本课您将学到：feel sorry for（为......感到难过），on the sly（偷偷摸摸）

　　在哈佛大学，有一条很大的标语："请不要随地吐痰，不要乱扔废物"，它是用中文写的，而且只用了中文。难道吐痰是中国人的"专利"？当然不是，今天我们就来聊聊西方也有悠久的吐痰史......

　　Spitting was mostly associated（联系） with smoking, both denounced（指责、谴责） by women as bad habits. Every time I saw a spittoon（痰盂）, I felt sorry for the poor housewife（家庭主妇） who had to clean it out every day. I also remember that schoolboys would start to spit at the same age as they took to smoking on the sly, just to show what grown-ups and tough guys（硬汉子） they were.

　　In the European Middle Ages it was permitted（允许） to spit under the table, but never across it. While standing, one could spit on the ground and immediately rub out（擦掉） the sputum（唾液） with one's foot. Spitting on the floor in 19th-century factories, hospital waiting rooms and barber shops（理发店） was tolerated（可以容忍的）. "Where do you want them to spit? In their pockets?" was the attitude.

　　So you see, the West has its own history of spitting, which it took time and effort to eradicate（连根拔除）. But if Westerners were able to break themselves of the habit, why not the Chinese?

　　【世博读书笔记】

　　吐痰大多与吸烟有关，（Spitting was mostly associated with smoking）二者都被妇女斥为陋习。（both denounced by women as bad habits）每一次我看见痰盂，（spittoon）就会为那些每天都要清洗痰盂的家庭主妇悲叹。（I felt sorry for the poor housewife who had to clean it out every day）我还记得，学校里的男孩子们在开始偷偷吸烟的年龄也开始随地吐痰，（that schoolboys would start to spit at the same age as they took to smoking on the sly）以显示他们已经是成人，已经成为粗悍的小伙子。（just to show what grown-ups and tough guys they were）

　　看到sorry，大家头脑中出现的第一个意思可能就是"抱歉"，是的，当不小心碰到别人说句I'm sorry.走到那里都不会错。不过可别以为它只有这一个意思，别以为美国为"误炸"中国驻南斯拉夫大使馆一事feel sorry是出于"歉意"，因为feel sorry for...完全没有道歉的意思，它是指"为......而感到难过"。（上文中的句子，就是这种用法。）比如：