Level 3 · Reading series
Lesson 3 · One Question After Class
Audio track 03
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
Open the English passage and hover for word help
Mina: I knew every word in the sentence, but it still confused me.
Teacher: Which word stopped you?
Mina: “Charged.” I thought it meant putting power into a battery.
Teacher: The sentence was, “The shop charged us for the paper bag.” What happened?
Mina: A customer paid for a paper bag at a shop.
Teacher: Then what could “charged” mean here?
Mina: The shop asked the customer to pay.
Teacher: Exactly. One word can have more than one meaning.
Mina: So the words around it are clues.
Teacher: Yes. Before you open a dictionary, look at the whole situation.
Mina: I was trying to remember a list. Now I can read the story.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
米娜： 这句话里的每个单词我都认识，可我还是没读懂。
老师： 是哪个词让你停住了？
米娜： ‘Charged’。我以为它是给电池充电的意思。
老师： 原句是‘The shop charged us for the paper bag.’。这里发生了什么？
米娜： 有位顾客在商店为纸袋付了钱。
老师： 那这里的 charged 可能是什么意思？
米娜： 商店要求顾客付款。
老师： 没错。一个词可以有不止一种意思。
米娜： 所以，周围的词就是线索。
老师： 对。查词典之前，先看看整个情境。
米娜： 我刚才只想背住词义表。现在我能读懂这个故事了。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- confuse
- 使人困惑；it confused me 指‘它让我弄不明白’。
- stop someone
- 使某人读不下去；Which word stopped you? 问的是‘哪个词卡住了你’。
- charge
- 这里指收费、索取费用；同一个词也可以表示‘充电’。
- power
- 电力；putting power into a battery 指给电池补充电能。
- battery
- 电池；文中用它引出 charge 的另一个词义。
- customer
- 顾客；在商店购买商品或服务的人。
- pay for
- 为……付款；pay for a paper bag 是‘为纸袋付钱’。
- mean
- 意思是；老师让米娜判断 charged 在这句话里是什么意思。
- clue
- 线索；周围的词可以帮助判断多义词的词义。
- whole situation
- 整个情境；不要只看单个词，还要看谁在做什么。
Background notes (Chinese)
charge 可以表示‘充电’，也可以表示‘收费’。如果只套用最先背过的词义，纸袋那句话就说不通。结合商店、顾客和付款这些线索，才能选出符合语境的解释。