Unit 18

1. If you use our inflatable bike, you can simply let the air out and put your bike in a bag. 如果你使用充气自行车,你可以把空气放出来,把自行车放进袋子里。

let out为“动词+副词”短语,意为“放出(水、空气等); 释放; 使流出去; 发出(声音);泄露(秘密、消息等)”。例如：

You have to let the water out of the bathtub. 你得把浴盆中的水放掉。

Someone has let the news out.

有人把消息泄露出去了。

2. If we look only for the correct answer and reject ideas that do not provide a complete answer, we may get stuck. 如果我们只找正确答案，拒绝那些不能给我们完整答案的想法，那么我们就可能被框住。

(1)reject作及物动词，表示“抛开；丢掉；拒绝；抵制；排斥”。例如：

They had rejected our request.

他们拒绝了我们的请求。

(2)reject还可作名词，表示“被拒绝或抛弃的人或物”。例如：

The rejects from an officers training course will take an exam in a month.

军官培训课程不合格者将在一个月后参加考试。

(3)get stuck表示“被阻挡；被困住；被粘住(=be stuck)”。例如：

His head is stuck in the window.

他的头卡在窗户上了。

3. As with thinking outside the box, the process includes a series of different attempts and several false starts. 正如突破常规思考一样，换个角度看问题的过程包括一系列不同的尝试和一些错误的开端。

(1)as with相当于as it is the case with,省略了it is the case, 意为“正如……一样”，with后接名词，代词或动名词等。例如：

As with drawing a picture, you should be patient and careful in doing this job. 就像画画一样，做这件事需要耐心细致。

Then, as with young birds, the time comes for the young to leave.

后来，就像小鸟一样，年轻人离家的时候到了。

(2)attempt的用法如下：

作名词，表示“企图；试图；尝试”，主要用于an attempt/ones attempt to do sth.结构，表示“尝试做某事；企图做某事”。例如：

They failed in all their attempts to climb the mountain.

他们攀登该山的一切尝试都失败了。

作动词，表示“开始做;尝试；企图”，后接名词或不定式作宾语，常用attempt to do sth.(=try to do sth./seek to do sth.)表示“尝试做某事(不一定获得成功)”。例如：

He attempted to speak but was told to be quiet.

他试图发言，但被告知要保持沉默。

4. Great thinkers are aware of this and try to combine new and old ideas in as many different ways as possible. 伟大的思想家了解到这一点,并且设法把新的思想和旧的知识尽可能多的以不同方式联系起来。

(1)be aware of表示“觉察到；知道；意识到”。aware是形容词，常作表语，不置于名词之前作定语。意为“意识到的；知道的；有……意识的；认识的”。

aware前面不能用very修饰，习惯用well, quite等词修饰。