新概念英语第二册：第17课课文详解及语法解析
课文详注 Further notes on the text
1.She must be at least thirty-five years old.
她至少也有35岁了 。
(1)at least 是一固定短语，表示“至少”：
He borrowed at least five books from the library.
他从图书馆至少借了5本书。
If you can't clean the car, you can at least help me to clean it.
如果你不能擦车，你至少可以帮我擦。
(2)我们已学过两种年龄表示法。一种是“数字+years old”，作表语：
My father is fifty-seven years old now.
我父亲现在已57岁了。
另一种是“数字+ -year-old”，作定语：
Last week, my four-year-old daughter, Sally, was invited to a children's party.
上周，我4岁的女儿萨莉应邀去参加一个儿童晚会。
2.In spite of this…
尽管如此……
(1)in spite of为固定短语，意为“不管”、“尽管”，后面可以跟名词、代词或从句：
In spite of the rain, they went on their journey.
尽管下雨，他们还是继续旅行。
In spite of what you have said about her, she is much better than Mary.
不管你说她什么，她比玛丽要好得多。
(2)this 代指上句话，即“她至少也有35岁”这个事实。
3.This time, she will be a girl of seventeen.
这一次，她将扮演一个17岁的少女。
be在这里是“扮演”的意思：
Tonight, Karen Marsh is Helen.
今晚卡伦·马什扮演海伦。
4.In the play, she must appear in a bright red dress and long black stockings.
演出时她必须穿一条鲜红色的裙子和黑色的长筒袜。
(1)in在这句话中表示“穿着”、“戴着”：
The girl in red over there is my neighbour.
那边那个穿红衣服的女孩是我的邻居。
John was in a black dress this morning.
约翰今天上午穿的是件黑衣服。
(2)dress 一般指连衣裙、套裙，也可以指外穿的衣服或特定场合穿的礼服：
Everyone is in evening dress tonight.
今晚大家都穿了晚礼服。
5.Darling, it must be terrible to be grown up!
亲爱的，长成大人真可怕啊!
(1)it 为先行词，代替 to be grown up，这个不定式是句子真正的主语。再如：
It is a pleasant thing to have many friends.
有许多朋友是件令人愉悦的事。
(2)这句话的言外之意是她还没有长成大人，还是个小姑娘，因为她用的是表示推测的 must。(cf. 本课语法)
