thank you for your help
Dear teacher,
I'm doing the reading comprehension questions of some exam papers, but there are some points that I don't understand. Could you tell me the meaning of the follwoing phrases or sentences? Thank you very much.
1）Perhaps the grossest thing I've done as a naturalist is to boil animal skulls. First, I boiled the skin and meat off. Boy did that stink!（In this sentence, I don't understand " Boy did that stink!".）
2）Most naturalists don't work in places of rare beauty. Many work in city parks or in places that show "wear and tear."（In this sentence,what are places of rare beauty and places that show "wear and tear."）
3)A strong mental game has always been part of elite sports. Michael Jordan, Nancy Kerrigan and Jack Nicklaus all practiced their moves mentally（In this sentence, what does the first sentence mean?）
4)Everybody is pretty much at the same level physically,” says American diver Michelle Davison, "The difference comes down to who can hold it together mentally."(In this sentence, what does "hold it together" mean?)
5)Through mental practice, he kept stimulating the networks of connected neurons where his skill was embroidered,( In this sentence, what does "embroidered" mean?)
1) In "Boy, did that stink!", "boy" is just an interjection. It's a lot tamer and more polite than "Jesus", "Christ", or "f--k." "Did that (ever) stink" is a way of exclaiming that something had a bad smell. This is just a type of construction that you need to be familiar with. It's a way of responding to a question in the affirmative, almost as if you are mocking the person because the answer is so obvious:
Ex. Q. Did you do well on your test? A. Did I (ever)!
In this case, the question "Did that stink?" was not actually posed but seems to be implied by the situation. You should also be aware that "that stinks!" is also a figurative expression meaning "that sucks" or "that's no fun." In this case the smell is real.
2) "Places of rare beauty" are places that are particularly beautiful. "Wear and tear" is damage that occurs naturally over time due to age, weather, etc. A building shows wear and tear because it degrades as it gets older. A rainforest does not show wear and tear, because it is away from human contact and is constantly growing.
3) Good players think about what they are going to do, how they are going to respond to the other team's offense, etc. Because all of this takes place in the players' minds, here it is called a "mental game," in contrast to the real game in the physical world. "Elite sports" are just sports at a professional level.
4) "Hold it together" is used figuratively to mean "deal with one's problems or challenges." If you don't "hold it together," you will "fall apart" or "break down" (lose control of the situation and fail).
5) The connections between neurons are very complicated. Embroidery is a way of sewing a complicated pattern into fabric. The complicated pattern of neural connections results in the athlete's skill, just as a complicated pattern of embroidery might result in a pretty image. Instead of embroidered, you could use the word "stored" or "held," but you would lose the metaphor.
<<<<Dear teacher,
I'm doing the reading comprehension questions of some exam papers, but there are some points that I don't understand. Could you tell me the meaning of the follwoing phrases or sentences? Thank you very much.>>>
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<<<<1）Perhaps the grossest thing I've done as a naturalist is to boil animal skulls. First, I boiled the skin and meat off. Boy did that stink!（In this sentence, I don't understand " Boy did that stink!".）>>>>>
"Boy, did that stink!"
The animal skulls smelt when they were boiled.
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<<<<2）Most naturalists don't work in places of rare beauty. Many work in city parks or in places that show "wear and tear."（In this sentence,what are places of rare beauty and places that show "wear and tear."）>>>>
"wear and tear"
You can easily google this expression for a definition. Basically it describes the process by which new things become old.
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<<<3)A strong mental game has always been part of elite sports. Michael Jordan, Nancy Kerrigan and Jack Nicklaus all practiced their moves mentally（In this sentence, what does the first sentence mean?）>>>
"A mental game"
Sucess or Failure is determined by your attitude.
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<<< 4)Everybody is pretty much at the same level physically,” says American diver Michelle Davison, "The difference comes down to who can hold it together mentally."(In this sentence, what does "hold it together" mean?) >>>>
"hold it together"
I am sure you could Google this expression. Basically it means, "keep something going".
The opposite would be "falling to pieces".
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<<<<5)Through mental practice, he kept stimulating the networks of connected neurons where his skill was embroidered,( In this sentence, what does "embroidered" mean?) >>>
Again, you can look up a dictionary definition of 'embroidered'. The nerves are linked together in an elaborate pattern. If you could see the nerves, they would look as if they were 'embroidered'.
"His skill was embroidered": that phase on its own would be very difficult to understand. Have a look at 'Skittle of Milk"? another of my contributions to the Forum.
I would read that as his skill was figuratively "embroidered" (sewn onto) on the neurons themselves. Embroidered as an adjective appears to be referring back to "skill", not "neurons".