有个朋友问基础不好的话学新2好还是新3好，这里简要以我的视角对两个课本的第一课文章做一个纯主观分析，不构成任何参考。

A Private Conversation(NCE2-L1)

Last week I went to the theatre. I had a very good seat. The play was very interesting, but I did not enjoy it. A young man and a young woman were sitting behind me. They were talking loudly. I got very angry because I could not hear the actors.

I turned round and looked at the man and the woman angrily. They did not pay any attention. In the end, I could not bear it. I turned round again.

“I can’t hear a word!” I said angrily.

“It’s none of your business,” the young man said rudely. “This is a private conversation!”

• was/were doing 过去进行时
• pay attention [to] 注意
• It’s none of your business 不关你的事

A Puma at Large(NCE3-L1)

at large 逍遥自在

Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When [reports came into London Zoo] that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.

oblige v. 强迫；迫使

obliged adj. 感激的

• When [reports came into London Zoo] that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously.
  • 主句 They were not taken seriously. be taken + adv. 被怎么样地对待
  • 时间状语从句 When …，表示当…时，when后加完整句子，其中嵌套了一个同位语从句
  • 时间状语从句中，主句 Reports came into London Zoo.
  • 时间状语从句中，同位语从句 A wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London. that引导同位语从句，同位语从句用于「解释说明」所修饰的词，在本句中，为对report的解释说明，同位语从句结构为 n. […] that sentence. 需要注意同位语从句与定语从句的差别
• had done/had been done，过去完成时
• 动词+ing/ed可转变为形容词，其中加ing变为使动态形容词（主动），修饰对象为原动词的施动者；加ed变为被动态形容词（被动），修饰对象为原动词的受动者，从以下例子中解释。
  • interest v. 使…感兴趣 English articles interest me. 英文文章很让我感兴趣。
  • interesting adj. 令人感兴趣的 English articles are interesting (to me). 英语文章（对我来说）是令人感兴趣的。
  • interested adj. 感兴趣的 I am interested (in English articles). 我（对英语文章）感兴趣。
  • 所以在”Experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate.”中，obliged 并非字典上查到的「感激的」之意，而是源自其动词 oblige 强迫， 所以在这里为「被强迫的」，地道的翻译为「有必要的」

The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw “a large cat” only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed in one place in the morning and in another place twenty miles away in the evening.

• 原因句式，扩展内容详见https://aronnax.site/posts/e9e80472/
• because/as为从属连词，引导原因从句
• for表示原因实际上为并列连词，可参见and/but的用法，并非引导从句而是使用”Sentence A, for sentence B.”的结构，句子A和句子B均为独立句子

Wherever it went, it left behind a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number of places, and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of cat-like noises at night, and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree.

trail n. 痕迹；踪迹

paw n. （动物的）爪

fur n. （动物浓厚的）软毛

• wherever/whenever, whatever/whoever/however等wh-ever表示无论，从句结构较复杂

The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape.

• in the possession of … 为…所有

The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.