各位亲爱的听众朋友，欢迎来到《点滴英语天天学》！我是Juliet。在今后的日子里，Juliet将带您体验美国纽约大学，美国哈弗大学的《原味美语》口语课堂的学习内容。Let's go!

Jane告诉了Nancy：Ken终于向Debbie求婚了，下个月就结婚。那么Nancy是什么反映呢？我们来听Nancy说的一番话：

You've got to be kidding. Ken is so much older than she is. He's robbing the cradle. Well, Debbie has always wanted a sugar daddy and now she's going to have one. I have to admit, they do seem crazy about each other. I mean, they'er always making out in public.

Nancy 说的这段话是什么意思呢？我们暂且不管，先来学习四个美语原味表述：rob the cradle，sugar daddy，be crazy about，make out。今天，我们先来学习：rob the cradle。

我们经常说的“老牛吃能嫩草”就是rob the cradle. To rob the cradle means to date someone who is much younger than oneself. 译为：和比自己年级小的异性约会。我们通过下面的例句来熟悉它的意思和把握它的运用：

1. Are you sure it doesn't bother you how much older I am? I feel like people are judging me for robbing the cradle.（你真的不介意我的年龄吗？我感觉别人总是拿我和年龄小的人约会来数落我。）

解析句式：Are you sure +从句：表示“你确认......”“你肯定......”的意思。例如：Are you sure you are dialing the right number? （你确定你打的号码是对的吗？）

解析句式：It doesn't bother you+从句表示“某人不会介意某事”。从句是主语从句，it 是形式主语。例如：It didn't bother you that I was singing while you studying this afternoon. （你不介意今天下午你在学习的时候我在唱歌吗？）

解析短语：feel like：想做某事 例如：I feel like going to Europe for a visit next summer vacation.（我好想明年暑假去一趟欧洲。）Enough said. If you feel like working here, you only have to say so.（不用多说了，如果你愿意在这里工作，照直说好了。）

解析短语：judge sb. for something：由于某事而判断某人好或者坏

2. Uncle Bill, who is nearly eighty, married a thirty-year-old woman. That is really robbing the cradle.（将近80岁的叔叔Bill取了一个年纪仅仅30岁的女人，这真是老牛吃嫩草了！）

解析语法：who is nearly eighty是非限定性定语从句，补充说明主语Bill的年龄情况。

我们再来看一个小对话：

A: I hear that Bill is dating Ann. （我听说Bill要和Ann约会。）

B: Isn't that sort of robbing the cradle? She's much younger than he is. （这不就是有点老牛吃嫩草吗？她比他年轻很多啊！）

解析短语：sort of的意思是“有点，稍稍”，表示一定的程度。例如：I sort of regarded that as mainly a business relationship.（我多少认为这主要是工作关系。）

Rob the cradle在口语中可以使用，属于非正式书面用语。那么，Nancy说到的“He's robbing the cradle.”用标准书面英语来如何说呢？我们可以用“dating someone so much younger than he is”来进行表述。

我们今天的学习就到此结束了，明天Juliet继续说美语“be crazy about someone”，不见不散哦！Bye for now!