When they're together, my five-year-old son and his cousin tend to cause mayhem. one Saturday, I put my foot down. "All right, you two," I said sternly. "No screaming , grabbing, whining, hitting, teasing, tattling, breaking toys, scratching or fighting."
As I turned to leave, I heard my son say, "C'mon, Steven, let's get dirty . "
Notes:
(1) tend to(do)倾向;趋向
(2) mayhem n.大混乱;大灾害
(3) put one's foot down开始抗议
(4) sternly adv.严厉地
(5) whine v.哭闹
(6) tease v.取笑
(7) tattle v.扯淡
Exercises:
根据短文回答下列问题:
① How old is the son?
② What do they tend to do when the son and his cousin are together?
③ What does "Put one's foot down" mean here?
④ Did the boy obey the father's order?
⑤ What did they do then?
让人无奈的孩子
我五岁的儿子和他的表弟在一起的时候,总要招来大乱。一个星期六,我开始抗议了。“好啦,你们两个,”我严厉地说,“不许叫喊,不许乱拿,不许哭闹,不许乱敲,不许取笑,不许扯淡,不许弄坏玩具,不许乱抓,不许打架。”
我刚转身要走,就听我儿子说:“来,斯蒂文,我们来把自己弄脏吧。”
练习参考答案:
① Five.
② They tend to cause mayhem.
③ it means "to make up one's mind to stop sth from happening".
④ No, he didn't
⑤ They began to get dirty.