One man's meat is another man's poison

原文

Lesson 23

One man's meat is another man's poison

What was it about snails that made the writer collect them for his friend on that day in particular?

People become quite illogical when they try to decide what can be eaten and what cannot be eaten.

If you lived in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus a great delicacy.

You would not be able to understand why some people find it repulsive.

On the other hand, your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fat-the normally accepted practice in many northern countries.

The sad truth is that most of us have been brought up to eat certain foods and we stick to them all our lives.

No creature has received more praise and abuse than the common garden snail.

Cooked in wine, snails are a great luxury in various parts of the world.

There are countless people who, ever since their early years, have learned to associate snails with food.

My friend, Robert, lives in a country where snails are despised.

As his flat is in a large town, he has no garden of his own.

For years he has been asking me to collect snails from my garden and take them to him.

The idea never appealed to me very much, but one day, after a heavy shower,

I happened to be walking in my garden when I noticed a huge number of snails taking a stroll on some of my prize plants.

Acting on a sudden impulse, I collected several dozen, put them in a paper bag, and took them to Robert.

Robert was delighted to see me and equally pleased with my little gift.

I left the bag in the hall and Robert and I went into the living room where we talked for a couple of hours.

I had forgotten all about the snails when Robert suddenly said that I must stay to dinner.

Snails would, of course, be the main dish.

I did not fancy the idea and I reluctantly followed Robert out of the room.

To our dismay,

we saw that there were snails everywhere:

they had escaped from the paper bag

and had taken complete possession of the hall! I have never be able to look at a snail since then.

译文

第23课

一个人的佳肴，另一个人的毒药。

究竟是蜗牛的什么特性，让作者在那天特意为他的朋友收集了它们呢？

当人们试图决定什么能吃、什么不能吃时，他们的想法会变得非常不合逻辑。

例如，如果你生活在地中海地区，你会认为章鱼是一种非常美味的佳肴。

你无法理解为什么有些人会觉得它令人反感。

另一方面，一想到要用动物油脂来煎土豆，你就会感到恶心——而在许多北方国家，这种做法却是被普遍接受的。

令人遗憾的事实是，我们大多数人都被教导要吃某些特定的食物，并且一生都坚持吃这些食物。

没有哪种生物像普通的花园蜗牛那样，既备受赞誉，又饱受诟病。

用葡萄酒烹制的蜗牛，在世界各地都被视为一种高级的美食。

有无数的人，从很小的时候起，就学会了将蜗牛与食物联系在一起。

我的朋友罗伯特住在一个人们非常厌恶蜗牛的国家。

由于他的公寓位于一个较大的城镇里，所以他并没有自己的花园。

多年来，他一直让我从我的花园里采集蜗牛，然后带给他。

这个想法我一直不太感兴趣，但有一天，在一场大雨之后……

我正好在花园里散步，突然发现大量的蜗牛正在我的那些珍贵的植物上爬来爬去。

一时冲动之下，我收集了几十只蜗牛，把它们装进一个纸袋里，然后拿给了罗伯特。

罗伯特见到我非常高兴，对我的小礼物也同样感到满意。

我把袋子放在门厅里，然后和罗伯特一起进了客厅，我们在那里聊了两个小时。

我完全把那些蜗牛的事给忘了，直到罗伯特突然说：“你必须留下来吃晚饭。”

当然，蜗牛会是主菜。

我并不喜欢这个主意，但还是不情愿地跟着罗伯特走出了房间。

令我们惊恐的是……

我们发现到处都有蜗牛。

它们从那个纸袋里逃出来了。

并且完全占领了门厅！从那以后，我再也没法看蜗牛了。

0:00

词汇表

illogical

形容词

英:/ɪˈlɒdʒɪk(ə)l/

美:/ɪˈlɑːdʒɪk(ə)l/

定义

1. 不合理的；不合逻辑的 - Not using or following reason; not logical.

例子: People become quite illogical when deciding what to eat.

例子: His illogical fear of spiders prevents him from going outside.

2. 缺乏理性的 - Lacking sense or clear reasoning.

例子: The decision was illogical and based on emotions.

例子: In arguments, people can become illogical under stress.

近义词

irrational: 强调缺乏理性，常用于情绪驱动的决定，而 'illogical' 更侧重于不符合逻辑结构。

unreasonable: 暗示不公平或不合常理，'illogical' 则更中性地指不符合推理。

absurd: 带有强烈的情感色彩，意味着荒谬或可笑，'illogical' 则更客观。

反义词:

logical, rational, sensible

用法

常用于描述行为或决策在逻辑上不一致，常出现在讨论情感或文化偏见时；语境多为非正式或分析性讨论。

形式:

副词: illogically, 名词形式: illogicality

关键句型 "If + past simple, would + infinitive"

定义

此句型是第二条件句的典型结构，用于描述不真实或假设的现在/未来情况。结构为：If + 过去式动词（如 lived），后跟主句 would + 动词原形（如 would consider）。根据《剑桥英语语法手册》，这是一种虚拟语气表达，强调条件不成立时的结果，帮助学习者讨论假设场景。例如，文章中的 "If you lived in the Mediterranean, you would consider octopus a great delicacy" 展示了这种用法。

它常用于表达建议、愿望或虚构情景，适合描述现实中不太可能发生的事。

用法

此句型主要用于假设当前或未来的情况，但前提是条件不真实。规则：从句用 If + 过去式（如 If I had），主句用 would + 动词原形（如 would go）。在语法体系中，它属于条件句家族，与第一条件句（If + 现在式，will + 动词）形成对比，后者用于真实可能的情况。

横向比较：与第一条件句（如 "If it rains, I will stay home"）相比，此句型更虚构，语气更委婉；与第三条件句（如 "If I had known, I would have helped"）相比，它聚焦现在/未来而非过去。跨语法联系：它涉及情态动词 would，可与其他情态动词结合（如 could 或 might），例如 "If I won the lottery, I might travel the world"，从而扩展到更复杂的假设表达。

学生可以通过这种句型练习虚拟语气，连接到日常生活假设中，如饮食偏好讨论。

注意事项

学生常犯的错误包括：混淆时态，如用现在式代替过去式（错误："If you live in the Mediterranean, you would consider..."），导致句意不准确；或遗漏 would，使句子变成陈述句。纠正建议：始终记住从句用过去式表示虚拟，主句用 would + 动词原形。另一个常见偏误是使用在真实条件下，如描述确定事件，建议练习区分真实与虚拟。

例如：

错误示例：If you live in the Mediterranean, you consider octopus a great delicacy.  // 这听起来像事实，不是假设。
正确示例：If you lived in the Mediterranean, you would consider octopus a great delicacy.  // 强调假设情景。

在口语中，学生可能忘记保持一致的虚拟语气，建议通过录音练习纠正。

练习

原创例子：假设你在讨论食物偏好，可以说："If I lived in France, I would try snails regularly." 这模仿文章中对蜗牛的态度。学生可以替换关键词，如将 "lived in France" 换成 "traveled to Japan"，并改成 "If I traveled to Japan, I would eat sushi every day."，这样练习不同文化场景。

这种替换能帮助学生将句型应用到个人经历中，比如想象旅行或生活变化，加深对假设的掌握，并鼓励与朋友讨论以提升自信。

额外内容

背景知识：这种句型源于英语的虚拟语气传统，起源于古英语的亚实情态（subjunctive mood），在现代英语中简化了表达。文化对比：与中文的 "如果...就..." 类似，但英语更强调时态变化来突出虚拟性；与西班牙语的条件句相比，英语的 would 提供更直接的礼貌表达。在其他语言如法语中，类似结构（如 "Si j'habitais..."）也用于假设，帮助学生理解跨语言的共性，从而丰富对全球文化差异的认知，如文章中食物禁忌的讨论。