Around the corner的意思是“馬上,不久之后”。My friend's wedding isn't months away as I'd thought; it's around the corner! 我朋友的婚禮根本不是像我想的那樣,還有好幾個月才辦,而是沒幾天就要舉行了!
唉,真不知道她怎么能在那么短的時間里籌備婚禮! 我想,新郎新娘八成會忙得暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向。說到這種臨陣磨槍的處境,下面這段話中的人也是一樣。 我們來聽聽:
例句-1:Like most Americans, I don't focus on Christmas shopping until December. That's because Thanksgiving comes on the last Thursday of November. It's only after the big family dinner, the parades and football games are over, that I can start thinking about buying gifts. By then, Christmas is right around the corner! I can't believe how soon it is.
這段話是說:和大部分美國人一樣,我都是到十二月才會開始想采辦圣誕節(jié)年貨的事。這是因為感恩節(jié)是11月的最后一個星期四,要在感恩節(jié)的家庭大餐、節(jié)日游行和橄欖球比賽都過去之后,我才能騰出腦筋想采辦圣誕禮物的事兒??傻侥菚r,圣誕節(jié)已經(jīng)近在眼前了! 我簡直不能相信時間會過得這么快!
真是這樣! 時間好像總是過得比你想像得快! 這就是為什么很多人提前好幾個月就要開始采辦年貨,甚至在感恩節(jié)以前就把圣誕禮物、新年禮物全都買好!
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剛才我們說到買新年禮物不要等到最后一刻,其實(shí),生活中很多時候都需要未雨綢繆,早作打算。比如,近些年來人們經(jīng)常談?wù)撻_發(fā)可再生能源,這種有些前瞻性的做法雖然在美國各州還沒有普及,但人們顯然意識到了盡早參與的好處。我們來聽一聽:
例句-2:The U.S has some of the best resources in the world to meet its energy needs. Already, California produces 31% of its electricity from hydropower, wind and geothermal technologies. Such development is happening now in a few other states as well. And, fortunately, it's just around the corner in many others. The future looks bright.
這段話的意思是:在滿足能源需求方面,美國有一些全世界最好的自然資源。加州已經(jīng)實(shí)現(xiàn)了百分之31的電力靠水能、風(fēng)能和地?zé)峒夹g(shù)獲得。其它幾個州也正在這個方向上前進(jìn)。此外,令人欣慰的是,另外很多州也不久就能走上潔凈能源之路。這個領(lǐng)域的未來看來很光明。
新技術(shù)的發(fā)展真是日新月異。我現(xiàn)在看科幻電影的時候總想,其實(shí)這些幻想出來的東西are just around the corner! 應(yīng)該在不久的將來就能變成現(xiàn)實(shí)!