As far as I'm concerned, there are some more expressions whose meaning is the same as "a blind alley", they are : a dead end, cul-de-sac 这些都是死路,死胡同,绝路的意思。
【短语积累】
All right , let's come to the dialogue study. Please write down the key phrases while listening to the recording. This is of kind of help for your listening comprehension.
A :Why did Jim quit the job.
B : He said his present job seemed to be a blind alley.
A : If he doesn't change his attitude toward work, I don't think a new job can make any difference.
Now have you done. They are should be underlined:
1 quit the job 辞职
2 a present job 目前的工作
3 a blind alley 行不通的,前途暗淡的
4 change one's attitude toward ... 对... 改变态度
5 make some difference 有些作用或影响, 区别
【咬文嚼字】
Let's look at these sentences:
1 I don't think a new job can make any difference.
意思是我认为新的工作对他也没有用。
这里 a new job can make any difference.是个宾语从句,一个主句中有think 这个词, 宾语从句的否定式前置于think,那么宾语从中如果含有some这个单词就要改为any. 因此句中说没有什么区别,用的是make any difference. If we want to express "对......有用" , we just put a preposition "to' afer difference:make some difference to . If we want to express "对......没有用",it should be put like this: make no difference to. So the sentence in the dialogue which is " I don't think a new job can make any difference. " can be changed to another way to say "I think a new job can make no difference to his present job. "
2 He said his present job seemed to be a blind alley.
他说他目前的工作前途黯淡。
his present job seemed to be a blind alley. 在这里是宾语从句,从句中seem做的是实义动词,后面的不定时做宾语成分。
【译文】
Well , so much explanations to this dialogue. Finally The translation of the whole dialogue is as follows:
A : Jim 为什么要辞职呀?
B : 他说他目前的工作前途黯淡。
A : 如果他不改变对工作的态度,即使换了一份新工作也没有用。
It's time to say goodbye to you . Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for your listening . See you next time.
好了,又要跟大家暂时在空中告别,祝您周末愉快,感谢您的这次收听,下次再会。