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李薇 譯注

On February 2nd, in a few small towns in Canada and the USA, people gather to see if a groundhog (an animal that looks like a big mouse) comes out of his hole in the ground and sees his shadow. It's a kind of local festival. The most famous one is in Pennsylvania in the USA. Newspapers and TV news shows talk about it, and there was a famous movie about it called, of course, Groundhog Day.

A: This winter is really dragging on. I hate the cold.

B: They say it’ll be cold all week.

A: That’s a drag. When will this winter end?

B: Well, it’s February already and we might get an early spring. We’ll know tomorrow for sure.

A: Why? What’s tomorrow?

B: It’s Groundhog Day.

A: What’s that? I’ve never heard of it.

B: Every February 2nd, the groundhog comes out of his burrow.

A: What’s a groundhog?

B: An animal. If he sees his shadow, he goes back inside to continue sleeping and there’ll be six more weeks of winter. But, if it’s a cloudy day, he stays out and spring will come soon. The forecast calls for clouds tomorrow!

A: Is this true? It sounds implausible.

B: It’s a legend. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but their prediction is pretty accurate. They’re spot-on, most of the time.

A: What if different groundhogs disagree? There are lots of them, right?

B: There are a few famous ones. Some small towns have a special pet groundhog they use. They have a festival every February 2nd. Journalists and school kids come to see if the groundhog sees his shadow.

A: So, Groundhog Day is a kind of tourist attraction, right?

B: Yes, it’s lots of fun, and profitable for small-town hotels.

A: What does a groundhog look like? I’ve never seen one.

B: It’s a small animal. It looks like a big fat mouse. They live underground and hibernate in winter. I think they mainly live in the countryside.

A: They sound delicious. Are they in the supermarket?

Groundhog Day: 〈主美〉土撥鼠日，一般為2月2日，據說土撥鼠于該日出洞，如天晴而看見自己的影子，就回洞繼續冬眠，冬天也將延續6周；如天陰，則預示春天將早日來臨。

Exercise

1. drag on a. very pleasant and enjoyable to taste

2. burrow b. a guess about the future

3. call for c. professionals guess about the weather

4. implausible d. not impossible but difficult to believe and
therefore unlikely to be true

5. legend e. an informal way to mean exactly right

6. prediction f. keeps being right and correct, no mistakes

7. accurate g. time passes very slowly and boringly

8. spot-on h. very old story. Is it true? Some people think so.

9. journalist i. sleep all winter

10. tourist attraction j. most of the time/most of the group

11. profitable k. this business can make good money

12. hibernate l. animal makes a long, deep hole in the ground

13. mainly m. famous place made for travellers to see

14. delicious n. a reporter (TV news, or newspaper)

Answers: 1–g, 2–l, 3–c, 4–d, 5–h, 6–b, 7–f, 8–e, 9–n, 10–m, 11–k, 12–i, 13–j, 14–a

Usage Tips

1. legend是“傳說，傳奇故事”的意思，這樣的故事往往都很古老，且口口相傳、家喻戶曉，但未必都是真實的，比如英國兩個著名的傳說：羅賓漢（Robin Hood）劫富濟貧的故事和亞瑟王（King Arthur）與圓桌騎士尋找圣杯的傳說。同時，legend還可指“傳奇中的人”，如：He has already become a legend in his homeland.（他在自己的祖國已變成了一個傳奇人物。）

2. 如果說某件事implausible，這就意味著它是令人難以置信的事情，不大可能是真實的，比如：an implausible excuse（難以叫人相信的借口）；A story that you don’t have your homework because a dog ate it is totally implausible.（你的作業本被狗狗吃掉的這種說法真是讓人難以相信。）該詞與impossible的關鍵區別在于：如用implausible，說明還存在一定的可能性，而impossible則著重強調根本“不可能發生”這層含義。

3. drag指“用力或慢慢地拖，拉”，如拖著椅子，就可以說：drag a chair。當形容時間過得很慢時，用drag這個詞就能非常形象生動地表達出“痛苦乏味地捱過時間”的含義。20世紀60年代，“It’s a drag”這一說法在美國俚語中流行起來，它的意思是“令人厭倦（或討厭）的、不好的小事”，如: It’s a drag that I have a cold, so I can’t come to your party!（真夠郁悶的，我得了感冒，所以不能參加你的聚會了。）

（來源：英語學習雜志）