的人）}

有些形容词可以用于 the 之后（决不能用于 a/an 之后），表示作为整体的群体（一类），如 the blind，the deaf， the living，the dead，the rich，the poor，the young，the old。这些形容词后要跟复数动词，不可用这些形容词本身来指个体。

• The Government always makes sure that the old are cared for. ^{政府总是确保老年人得到照顾。}
• This is a special school for the deaf. ^{这是一所特殊的聋哑学校}
• Sam is a young man with a lot of money. ^{萨姆是一个很有钱的年轻人（指单数个体）}