I crossed the street to avoid meeting him, but he saw me and camerunning towards me. It was no use pretending that I had not seenhim, so I waved to him. I never enjoy meeting Nigel Dykes. Henever has anything to do. No matter how busy you are, he always insists on coming with you. I had to think of a way of preventing him from following me around all morning.
‘Hello, Nigel,’I said.‘Fancy meeting you here!’
‘Hi, Elizabeth,’Nigel answered.‘I was just wondering how to spend the morning----until I saw you. You're not busy doing anything, are you?’
‘No, not at all,’I answered.‘I'm going to…’
‘Would you mind my coming with you?’he asked, before I had finished speaking.
‘Not at all,’I lied,‘but I'm going to the dentist.’
‘Then I'll come with you,’ he answered.‘There’s always plenty to read in the waiting room!’
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New words and expressions 生词和短语
persistent (title)/pə'sistənt/adj. 坚持的，固执的
insist (1.5)/in'sist/v. 坚持做
avoid(1.1)/ə'vɔid/ v. 避开
1 to avoid meeting him,避免碰上他，这是动词后面用动名词作宾语的结构。本课下文中出现的 enjoy,fancy, mind,finish等动词，也是只接动名词作宾语的动词。
2 came running towards me,向我跑来，running是现在分词，作状语，表示状况。
3 It was no use pretending,装作……是没有用了。在这句话中， it是先行词，实际上主语是动名词短 pretending that I had not seen him.
4 No matter how busy you are,不管你有多忙。这是一个让步状语从句， no matter常与 how, when, where, what, who等引导的从句相连，可译成“无论”。
5 prevent sb. from doing sth.是“阻止某人做某事”，介词 from可以省略。
6 Fancy meeting you here!想不到在这里见到你！fancy +-ing表示对后面的-ing所表示的动作感到惊奇。
7 You're not busy doing anything, are you? 你不忙，是吧？这是一个附加疑问句，也称反意疑问句。它是由陈 述句加上简略疑问句构成的。如果陈述句是肯定的，那么疑问句用否定形式；反之，陈述句是否定的，疑问句用肯定形式。
8 Would you mind my coming with you?我跟你一道去行吗？这是一个表示客气请求的结构，my是动名词 coming的逻辑主语。
9 the waiting room,候诊室。
参考译文我穿过马路以便避开他，但他看到我并朝我跑过来。若再装作没看见他已是没有用了，我只好向他招手。 我就怕遇到奈杰尔·戴克斯。他从来都是无事可做，不管你多忙，他总是坚持要跟你去。我得想办法不让他整
个上午缠着我。
“你好，奈杰尔，想不到在这儿见到你。”我说。
“你好，伊丽莎白，”奈杰尔回答说，“我正不知道怎么消磨这一上午呢，正好见到你。你不忙，是吗？”
“不，不忙，我打算去……”我回答。
“我跟你一道去行吗？”没等我说完话他就问道。
“没关系，但我准备去牙医那里。”我说了个谎。
“那我也跟你去，候诊室里总有很多东西可供阅读！”他回答。