英語口語練習小對話 第871期:閉嘴不言

第一， 迷你對話

A: There is nothing you can do. She won’t talk to me any longer.

你幫不上什麼忙的，她現在不理我了。

B: I know when to button my lips, but at a time when you bogged down in trouble, I have right to ask where the shoe pinches.

我知道什麼時候保持沉默，但是當你陷入困境的時候，我有權利知道問題出在哪裏了。

A: I told you that she won’t talk to me. That is where the shoe pinches. But what can you do about it?

我跟你說了她不理我了，這就是問題所在，你能坐什麼呢？

B: Put me in the picture and I may help you to sort things out.

把具體情況告訴我，也許我能幫你解決問題。

第二， 地道表達

button one’s lips

1. 解詞釋義

Button one’s lips的字面意思就是“把嘴脣鎖緊來”，比喻爲“保持沉默，閉口不言”的意思。

2. 拓展例句

e.g. Sometimes he would sit silent and abstracted, buttoning his lips.

有些時候他神思不定地坐在那裏，一言不發，任何人都不理。

e.g. Buttoning his lips, he hurried away, with his hoary head bending low.

他一言不發，低着白髮蒼蒼的頭, 匆匆地走了。

e.g. Now and then Lord Henry looked across at him, wondering at abstracted manner and his buttering his lips.

亨利勳爵不時地隔着桌子瞧着他，對他一言不發和魂不守舍的態度感到奇怪。

第三， 詞海拾貝

1. bog down：陷入困境，使……拖延，停滯

e.g. The talks have bogged down over the issue of military reform.

談判在軍隊改革問題上陷入了僵局。

e.g. We intended from the very beginning to bog the prosecution down over who did this.

我們從一開始就打算延緩對責任人提出訴訟。

e.g. Negotiations are likely to bog down.

談判很可能會停滯不前。

2. in trouble：處於困境

e.g. I've been in trouble since I was eleven years of age.

我從11歲起就麻煩不斷。

e.g. Her marriage is in trouble and she is desperately unhappy.

她的婚姻陷入困境，她爲此非常鬱悶。

3. where the shoe pinches：問題所在，關鍵所在

e.g. We can't do anything about it before we first find out where the shoe pinches.

在發現困難所在之前,我們無法加以處理。

e.g. You didn't experience that, so you don't know where the shoe pinches.

你沒有親身經歷過, 所以你不知道困難在什麼地方。

4. put sb. in the picture：讓某人瞭解詳情，知道詳情

e.g. Members of Parliament insisted on being put in the picture about the government's plans.

議員堅持要充分了解政府計畫的詳情。

e.g. He's been away for several weeks, and we'd better put him in the picture about his father’s death at once.

他已經離開幾星期了，我們最好立即把情況告訴他。

5. sort out：整理，理清

e.g. Try to sort out the basic principles from what is simply illustrative detail and digression.

試着從那些繁瑣的、枝節的論述中把基本原理摘出來。

e.g. Sometime between two and four in the morning Churchill quits and goes to bed, leaving others to sort out carbons.

邱吉爾約在凌晨兩點到四點之間離開工作臺去睡覺，把其他人留在那兒整理複寫的材料。

e.g. You need a professional to sort out your finances.

你需要專業人士替你管理財務。

第四， 口語運用

詢問某人是否能處理某事。

What can you do about something?

e.g. Mary and John had a fight yesterday evening. What can you do about it as their friend?

Mary和John昨晚打起架來了，作爲他們的朋友，你可否做些事情？