随身英语.PDFVIP

Take Away English 30 March 2011 随身英语 The Worlds Loudest Cat? 这只英国猫可能是世界上嗓门最大的 英语学习点: Phrases Describing Volume 形容音量的短语 Whats that loud, droning noise? Is it a telephone? Or maybe a pigeon? No, its Smokey. This English cat might soon be named the worlds loudest purrer after she made an official attempt at a world record. Can you guess why Smokey is called Smokey? Smokeys strident purr was recorded as being an ear-splitting 73 decibels. To put that in context, normal room atmosphere is a hushed 40 decibels, whereas a jet engine is a deafening 120 decibels. Smokeys purr is roughly the same volume as a loud telephone ring and 16 times louder than a normal cat. The 12-year-old was recorded by a sound expert in front of four witnesses. Smokeys owner, Ruth Adams, said that her cat was surprisingly timid for an animal that makes such a racket. Smokey is actually quite camera-shy so I was very conscious not to upset her during the record attempt, so we kept it all very calm and low-key. Smokey may enjoy a calm atmosphere but shes certainly not as quiet as a mouse... or indeed any pet that doesnt says boo. The evidence from Smokeys record attempt has now been submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records. With any luck, Smokey will have delivered a record-breaking purr-formance. 词汇表请参看答案与词汇部分 © British Broadcasting Corporation 2011 1/3 Quiz 测验 阅读短文并回答问题。 1. Is Smokey the worlds loudest cat? 2. True or false: Smokey is very loud and outgoing. 3. Why did Ruth Adams make sure the record attempt was low key? 4. Look at the article. Find a common idiom usually used to describe a quiet person. 5. In the last line, the word purr-formance is a pun. What is a pun? Exercise 练习 请大家从下面的方框里选择一个形容词来描述一个对应的物品或情况，（见下面的1-6）。 有些词是本文没有提到的，所以要猜测一下。 ear-splitting droning ro