英語日常口語 Unit53:The morning after

本單元是關於燒烤野餐後的對話

Michal: Morning everyone. What a great barbeque yesterday! Coffee and biscuits Alice?
Alice: Oh no, I feel dreadful. I was throwing up all night long!
Tim: One too many cocktails?
Alice: No! I hardly touched a drop. One minute I was having a ball ...
Helen: Getting chatted up more like!
Alice: Yeah, I saw a completely different side to Paul.
Michal: Who?
Alice: Doctor Laver.
All: Oooh!
Alice: Oh don't! Give me a break!
Tim: So, was it the good doctor who made you ill?
Alice: No, it must've been something I ate.
Helen: But we all ate the same things.
Michal: It looked gorgeous, but I didn't have any of the salmon. Did you?
Helen: No.
Tim: No.
Alice: , no!


Vocabulary (詞彙):

to throw up （嘔吐）:
to be physically sick

to hardly touch a drop （幾乎滴酒不沾）:
to not drink much alcohol

to chat up （與某人搭訕）:
to get to know someone and talk to him or her in a romantic way

give me a break （你饒了我吧！ 注：開玩笑的話）:
stop annoying me (in this case, teasing Alice about Dr Laver)

本單元的語言點是英語單詞中不發音字母，英語裏有很多不發音的字母。這是因爲，儘管一些單詞的發音在過去兩、三百年裏發生了變化，但其拼寫卻是相同的。這些不發音的字母沒有很多一成不變的規則可循，但得知道，當某些字母與另一些字母組合的時候，一些字母就不發音。下面列出的是一些最常見的不發音的字母

Silent letters 不發音的字母

There are a lot of silent letters in English. This is because although the pronunciation of some words has changed over the last two or three hundred years the spelling has stayed the same. （英語裏有很多不發音的字母。這是因爲，儘管一些單詞的發音在過去兩、三百年裏發生了變化，但其拼寫卻是相同的。）
There aren't many hard and fast rules, it's more a matter of learning which letters are silent in certain combinations of letters. Here are some of the most common silent letters. （這些不發音的字母沒有很多一成不變的規則可循，但得知道，當某些字母與另一些字母組合的時候，一些字母就不發音。下面列出的是一些最常見的不發音的字 母。）

In the following examples, all silent letters are given in brackets.

不發音的 'b'
The 'b' is silent in the combination 'mb' at the end of a word. For example:

The 'b' is silent in the combination 'bt'. For example:

but not in some words, e.g. obtain, unobtrusive

不發音的 'd'

The 'd' is silent in the combination 'dg'. For example:

不發音的'k'

The 'k' is silent in the combination 'kn'. For example:

不發音的'n'

The 'n' is silent in the combination 'mn' at the end of a word. For example:

不發音的 'p'

The 'p' is silent in the combination 'ps' at the beginning of a word. For example:

不發音的 'h'

The 'h' is silent at the end of word when it follows a vowel. For example:

The 'h' is silent between two vowels. For example:

The 'h' is silent after the letter 'r'. For example:

The 'h' is silent after the letters 'ex' For example:

but not in some words, e.g. exhale, exhume