1. A peasant woman found him lying unconscious in the grass. She carried him home, dressed his wound after a fashion, and hid him in the attic.

2. Had it not been for the shift of focus in our development policy from the coastal areas to the central and western regions, the lives of our national ethnic groups would not have improved so rapidly.

3. The defense lawyer claimed that the photo was completely out of focus and thus could not be used as evidence.

4. Visibility was exceedingly poor and no matter how I strained my eyes, I still couldn’t see far ahead. I decided that if I wanted to save my neck, it would be foolish to blunder on.

5. The mental strain was too much and she began to lose sleep and could not focus her attention on anything. Finally she had to go to see the doctor who claimed to be some sort of expert. The stupid man declared that her life was at sake and that she needed an immediate brain operation.

6. It was a close match. The final score was 98 to 96 in our favor. People were wild with joy because we had been defeated by their team so many times. For the first time we were able to settle an old score with them.

7. Both sides claimed to have scored a point in this confrontation. Neither side wanted to acknowledge defeat. But from the point of view of an outsider, actually neither side had scored. In this conflict, there was no winner.

8. The customer told the waitress that he would like to have some “concubines”—he meant to say cucumbers, but his vocabulary was limited. The waitress, however, seemed to know what he meant, for she asked, “Dressed or undressed?” (In English, “dress” can mean either “put on clothes” or “add some sauce to food for additional flavor”.)

LESSON 15

1. Import of that country’s beef was suspended because of the mad cow scare.

2. Robert was suspended from school for two weeks for drug abuse whereas Sam was expelled from selling drugs, which is a much more serious offence.

3. This is perhaps the longest and the most beautiful suspension bridge ever built. It is the envy of the world.

4. She was embarrassed when she received the award and averted her head so that people would not see her blush.

5. Many countries envy us for our success in averting a serious economic recession.

6. Michael Jordan is the envy of many black youngsters. He exhibited his talent very early in life. He is probably the greatest guard in the history of basketball.

7. Every summer, hundreds of thousands of people nationwide are sent to guard the riverbanks against floods.

8. The city of Xicheng was practically unguarded, and Zhuge Liang narrowly escaped being captured.

9. They took the Americans off guard by launching a sudden attack on a Sunday.

10. She is going to exhibit some of her most recent sculptures and when the exhibition is over, all the exhibits will be given to the National Art Gallery.