情景對話：

A: Where's Tom?

湯姆去哪了？

B: He set about his homework after school and hasn't finished it yet.

放學后他就開始做作業(yè)了，還沒做完。

A: I don't know why the teacher assigns so much homework!

真不明白老師為什么要布置那么多的作業(yè)！

B: That will do him good.

都是為他好。

第一，詞海拾貝

set about

exp. To undertake a task; to begin doing something. （開始做……）

Usage：set about是動詞短語，about是介詞，后面接名詞，即：set about something，也可以接動名詞，即：set about doing something。

如果在set和about之間加上表示人的名詞或代詞則表示“使某人開始做某事”，即：set someone about something/doing something。

e.g. After the meeting, I'll set about writing a draft of the report.

會后，我將著手草擬這份報告的草稿。

e.g. They set about cleaning the house from top to bottom before their guests arrived.

他們在客人到來之前就開始把房子徹底打掃了一遍。

e.g. When they heard the police sirens, they all set about saving their own skins.

聽到警車號笛，他們便開始紛紛逃竄。

e.g. They got scorched out by and by, and drearily set about getting breakfast.

不久他們就曬得很熱了，大家怪無聊地開始弄早飯吃。

變異：set someone about something/doing something

e.g. I set the boys about raking up the leaves.

我讓孩子們把樹葉耙起來。

e.g. She set herself about repairing the damaged machine.

她逼迫自己著手修理損壞的機器。

第二，語匯積累

after school：放學后

e.g. The teacher punished the noisy children by making them stay after school.

老師用放學后留學生的辦法懲罰那些吵鬧的孩子。

e.g. They walked home together after school as usual, both of them looking grim.

放學后他倆象往常一樣一起踱步回家，看上去兩個人都愁眉不展。