嗨，大家好。欢迎您和Rose一起继续学习地道英语。今天我们要讲的是一只很恼人的鸽子。恼人的主要原因就是，它have a lot of nerve，怎么都吓不走。文中一共使用了五个和病痛、医药有关的习惯用语。请大家尝试猜测一下它们的引申意义吧。

I like birds. They're beautiful when they fly. Many of them have lovely colours. But I was sick and tired of that pigeon. It caused too much trouble.

It really had a lot of nerve. Every morning it came to my backyard and ate all the baby lettuces one by one. It was very careful to eat the best. It took great pains to do so. And so I decided to stop its mischief. I wanted to give the bird a taste of its own medicine.

I built the ugliest-looking scarecrow you ever saw. Would it work? I really wasn't sure. I felt it in my bones that the bird might know it was a trick.

The next day, there in the middle of the yard was the pigeon pulling out straws from the hat on my scarecrow. And I could see that more lettuce had been eaten.

尽管我喜欢鸟，但是对于一只鸽子却feel sick and tired of。其实从字面上大家也看的出，这个短语表示“非常讨厌，厌烦”的意思。那么，这只鸽子之所以这么让人心烦，原因是它had a lot of nerve。Nerve神经，have a lot nerve意思是act so badly and impolitely that it actually takes courage to do so. 也就是很有胆子做不好的不礼貌的事儿。我们常常将它翻译为“有脸做某事，脸皮很厚”。来看一个例子，体会一下它的含义。You have a lot of nerve asking for more money when you never repaid your first loan. 你还真有脸要钱。你上次的欠款都没还。

这只鸟的确够让人头疼了，总能选出最好的菜把它吃掉。能做到这点，一定是take great pains to do了。虽然这个短语中又pain疼痛一词，但短语的意思是，“大费苦心，大费周章”的意思。再比如：Parents take great pains over their children's education. 父母对孩子的教育煞费苦心。

不能让这只鸽子继续糟蹋自己的菜，于是决定give the bird a taste of its own medicine. 让这只鸟常常自己的药的滋味。翻译为“以牙还牙”。再比如：My boyfriend always arrives late. Last night I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine by keeping him waiting for half an hour. 我的男朋友总是迟到。昨晚，我决定以牙还牙治他一下，让他也等半个小时。

既然决定惩罚它，就马上付诸行动吧。于是我做了一个奇丑无比的稻草人。可是，看着这个草人，我却feel in my bones that it might not work. feel it in one's bones意思是know something, often before seeing it or before it happens. 也就是“预感到，本能地觉得”的意思了。再比如：Something good was bound to happen; he could feel in his bones. 他本能地觉得一定会有好事儿发生。

故事的结果依旧无奈，更多的好生菜被那只鸽子吃掉。想办法的事儿就留给菜地主人，我们来听今天的问题。When you take great pains to do something, how do you do it?