老板Tom打電話給秘書Susan.
Tom: (On the phone) Hey Susan, how are things at the office?
S: Oh, hi boss. Things are fine. But...aren't you supposed to be on a plane right now? I booked you on a 9:30 flight out of Hong Kong.
T: Um...Yeah. I should be watching the in-flight movie by now, but all flights are grounded.
S: Grounded? Oh...is it due to that hurricane?
接到老板的電話,Susan很意外,因?yàn)镾he booked him on a 9:30 flight out of Hong Kong,他本應(yīng)坐九點(diǎn)半的飛機(jī)離開香港,book在這里是動(dòng)詞,指定機(jī)票。 原來是Tom的飛機(jī)停飛了 grounded, g-r-o-u-n-d-e-d, grounded,是停飛 的意思。Susan問是不是因?yàn)轱Z風(fēng)。
T: Well, in Asia they call them typhoons but yep, that's the reason. Typhoon Marokot has shut down air traffic across the region.
S: Wow...that sounds like a nasty storm. Is it howling outside right now?
T: It's actually not too bad...there is some rain and wind, but we might be in the eye of the storm right now.
S: So what's the plan? When can you get a flight out?
Tom的班機(jī)的確是因?yàn)樘鞖庠蛲ow的,Tom說,亞洲習(xí)慣叫typhoon, t-y-p-h-o-o-n, typhoon,臺(tái)風(fēng)。這場(chǎng)臺(tái)風(fēng)讓整個(gè)地區(qū)的空運(yùn)都陷入了停頓。 Shut down是關(guān)閉的意思。Tom說,他們現(xiàn)在可能in the eye of the storm,處于風(fēng)暴中心。飛機(jī)什么時(shí)候能起飛呢?
T: The airline says they are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to take off in a couple more hours. For now they're asking everyone just to standby and wait for the weather to lift.
S: That sounds frustrating.
T: Yeah, it is. I've been here for four hours now and I am getting a bit frazzled.
航空公司估計(jì),幾小時(shí)后可以起飛,take off,是飛機(jī)起飛的意思。上面那句話里還用到了cautiously optimistic,指謹(jǐn)慎樂觀。Tom說,航空公司要大家standby待在那里,隨時(shí)等通知。Tom已經(jīng)等了好幾個(gè)小時(shí),I am getting a bit frazzled. Frazzled is spelled f-r-a-z-z-l-e-d, frazzled,是心力交瘁的意思。
S: Is there anything I can do for you from here?
T: Actually, come to think of it,..can you call Mr. Tang in Singapore and tell him I might not make it to the conference in Berlin tomorrow?
S: Sure.
Tom讓Susan給新加坡的唐先生打電話,通知他,自己可能趕不上第二天在柏林的會(huì)議了。To make it在這里是做到某事的意思。Tom還要在機(jī)場(chǎng)等多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間呢?我們下次繼續(xù)聽。