A Day to Remember 难忘的一天

We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. What invariably happens is that a great number of things choose to go wrong at precisely the same moment. It is as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this marks the prelude to an unforeseen series of catastrophes. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table smashing half your best crockery and cutting himself in the process. You hang up hurriedly and attend to baby, crockery, etc. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this were not enough to reduce you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can go wrong on a big scale as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. During the rush hour one evening two cars collided and both drivers began to argue. The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driver following her brake hard. His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry driver who was drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden. The lorry was loaded with empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the vehicle and on to the road. This led to yet another angry argument. Meanwhile, the traffic piled up behind. It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the lorry driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two stray dogs benefited from all this confusion, for they greedily devoured what was left of the cake. It was just one of those days!

16. His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake.

司机妻子正坐在他身边，手里托着块大蛋糕。

语言点:句子结构分析:holding a large cake作方式状语，意即“拿着一块大蛋糕”。

17. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road.

她往前一冲，蛋糕从挡风玻璃飞了出去掉到马路上。

语言点:此处的right是副词，意思是“正好”，修饰through the windscreen。

18. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry driver who was drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden.

此时，一辆卡车正好从后边开到那辆汽车边上，司机看见一块蛋糕从天而降，紧急刹车。

语言点1:句子结构分析:seeing a cake flying through the air是现在分词短语，作原因状语。flying through the air作宾语cake的补足语。

语言点2:pull up的意思是“使（车）停下”，与draw up的意思相同。

语言点3:all of a sudden表示“突然”。