My friend, Hugh, has always been fat, but things got so bad recentlythat he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. First of all, he wrote out a long list of all the foods which were forbidden.The list included most of the things Hugh loves: butter, potatoes,rice, beer, milk, chocolate, and sweets. Yesterday I paid him a visit.I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Hugh was still as fat as ever. He led me into his room and hurriedly hid a large parcel under his desk. It was obvious that he was very embarrassed. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guiltily and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained that his diet was so strict that he had to reward himself occasionally. Then he showed me the contents of the parcel. It contained five large bars of chocolate and three bags of sweets!
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New words and expressions 生词和短语
reward (title)/ri'wɔ:d/n．报偿
embarrass (1.8)/im'bærəs/v．使尴尬
virtue (title)/'və:tʃu:/n．美德
guiltily (1.9)/'giltili/adv．内疚地
diet (1.2)/'daiət/n．节食
strict (1.10)/strikt/adj．严格的
forbid (1.3)/fə'bid/ (forbade/fə'bæd/,forbidden /fə'bidn/) v．禁止
reward (1.10)/ri'wɔ:d/v．给奖赏
occasionally (1.10)/ə'keiʒənəli/adv．偶尔地
hurriedly (1.7)/'hʌridli/adv．匆忙地
Notes on the text 课文注释
1 Reward for virtue, virtue作“美德”讲，此处指“节食”一事。
2 but things got so bad,但是情况变得如此糟糕。动词get作“变得”，“成为”讲。
3 go on a diet(=be on a diet),实行节食。
4 first of all, 首先。
5 I paid him a visit. 我去拜访他。
6 as fat as ever, 像以往一样胖，其中的as ever实际上是状语从句as he ever was 的省略形式。
7 It was obvious that he was very embarrassed. 显然他感到很尴尬。that引导的从句是一个名词性从句，在句子中作主语，it是先行主语。
参考译文
我的朋友休一直很胖，但是近来情况变得越发糟糕，以致他决定节食。他是一星期前开始节食的。首先，他开列了一张长长的单子，上面列了所有禁吃的食物。这张单子上的大多数食物都是休喜欢吃的：黄油、土豆、米饭、啤酒、牛奶、巧克力和糖果。昨天我去看望了他。我按响了门铃。当看到休仍和往常一样胖时，我并不感到惊奇。他把我领进屋，慌忙把一个大包藏到了桌子下面。显然他感到很尴尬。当我问他正干什么时，他内疚地笑了，然后把那个大包拿到了桌上。他解释说，他的饮食控制得太严格了，以致不得不偶尔奖赏自己一下。接着他给我看了包里的东西。里面装了5大块巧克力和3袋糖果！