評論
打印
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，因為She booked him on a 9:30 flight out of Hong Kong，他本應坐九點半的飛機離開香港，book在這里是動詞，指定機票。 原來是Tom的飛機停飛了 grounded, g-r-o-u-n-d-e-d, grounded，是停飛 的意思。Susan問是不是因為颶風。
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的班機的確是因為天氣原因停飛的，Tom說，亞洲習慣叫typhoon, t-y-p-h-o-o-n, typhoon，臺風。這場臺風讓整個地區的空運都陷入了停頓。 Shut down是關閉的意思。Tom說，他們現在可能in the eye of the storm，處于風暴中心。飛機什么時候能起飛呢？
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，幾小時后可以起飛，take off，是飛機起飛的意思。上面那句話里還用到了cautiously optimistic，指謹慎樂觀。Tom說，航空公司要大家standby待在那里，隨時等通知。Tom已經等了好幾個小時，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議了。To make it在這里是做到某事的意思。Tom還要在機場等多長時間呢？我們下次繼續聽。
