She's got a really green thumb.
　　Gordon: What a beautiful garden your parents have!
　　Fiona: I'm glad you like it. They certainly spend a lot of time on it.
　　Gordon: And the houseplants are also very attractive.
　　Fiona: They're my mother's specialty. Some of them are nearly twenty years old.
　　Gordon: Good heavens, how does she do it?
　　Fiona: She's got a really green thumb; plants seem to respond to her.
　　戈登：你父母的花园真美丽啊！
　　菲奥纳：很高兴你欣赏这座花园。我父母实在花了很多时间打理。
　　戈登：那些室内盆栽植物也很可爱。
　　菲奥纳：那是家母的专长。这些植物之中，有些已经长了将近二十年。
　　戈登：真厉害。她是怎样种植的？
　　菲奥纳：她很擅长种东西，植物对她也似乎有感应。
　　种植技巧高超，英文叫做to have a green thumb（有绿色拇指），英式英文则说to have green fingers（有绿色手指），例如：Mary certainly has a green thumb: whatever she plants grows well（玛丽栽花植树很有一套，无论种什么都长得很好）。此外，你可以用形容词green-thumbed或green-fingered来形容擅长种植的人，例如：He had a green-thumbed wife who enlivened the garden with various lovely flowers（他太太精通园艺，种了多种可爱花卉，使花园大为生色）。留意a green thumb或green fingers不可和a green hand混淆。植物的嫩绿，会使人想到'还未成熟'，所以英文常用green来说'幼稚'或'缺乏经验'，a green hand即'生手'，例如：
　　（1） A green hand cannot be expected to earn as mush as an experienced worker（生手赚的钱，当然不可能像资深工人那么多）。
　　（2） He is a green camper, and does not even know how to make camp properly（他是露营新手，连怎样扎营都不知道）。'生手'还可以叫greener、greenie或greenhorn.Greenhorn是以初长角（horn）的小牛比喻没经验的人。Garden多是指私人花园；公园假如以garden为名，一般用复数形式，例如：
　　（1） We took our children to the public gardens yesterday afternoon（昨天下午，我们和孩子去公园玩耍）
　　（2） During my stay in England, I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens（我作客英伦期间，去参观皇家植物公园）。 [NextPage] 　　I wish I could play the piano like you.
　　Andy: I wish I could play the piano like you.
　　Dee: I'm sure you could if you tried. You should take some lessons.
　　Andy: I took some when I was younger but I was hopeless.
　　Dee: Why was that?
　　Andy: I found that I was tone-deaf, which really made it impossible.
　　Dee: Never mind, why don't you try learning the drums? Then being tone-deaf shouldn't matter.
　　安迪：我弹钢琴, 能弹得像你这样就好了。
　　迪伊：只要你努力, 一定可以的。 你不妨去上钢琴课。
　　安迪：我从前也上过课, 但我就是不行。
　　迪伊：为什么?
　　安迪：我发觉自己是音盲，因此弹钢琴不可能弹得好。
　　迪伊：这不要紧。你为什么不改学打鼓呢?学打鼓,音盲大概也不要紧。
　　安迪羡慕迪伊钢琴弹得好，说I wish I could play the piano like you.这一句假如改为I hope I can play the piano like you，意思有什么分别？
　　按wish、 hope一般都译做'希望'，但hope表示事情有可能实现，wish则表示难以实现。所以wish带出的子句（clause），一般会用过去式说现在或未来的事，而用过去完成式说过去的事，例如：（１）I wish I were younger（我希望自己年轻一点）;（２）I wish I had never been born（我希望自己没有出生在人世）。Hope带出的子句，动词用法则和一般句子没有分别，可用过去式、现在式或未来式说过去、现在、未来。 I hope I can play the piano like you是说'我希望我的钢琴能弹得和你一样好'，I wish I could play the piano like you则是说'我弹钢琴不能和你相比'.
　　现在再请回答一个问题：I find that I was tone-deaf, which really made it impossible一语的which代表什么？Which 、who 、that等关系代名词（relative pronoun） ，一般是代表前面的名词，例如：（1）She looked at her watch, which said two o'clock（她看看手表，现在是两点钟）;（2）Tom, who was tired, gradually fell behind（汤姆很疲倦，逐渐落后）。但which really made it impossible的which却不代表某个名词，而是泛指前面子句所说的事。这是which一个特别用法，谨再举一例：He is purse-proud, which I don't like　（他以财富骄人，那是我很不喜欢的）。