over 可以翻作「結束的,完畢的」,但如果說 I'm over. 聽起來會像是「我結束了」,因為 over 的主詞通常是事情。所以要說自己已經把工作完成時,要用 I'm done. 會比較貼切,done 在這邊是形容詞,表示事情完成了,或是某人做完了某件事情,主詞可以是人或事情。若想明確地說出自己完成了哪項工作,也可以用 I finished ____. 這樣的句型。
Boss: You have a report to do. You can't take a nap now.Employee: I'm done.Boss: How about those emails I told you to send?Employee: I finished them as well.Boss: Fine. I guess you can take a nap in that case.
「大」直接翻作 big,是非英文母語者很常見的問題,就像「大雨」很常聽到有人說成 big rain ,但當事物是由「量」來計算的話,形容詞則需選用 heavy 而非 big , heavy 常見搭配有: heavy rain (大雨), heavy duty (重責),以及這邊談的 heavy workload (很大的工作量) 。
Her colleagues had been nice to her. It was the heavy workload that led her to quit her job.她的同事們都對她很好,是工作量大導致她辭職。
Is there any way to lower costs? Our company will go bankrupt by the end of this year at this rate.有辦法可以降低成本嗎?以這樣的速率下去我們的公司年底可能就要破產了。
你可以打我的手機。
(X)You can call my cell phone.(O)You can call me on my cell phone.
這句話也是因為直翻而產生的錯誤,講出來會讓外國人一頭霧水的! call my cell phone 意思會變成「打電話給『我的手機』」,而不是「打電話給『我』」,所以千萬記得加上介系詞 on 再接 my cell phone, You can call me on my cell phone 才是「你可以打我的手機」的意思。
You can call me on my cell phone if you have any questions about the job offer. Here is my card.如果你有任何關於這份工作的問題,你可以打手機給我,這是我的名片。
Make sure to put a minimal amount of words on the slides.
No one would be able to read them with too many sentences.
要確保投影片上的字不要太多,放太多字在上面的話沒有人能看完。
謝謝聆聽。
(X)Thank you for your listening.(O)Thanks for listening. / Thank you for listening.
從小到大聽到的 Thank you for your listening. 其實是中式英文!事實上 your 後面只能接上「事物」,不能接上「動作」,所以如果表達「感謝『你的』聆聽」,只要說 Thanks for listening. 或 Thank you for listening. 就可以了,同樣的道理,「感謝你的收看」則可以說 Thanks for watching. 。
A: Your presentation was amazing.B: Thank you for listening! I'm so glad you came to support me!A: Of course I would! You are my best friend.
(X)My meaning is ________.(O)What I mean is ________.
中文說「我的意思」,很多人會直翻成 my meaning,這句話文法上沒有錯,meaning 這個字是名詞,確實可以表示「意思」,但是不會說 my meaning、your meaning。道地的說法是 what I mean。所以當你要解釋自己的話時,可以用 what I mean is 後面加上一個子句。 mean 在這邊是動詞,表示「意思是」。
What I mean is you should think before you speak, not that you should always keep quiet.我的意思是你說話前要先思考,不是都不要講話。