Today I would like to talk to you about something that is a hard task that you do want to , not because it's necessary. What's it ? Let's listen to a simple situational dialogue and find it . A : I can’t understand why Tom accept his present job. It pays low and occupy much of his free time. B : It’s just a labor of love. A : He is really great.
【答疑解惑】
It is “a labor of love”. In this phrase , "labour" means "a task or period of work" used as a noun. It's often used as plural. For example: He was so exhausted from today's work that he went straight to bed. 他工作一天精疲力盡了,便直接上床睡覺了。“Love” means "the strong feeling of enjoyment that something gives you". For example: I am in love with my house. 我喜歡我的房子。Now it's easy to catch this idiom. A labour of love 是出于愛好而去做的困難的事情,用我們中文里更具有文學(xué)性的語言來說就是“心甘情愿做的事情”。It indicates that a person is very willing to do something because he can take a delight in it. 這個習(xí)語就指出了一件事情不需要那個人去做,但是能從中得到樂趣,因此他愿意去做。在此強(qiáng)調(diào)一點(diǎn)就是這件事而且還是難做的事兒,沒有報(bào)酬的事情。In addition, a labour of love是一個名詞性短語,of love 是介詞短語修飾前面的名詞labour, 照常理來說,被修飾的詞前面理應(yīng)用定冠詞,可是這里是不定冠詞。但是這個是不能改的,這是人們生活中約定俗成的說法。 So in oral English, many of idioms cannot be judged if it's right or wrong according to grammar rules. Because it's from people's daily labour and life. It's fine we just cram it up. 我們死記住它就行了。
【暢聊話題】
Talking of a labour of love, a saying goes that all things are easy that are done willingly. 說道a labour of love , 我就想到一句話:心甘情愿,做事不難。Yeah, if we are in love with something, we would complete some creative jobs of our present imaginations that cannot be put into reality in the future. We could tale our potential to the end so that we might have a bright future. So it's suggested that we should take whatever we do for a labour of love , I 'm convinced that we could be successful in it. 是的,如果我們是懷著一種愛好,興趣去做一件事情,我們在將來做出我們目前想象中不能把它付諸于現(xiàn)實(shí)的事情來,我們可以把我們的潛能發(fā)揮到極致,我們將擁有充滿陽光的未來,我相信我們一定會成功的。Come on, guys. Let's make our efforts in common. 【視野拓展】
All right, let's look at some more example sentences with "a labour of love" so as to absorb it. Enthusiasm has rendered this biographical task a labour of love. 有了熱情,撰寫這份傳記也就成了自己愿意做的事兒了。I take the children , whose mother is sick , into my family for a labour of love. 這些孩子的母親生病了,我把他們帶回到我家照顧,這是樂意這么做。Of course , we have many way to express "樂于做某事' , such as : have felicity in something , take felicity to do something , put one's felicity to do something. 這些都是表示在某事中享受到極大的樂趣而非常愿意去做那件事兒。
【溫故知新】
Please translat the following sentences into English with the phrase "a labour of love".
1 我不在乎每星期天為教堂插花,我樂意干,不要報(bào)酬。 2 這是一次很不專業(yè)的嘗試,但它出于自愿,而且花了好幾個月的功夫。 3 你要是為那件工作而付給她錢,她會生氣的。那是她樂意去做的,并不是為了報(bào)酬。
4 建一個鐵路模型對這位退休的工程師來說是一種樂趣。
習(xí)題答案1 I don't mind arranging the flowers for the church every Sunday as it's a labour of love.
2 It was a very amateurish effort but it was a labour of love and took many months.
3 She would be hurt if you tried to pay her for that work; she intended it as a labour of love.
4 Building the model railroad was a labour of love for the retired engineer.