A Very Dear Cat 一只貴重的寶貝貓

Kidnappers are rarely interested in animals, but they recently took considerable interest in Mrs. Eleanor Ramsay's cat. Mrs. Eleanor Ramsay, a very wealthy old lady, has shared a flat with her cat, Rastus, for a great many years. Rastus leads an orderly life. He usually takes a short walk in the evenings and is always home by seven o'clock. One evening, however, he failed to arrive. Mrs. Ramsay got very worried. She looked everywhere for him but could not find him.
Three days after Rastus' disappearance, Mrs. Ramsay received an anonymous letter. The writer stated that Rastus was in safe hands and would be returned immediately if Mrs. Ramsay paid a ransom of $1,000. Mrs. Ramsay was instructed to place the money in a cardboard box and to leave it outside her door. At first she decided to go to the police, but fearing that she would never see Rastus again -- the letter had made that quite clear-she changed her mind. She withdrew $1000 from her bank and followed the kidnapper's instructions. The next morning, the box had disappeared but Mrs. Ramsay was sure that the kidnapper would keep his word. Sure enough, Rastus arrived punctually at seven o'clock that evening. He looked very well though he was rather thirsty, for he drank half a bottle of milk. The police were astounded when Mrs. Ramsay told them what she had done. She explained that Rastus was very dear to her. Considering the amount she paid, he was dear in more ways than one!

1.Kidnappers are rarely interested in animals, but they recently took considerable interest in Mrs. Eleanor Ramsay's cat.

綁架者很少對(duì)動(dòng)物感興趣。最近，綁架者卻盯上了埃莉諾.拉姆齊太太的貓。

語言點(diǎn)1:be interested in 表示“對(duì)…感興趣”

語言點(diǎn)2:由kidnapper一詞拓展學(xué)習(xí):

kidnap case 綁架案
kill hostage 撕票
take sb.out of circulation 綁架某人
take …h(huán)ostage 把…扣作人質(zhì)
exchage hostages 交換人質(zhì)

2.Mrs.Eleanor Ramsay, a very wealthy old lady, has shared a flat with her cat, Rastus, for a great many years.

埃莉諾.拉姆齊太太是一個(gè)非常富有的老婦人，多年來，一直同她養(yǎng)的貓拉斯一起住在一所公寓里。

語言點(diǎn)1:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:a very wealthy old lady是Mrs.Eleanor Ramsay的同位語;Rastus是her cat的同位語，起解釋說明的作用。For a great many years放在句尾，一是為了強(qiáng)調(diào)時(shí)間很長，二是為了與現(xiàn)在完成時(shí)has shared形成用法上的呼應(yīng)。

語言點(diǎn)2:rich只表示有錢，而wealthy則表示十分富有，相關(guān)的表達(dá)還有:fat-cat有錢有勢(shì)的人。

3.Rastus leads an orderly life.

拉斯特斯生活很有規(guī)律。

語言點(diǎn):orderly從結(jié)構(gòu)上看像副詞，但實(shí)際上是形容詞。