书城外语笑死你的英文书
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第31章 A Hasty Interruption

The finefurniture store where I work has been in business since the1920s。Recently I received a call from a woman who wanted to replace some chairs from a dining set purchased from us in the1930s。I assured her we could help and sought the assistance of the office manager。“You will never believe this one”I told him。“I just got a call from a customer who bought some chairs from us in the1930s。”

Before I could finish repeating her request,he interrupted and said,“Don’t tell me she hasn’t received them yet!”

匆忙的打断

我所工作的精品商店是从二十年代以来就营业的。最近我接到一个妇女的电话。她想换一套餐具中的一些椅子。这套餐具是她在三十年代从我们这儿买的。我向她保证说我们可以帮忙并向部门经理提了出来。“你永远也不会相信,”我对他说,“我刚接到一个顾客的电话,她在三十年代从我们这里买了一些椅子。”

我还没来得及说她的要求,经理就打断了我的话:“不要告诉我她到现在还没收到货!”

hasty[heisti]adj。仓促完成的,急忙的,急速的;草率的,轻率的

例:You will have time for a hasty snack before the train leaves。火车离站前你还能抓紧时间吃一顿快餐。

in business经商,经营

例:He is inexperienced in business。他在经商方面没有经验。

purchase[p:ts]vt。购买n。购买,购置;买到的东西

例:We purchased a car before。以前我们买过一辆车。help,assist与aid

这组动词同义词的相应名词分别为help(helper),assistance(assistant),aid,它们都有“帮助”的意思。

help和另外两个词的差别在于,help含有比较强的“目的”意义。如果你失眠,服安眠药则有助于你入睡,这里包含着目的。assist从词源学角度讲,是“站在旁边”的意思,它清楚地包含着这种帮助只起着次要的作用。aid含有“接受帮助者因为弱小而需要帮助”的意思。

be in business与not in the business of

be in business(business之前没有定冠词the),意思是“经商”、“从事商业”。

not in the business of(通常用否定形式)的意思是“对……不感兴趣”(not interested in)、“通常与……没有联系”(not normally concerned with)、“对……不特别在行”(not particularly skilled at)或“没有……职责”(not having the purpose or aim of)。具体意义要根据语境而定。如:I am not in the business of telling people what to do-if you don’t like what he is doing,tell him yourself!(我不习惯要别人做这做那――如果你不喜欢他现在的所作所为,你自己同他说去。)I am not in the business of predicting the future,but I wouldn’t mind betting that she will be a great success one day。(对预测未来我不在行,但我敢肯定她有朝一日会获得巨大成功的。)