生活英语对话 Episode 98: Temper tantrums

本单元是关于发脾气的对话。

Paul: Hi! I'm back!

Alice: You must be exhausted. Have you been working all night?

Paul: Yes but at least we dealt with most of the casualties. How was your evening?

Alice: Oh so-so.

Paul: Was Ellie OK?

Alice: She was quite problematic, actually. You should have warned me.

Paul: What about? What did you do to her? She's a perfectly normal 5 year-old.

Alice: Normal? You think it's normal to have a temper tantrum, behave like a spoilt brat and only go to bed because you're ordered to? If that's what you call normal, maybe your parenting skills aren't quite as great as you think they are. Now, I'm going home for some well-earned rest.

Paul: Alice!

Alice: And next time you need a babysitter, find some other mug!

Vocabulary 词汇

casualties 伤亡

people who are injured or killed in a serious accident or war

so-so (informal) 不怎么样

not very good or well

spoiled 娇宠

someone who does exactly what s/he wants to do and is selfish and doesn't care or respect other people

brat (informal) 小顽童

a child who behaves badly or rudely

a temper tantrum 发脾气

behaving in a rude way because you don't get the things you want

a mug (informal) 傻瓜

a stupid person

本单元语言点是条件句，“条件句”通常用来表示 - 可能的或想象的 - “情况”(即条件)和“后果”(或结果)。 真实条件句与虚拟条件句相反，假设条件的结果总是成立且真实。

The zero conditional

A conditional is used to talk about a possible or imaginary situation (the condition) and the consequences (or the result) of it.

The zero conditional - meaning 真实条件句 - 含义

We use the zero conditional to talk about something that will always happen (the result), if or when a particular condition is met.

Alice uses the zero conditional to tell Paul that whenever he next needs a babysitter in the future (the condition), he will always have to find someone other than Alice to help him (the result).

Next time you need a babysitter, find some other mug!

When it's 7.30, you go to bed Ellie.

If there's an emergency, Paul always helps at the hospital.

So, the meaning is that if the condition is met, then the result will always happen.

The zero conditional - form 真实条件句 - 句型

The zero conditional is made up of the condition (the 'if/when/next time' part of the sentence) and the consequence or the result.

 

Note:

There is always a comma (,) between the two parts of the zero conditional, when we start with the 'if' part:

Next time you need a babysitter, find some other mug!

When it's 7.30, you go to bed Ellie.

If there's an emergency, Paul always helps at the hospital.

But when we start with the result part of the conditional, we don't need a comma:

Find some other mug next time you need a babysitter.

You go to bed when it's 7.30.

Paul always helps if there's an emergency.

If, when, whenever 连接词

If and when or whenever mean the same thing in the zero conditional.

If it rains, she takes the bus = When it rains, she takes the bus.

Whenever he sees a spider, he screams. = If he sees a spider, he screams.

The zero conditional - time 真实条件句 - 时间

The zero conditional talks about things that are always true. Although it uses the present simple form, it doesn't refer only to the present, it refers to all time.

When you go to university, you need to work hard.

Whenever I call him, he's never there.