各位親愛的聽眾朋友，歡迎來到《點滴英語天天學》！我是Juliet。在今后的日子里，Juliet將帶您體驗美國紐約大學，美國哈弗大學的《原味美語》口語課堂的學習內容。Let's go!

Jane告訴了Nancy：Ken終于向Debbie求婚了，下個月就結婚。那么Nancy是什么反映呢？我們來聽Nancy說的一番話：

You've got to be kidding. Ken is so much older than she is. He's robbing the cradle. Well, Debbie has always wanted a sugar daddy and now she's going to have one. I have to admit, they do seem crazy about each other. I mean, they'er always making out in public.

Nancy 說的這段話是什么意思呢？我們暫且不管，先來學習四個美語原味表述：rob the cradle，sugar daddy，be crazy about，make out。今天，我們先來學習：rob the cradle。

我們經常說的“老牛吃能嫩草”就是rob the cradle. To rob the cradle means to date someone who is much younger than oneself. 譯為：和比自己年級小的異性約會。我們通過下面的例句來熟悉它的意思和把握它的運用：

1. Are you sure it doesn't bother you how much older I am? I feel like people are judging me for robbing the cradle.（你真的不介意我的年齡嗎？我感覺別人總是拿我和年齡小的人約會來數落我。）

解析句式：Are you sure +從句：表示“你確認......”“你肯定......”的意思。例如：Are you sure you are dialing the right number? （你確定你打的號碼是對的嗎？）

解析句式：It doesn't bother you+從句表示“某人不會介意某事”。從句是主語從句，it 是形式主語。例如：It didn't bother you that I was singing while you studying this afternoon. （你不介意今天下午你在學習的時候我在唱歌嗎？）

解析短語：feel like：想做某事 例如：I feel like going to Europe for a visit next summer vacation.（我好想明年暑假去一趟歐洲。）Enough said. If you feel like working here, you only have to say so.（不用多說了，如果你愿意在這里工作，照直說好了。）

解析短語：judge sb. for something：由于某事而判斷某人好或者壞

2. Uncle Bill, who is nearly eighty, married a thirty-year-old woman. That is really robbing the cradle.（將近80歲的叔叔Bill取了一個年紀僅僅30歲的女人，這真是老牛吃嫩草了！）

解析語法：who is nearly eighty是非限定性定語從句，補充說明主語Bill的年齡情況。

我們再來看一個小對話：

A: I hear that Bill is dating Ann. （我聽說Bill要和Ann約會。）

B: Isn't that sort of robbing the cradle? She's much younger than he is. （這不就是有點老牛吃嫩草嗎？她比他年輕很多啊！）

解析短語：sort of的意思是“有點，稍稍”，表示一定的程度。例如：I sort of regarded that as mainly a business relationship.（我多少認為這主要是工作關系。）

Rob the cradle在口語中可以使用，屬于非正式書面用語。那么，Nancy說到的“He's robbing the cradle.”用標準書面英語來如何說呢？我們可以用“dating someone so much younger than he is”來進行表述。

我們今天的學習就到此結束了，明天Juliet繼續說美語“be crazy about someone”，不見不散哦！Bye for now!