第一， 迷你對話

A: I have a feeling that Lucy is not so much close to Jim as she used to be.

我感覺Lucy不像以前對他那么親近了。

B: Yeah, when she heard about his background, she decided that she’d better keep him at arm’s length.

是啊，她聽說他的背景后，就決定疏遠他了。

A: But Jim feels miserable.

但是Jim卻痛苦不堪。

第二， 地道表達

keep somebody at arm’s length

1. 解詞釋義

Keep somebody at arm’s length的意思是“遠離某人”“避免與某人過分親近”。

2. 拓展范例

e.g. At first she kept him at arm 's length, thinking that he might try to kiss her .

初時，她不讓他靠近自己，以為他會試圖吻他。

第三， 咬文嚼字

used to：過去常常

e.g. He used to be painfully shy, but now he's started to blossom out.

他以前極 腆, 現在活潑起來了。

e.g. He used to have a cup of coffee preparatory to his work.

在工作之前，他總要喝上一杯咖啡。

hear about：聽說……

e.g. We must take care to let nobody hear about this.

我們得謹慎，免得讓人聽見。

e.g. Anything particular you want to know? Let me hear about it.

有什么特別問題你需要了解嗎？說來讓我聽聽。