n  对话

Tamara: Have you seen Michael Morone’s latest movie? It’s just been released.

塔玛拉：你有没有看麦可·莫罗尼最新的那出电影？才刚刚上映。

Onslow: No. I probably won’t bother. I’m sure it’s just another of his action movies. He can’t act, he’s just a hunk with a gun.

翁斯洛：没有，我大概不会花精神去看。这次他演的一定又是动作片。他不懂演戏，只是个肌肉发达拿着枪的汉子。

Tamara: Oh no. This one’s different. He plays a guy whose wife and kids get killed in a plane crash and then tries to rebuild his life.

塔玛拉：啊，不是，这出电影可不同，他扮演一个人在妻子儿女坠机死亡之后，努力重建生活。

Onslow: That doesn’t sound like a Michael Morone movie at all. Is he any good?

翁斯洛：这听来完全不像麦可·莫罗尼的电影。他演出还可以吗？

Tamara: Well, I didn’t think he could act either but he’s brilliant at portraying the way his character’s feelings change and develop. It’s a revelation.

塔玛拉：我从前也认为他不会演戏，但他演出所饰人物的感情变化和发展，非常出色，真是令人意外。

Onslow: Well I might go just to see if I agree with you.

翁斯洛：我也许会去看看这出电影，看看和你有没有同感。

n  对话

Virginia: I can’t understand why Mary is so difficult.

维吉妮雅：我不明白玛丽为什么那样麻烦。

Hugh: She seems to resent so much our having loaned money to her sisters.

休：她似乎很不满我们借钱给她姐姐。

Virginia: I know, but they both need help with starting out in life. Getting the money to put down a deposit on your first apartment is very difficult without help.

维吉妮雅：是啊，但她两个姐姐要开始自立，都需要帮忙。第一次买居所，假若没人援手，很难筹措第一期分期付款的费用。

Hugh: And she knows that she’ll be treated the same when she’s in their position.

休：玛丽也知道，她和两个姐姐一样到了自立阶段，我们也会帮忙。

Virginia: And yet she still seems consumed with jealousy of her sisters for what they have received from us.

维吉妮雅：但她似乎还是非常妒忌姐姐从我们手上得到的帮助。

Hugh: She was always a difficult child and she hasn’t got any easier to handle.

休：她从小就是个难管教的孩子，到现在也没有任何改善。

Virginia: I think we need to sit down with her and have a serious talk about all this.

维吉妮雅：我想，我们得和她坐下来好好谈谈。

苏州过后无艇搭= 机不可失=Now or never

苏州过后无艇搭= 机不可失=Now or never

爷爷，我感到疲惫，不想继续走下去……事情的转变已不是我说了就算的，这已不是我一个人的事了，我不知道该怎么办好……

爷爷，我感到疲惫，不想继续走下去……事情的转变已不是我说了就算的，这已不是我一个人的事了，我不知道该怎么办好……

n  多学一点点 超过、承诺

毕利谈到去年一场地震：More than seven thousand people (were) killed I think and countless more (were) injured。书面上，句子的第一个were不可省略，第二个则可以。

现在请回答一个问题：more than 7,000 people改为over 7,000 people可不可以？按美国报刊不少不用over说“超过”，而用more than。这规则始于1877年，当时美国诗人布赖恩特(WC Bryant)主办《纽约晚邮报》(New York Evening Post)，编定员工用字手册，其中一条训示就是“超过”不可说over。他没有解释原因，但美国报界至今还受他影响。其实这条布赖恩特训示没有根据。美国小说家海明威(Ernest Hemingway)笔下即有He must be over fifty（他一定超过50岁）一语，英国诗人奥登(WH Auden)笔下也有Mr Kallman and I have been close friends for over thirty years（卡尔曼先生和我是30多年的好朋友）一语。当然，假若见到有人坚持用more than取代over，你也不必和他争辩，心里明白就是了。

现在要谈A lot of governments around the world pledged millions of dollars in aid for the victims一语。Pledge即“承诺给与”，其后受词(object)就是所承诺的事物，例如：I pledged (him) my cooperation (=I pledged to cooperate ( with him)我答应（和他）合作)。Pledge millions of dollars in aid的in aid是“在救济上”的意思，in有in the form of或“以某种形式”含义，谨再举一例：The company donated $300,000 dollars in equipment to help the earthquake victims（那家公司捐出30万元设备帮助地震灾民）。

n  对话

Jock: I heard that you had some bad luck with your car the other day.

乔克：听说日前你的汽车遭了殃。

Harry: Yes, a truck backed into it in the parking lot and wrecked it. It was five years old so the insurance money isn’t enough to cover the cost of replacing it.

哈利：不错，一辆卡车在停车场往后退，撞上我那辆车，把车撞毁了。我那辆车出厂已有5年，所以保险赔偿不足以支付换车费用。

Jock: That’s enough. But didn’t I hear that Paul was willing to loan you his second car?

乔克：真倒霉。但听说保罗愿意把他的另一辆车借给你，对吗？

Harry: Yes, it’s kind of him, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to take it. It’s older than mine was.

哈利：是啊，他真好，但我不知道该不该借用。他那辆车比我那辆还要旧。

Jock: Oh, come on. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I know it’s OK because I saw his sister driving it last week.

乔克：算了吧，人家免费借给你，你就不应挑剔。我上星期看见保罗的妹妹开这辆车，可见车辆没有问题。

n  多学一点点 真倒霉，车毁了

乔克见到哈利，说：I heard that you had some bad luck with your car。Luck和fortune都可解作“运气”，两字往往通用，例如乔克那句话的bad luck大可改为misfortune。成语as luck would have it也可以，例如：(1) As luck/ fortune would have it, he turned up just when I wanted to see him（巧得很，我正想见他，他就来了）。(2) As luck/ fortune would have it, I was laid low by a bad cold on the day of the examination（真倒霉，考试那天，我患重感冒，病倒在床）。

哈利谈到自己的汽车怎样遭殃：A truck backed into it in the parking lot and wrecked it。Lot可以指“一块地”，例如：We bought a small lot and built a house on it（我们买了一小块地，起了一栋房子）。Parking lot就是停车场，等于car park，例如：The parking lots downtown charge expensively（市中心停车场收费很不便宜）。

Wreck是“毁坏”，作动词、名词都可以，例如：He committed suicide after his hopes were wrecked/ He committed suicide after the wreck of his hopes（他希望破灭，自杀死了）。船只害上遇难，叫shipwreck，就是取“毁坏”的意思，例如：A rescue operation was mounted as soon as news of the shipwreck was received（当局一接到船难消息，马上展开救援行动）。

哈利不大喜欢保罗免费借给他的汽车，乔克说：Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth。这是成语，直译是“获人增马，不要张开马口来看”。看马的牙齿，可以知道马年不年轻值不值钱。所以，Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth是“收到礼物，不要挑剔”的意思。