新东方名师解析BBC新闻：麻辣小龙虾在中国
以下新闻摘自BBC官网(节选)Why China is crazy for crayfish
5 August 2015 Last updated at 03:19 BST
Over the past few years, China has found itself in the grip - or should
that be the claws - of a new food fad: the crayfish.
Crayfish restaurants and crayfish farms are booming.
State media says consumption in the city of Nanjing of the little
freshwater crustaceans has soared by 20% a year.
crazy for 对……非常着迷;很喜欢。也可以说成crazy about。
【例】He's still crazy about both his work and his hobbies.
他依然对自己的工作和爱好充满热情。
(来源：Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's Dictionary 5th Edition)
crayfish
小龙虾，美国英语叫crawfish。提到小龙虾，必须说一下麻辣小龙虾。由于西方人不怎么吃麻味，所以麻辣可简单地说成spicy就可以了。如果非得要翻译"麻"，比较地道的说法是tongue-numbing或mouth-numbing，字面意思是让舌头或让嘴有麻木的感觉。此外，"小龙虾"不能说成little
lobster，小龙虾和龙虾的亲缘关系并不近——小龙虾生活在淡水中，而龙虾生活在海水中，前者个头很小，后者个头很大。但它们的形状确实非常类似，如下图所示，左边是龙虾，右边是小龙虾。
over the past few years
在过去几年里。首先，over可以用during/for/in/within替换，而past可以用last替换，所以，根据乘法原理，“在过去...时间里”总共有5
× 2 = 10种表达方法，请大家记住这个总结。其次，这个结构一般和现在完成时或现在完成进行时搭配。
【例】The patient's condition has improved over the past 24 hours.
病人的状况在过去的24小时里有所好转。
(来源：MacMillan English Dictionary - American)
【例】During the last hour we have been receiving reports of an explosion in
the city center. 在过去的一小时里，我们一直收到有关市中心爆炸事件的报道。
(来源：MacMillan English Dictionary - American)
in the grip of
受……的控制。在这里有受控于小龙虾而无法自拔的意思，可以理解为“小龙虾控”。grip有“紧紧抓住”的意思，是一个名词。由于写的是小龙虾，而小龙虾有钳子claw，也会让人联想到“紧紧抓住”。换句话说，作者想说China
has found itself in the claws of crayfish，暗指有些中国人变成了小龙虾控，就像被小龙虾的钳子夹住而无法摆脱一样。
【例】people in the grip of disease, despair, etc 疾病缠身、陷于绝望等的人们
(来源：Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary)
fad (有可能不会持续太久的)时尚、爱好或狂热等
【例】There was a fad for wearing ripped jeans a few years ago.
前些年，有人很热衷于穿破洞牛仔裤。
(来源：Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
boom 快速发展;兴旺发达
【例】Business is booming. 商业正在迅速发展。
(来源：Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary)
consumption(食物、能量、资源等的)消耗
【例】The meat was declared unfit for human consumption. 这种肉已宣布不适宜人们食用。
(来源：Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary)
crustacean 甲壳纲动物(如蟹、虾)
soar 迅速增长;猛增
【例】Prices are soaring. 物价飞涨。
(来源：Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary)
“State media says consumption in the city of Nanjing of the little
freshwater crustaceans has soared by 20% a
year.”这个句子可以总结出一个引用统计数据的句型，用在托福独立写作中：
媒体名称 says consumption in 地点 of 消耗的东西 has soared by 增加的量和时间跨度.
例如，想表达大城市的上班族压力越来越大，睡眠不足，通过喝咖啡来提神，因而咖啡的消耗量大幅度上升，就可以这样写：
China Daily says consumption in the city of Beijing of coffee has soared by
15% within the past two years.
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