[分享]告別「how to say」的年代 (Quote)
每次不知道該說什麼時
總會用「How to say?」來打馬虎眼
但事實上
儘管「How to say?」在語法上是正確的一句話
英美人卻是從來不這麼說的
那麼
當找不到合適的詞時
他們都會怎麼說呢？
1. How do I put it? / What should I say?
這是最常用的兩句了。簡單明瞭，通俗易懂哦！
2. I don't know what to say.
過於激動、氣憤、惱怒、悲傷或者高興的時候，總會一時語塞、說不出話來。這時，你就可以說"I don't know what to say!"。
比如：
You say you spent $100 on the car! I don't know what to say! I can't believe you did that! !（你說你花了100美元買車！我真是不知道該說什麼好了，真是難以置信！）
I don't know what to say! You came here and expect me to give you all my attention for a whole hour. You know I'm busy, so just go!（我真是沒話說了！你竟然要我給你一個小時的時間陪你。你知道我很忙，一邊去吧！）
3. something of the sort
有時我們是真的找不到合適的表達法。這時就可以說：
A: What do you think of the idea of permanent education? That is, letting people go on learning until they die?
B: Well, that sounds quite new to me. Do you mean evening schools, or something of the sort?
B 實在不知道permanent education是怎麼回事，於是就用and ... and something of the sort?來代替了。
類似的說法還有something like that，something of that kind，or something or other，or whatever (you call it)。
4. a sort of ..., you know.
這個a sort of..., you know 最適合想了半天卻什麼也沒想出來的場合，讓對方從你說話的context中去判斷你要表達的意思。例如：
This man is so unpopular here. He is just a sort of ..., you know.
這個人在這兒可不怎麼受歡迎。他有點……，你知道。
5. You know what I mean.
前面說一大通，最後不知道怎麼總結，便可以用You know what I mean. 來「偷懶」嘍! 例如：
To be honest, this will be difficult. You know your application form will be read not just by me but by at least three members of the academic council, and it's no easy matter to have all of us agree on one thing... you know what I mean.
說實話，這很難。你知道不止一個人要看你的申請，學院委員會至少還有兩個人要看。要讓我們大家都同意可不是件容易的事……你知道我的意思。
類似的說法還有「You know the sort of thing I mean.」，「I think you understand what I mean. I can't think of the exact word, but you know.」
6. 此外，你還可以用一些conversational fillers來爭取一些思考的時間。常用的有：Mm， Uh，um，er，erm，well，well then，now，actually，of course，in fact，I mean，you know，you see，as a matter of fact，shall I say...，sort of，kind of，like，and等等。
[ 本帖最後由 philxyz0316 於 2006-9-3 16:37 編輯 ]
