Lesson 55: Not a gold mine

Key words and expressions

• gold mine 金矿
• lost treasure 失踪宝藏
• revealer 探测器
• invent 发明
• detect 探测
• bury 埋藏
• pirate 海盗
• be armed with 用。。。装备起来的
• party 一群人
• soil 泥土
• worthless 毫无价值的
• tin trunk 铁皮箱
• confident 有信心的

Questions on the text

1. What has the machine ‘The Revealer’ been used to do?
   1. It has been used to detect gold.
2. Why did the search party go into a cave near the seashore?
   1. Because it is said that is where pirates used to hide gold.
3. What did the party find after searching the whole cave thoroughly?
   1. They only found a small gold coin and an empty tin trunk.

Language points

1. Dreams of finding lost treasure almost came true recently.

   1. come true
   2. The door came open.

2. The machine was used in a cave near the seashore where – it is said – pirates used to hide gold.

   1. – it is said – 插入语，起补充说明作用。破折号可以去掉。
   2. It is said that the house is haunted.
   3. use to do sth 过去常常做某事

3. The pirates would often bury gold in the cave and then fail to collect it.

   1. fail 前省略了would，是呈前省略。
   2. fail to do sth.: 没能做某事
      1. My dream failed to come true.
      2. If you receive a request like this, you cannot fail to obey it.
   3. collect 取走, 收取
      1. collect taxes 收税

4. The leader of the party was examining the soil near the entrance to the cave when the machine showed that there was gold under the ground.

   1. the entrance to the building 大楼的门口
   2. when
      1. We played outside till sunset, when it began to rain.

5. In spite of this, many people are confident taht ‘The Revealer’ may reveal something of value fairly soon.

   1. may 可能
   2. fairly, quite, rather, pretty, very 程度副词，逐渐加强
      1. The bed is fairly soft.

6. Armed with the new machine, a search party went into the cave hoping to find the buried treasure.

   1. be armed with 用。。。装备起来。这里省略了being。
      1. Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed.
      2. Very excited, the party dug a hole two feet deep.
   2. hoping 现在分词短语，也表示伴随状况

Key structures and usage

would do sth.过去习惯性动作/used to do sth.

1. Pirates would often bury gold in the cave and then failt to collect it.
2. He would sit for hours doing nothing.
3. When I was young I used to have a lot more free time than I do now. I used to live near my work and would always get hgome early. Sometimes I would do a bit of gardening or go for a long walk.

分词短语

1. A new machine called ‘The Revealer’ has been invented.
   1. 过去分词短语
2. Armed with the new machine, a search party went into the cave hoping to find buried treasure.
   1. 过去/现在分词短语
3. Very excited, the party dug a hole two feet deep.

Extension

Where there is a will, there is a way.