以下新闻摘自BBC官方网站
Why China is crazy for crayfish
5 August 2015 Last updated at 03:19 BST
Over the past few years, China has found itself in the grip | or should that be the claws | of a new food fad: the crayfish.
Crayfish restaurants and crayfish farms are booming.
State media says consumption in the city of Nanjing of the little freshwater crustaceans has soared by 20% a year.
crazy for 对……很着迷;非常喜欢。也可以说成crazy about。
He's still crazy about both his work and his hobbies. 他依旧对我们的工作和喜好充满热情。
crayfish 小龙虾，美国英语叫crawfish。提到小龙虾，需要说一下麻辣小龙虾。因为西方人不如何吃麻味，所以麻辣可简单地说成spicy就能了。假如非得要翻译"麻"，比较地道的说法是tongue|numbing或mouth|numbing，字面意思是让舌头或让嘴有麻木的感觉。除此之外，"小龙虾"不可以说成little lobster，小龙虾和龙虾的亲缘关系并不近——小龙虾生活在淡水中，而龙虾生活在海水中，前者个头非常小，后者个头非常大。但它们的形状确实很类似，如下图所示，左侧是龙虾，右侧是小龙虾。
over the past few years 在过去几年里。第一，over可以用during/for/in/within替换，而past可以用last替换，所以，依据乘法原理，“在过去...时间里”总共有5 × 2 = 10种表达办法，请大伙记住这个总结。第二，这个结构一般和目前完成时或目前完成进行时搭配。
The patient's condition has improved over the past 24 hours. 患者的情况在过去的24小时里有所好转。
During the last hour we have been receiving reports of an explosion in the city center. 在过去的一小时里，大家一直收到有关市中心爆炸事件的报道。
in the grip of 受……的控制。在这里有受控于小龙虾而没办法自拔的意思，可以理解为“小龙虾控”。grip有“紧紧抓住”的意思，是一个名词。因为写的是小龙虾，而小龙虾有钳子claw，也会叫人联想到“紧紧抓住”。换句话说，作者想说China has found itself in the claws of crayfish，暗指有的中国人变成了小龙虾控，就像被小龙虾的钳子夹住而没办法摆脱一样。
people in the grip of disease, despair, etc 疾病缠身、陷于绝望等的大家
fad 时髦、喜好或狂热等
There was a fad for wearing ripped jeans a few years ago. 前些年，有人非常沉迷穿破洞牛仔裤。
boom 飞速发展;兴旺发达
Business is booming. 商业正在飞速进步。
consumption消耗
The meat was declared unfit for human consumption. 这种肉已宣布不适合大家食用。
crustacean 甲壳纲动物
soar 飞速增长;猛涨
Prices are soaring. 物价飞涨。
“State media says consumption in the city of Nanjing of the little freshwater crustaceans has soared by 20% a year.”这个句子可以总结出一个引用统计数据的句型，用在托福独立写作中：
媒体名字 says consumption in 地址 of 消耗的东西 has soared by 增加的量和时间跨度.
比如，想表达大城市的工薪族重压愈加大，睡眠不足，通过喝咖啡来提神，因而咖啡的消耗量大幅度上升，就能如此写：
China Daily says consumption in the city of Beijing of coffee has soared by 15% within the past two years.
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（编辑：何莹莹）
