英语角上最常听到的一句话恐怕就是“How to say?”了。每次不知道该说什么时,总会用“How to say?”来打马虎眼。但事实上,尽管“How to say?”在语法上是正确的一句话,英美人却是从来不这么说的。那么,当找不到合适的词时,他们都会怎么说呢?
1. How do I put it? / What should I say?
这是最常用的两句了。简单明了,通俗易懂哦!
2. I don t know what to say.
过于激动、气愤、恼怒、悲伤或者高兴的时候,总会一时语塞、说不出话来。这时,你就可以说"I don t know what to say!"。比如:
You say you spent $100 on the car! I don t know what to say! I can t believe you did that! !(你说你花了100美元买车!我真是不知道该说什么好了,真是难以置信!)
I don t know what to say! You came here and expect me to give you all my attention for a whole hour. You know I m busy, so just go!(我真是没话说了!你竟然要我给你一个小时的时间陪你。你知道我很忙,一边去吧!)
3. something of the sort
有时我们是真的找不到合适的表达法。这时就可以说:
A: What do you think of the idea of permanent education? That is, letting people go on learning until they die?
B: Well, that sounds quite new to me. Do you mean evening schools, or something of the sort?
B 实在不知道permanent education是怎么回事,于是就用and ... and something of the sort?来代替了。
类似的说法还有something like that,something of that kind,or something or other,or whatever (you call it)。
4. a sort of ..., you know.
这个a sort of..., you know 最适合想了半天却什么也没想出来的场合,让对方从你说话的context中去判断你要表达的意思。例如:
This man is so unpopular here. He is just a sort of ..., you know.
这个人在这儿可不怎么受欢迎。他有点……,你知道。
5. You know what I mean.
前面说一大通,最后不知道怎么总结,便可以用You know what I mean. 来“偷懒”喽! 例如:
To be honest, this will be difficult. You know your application form will be read not just by me but by at least three members of the academic council, and it s no easy matter to have all of us agree on one thing... you know what I mean.
说实话,这很难。你知道不止一个人要看你的申请,学院委员会至少还有两个人要看。要让我们大家都同意可不是件容易的事……你知道我的意思。
类似的说法还有“You know the sort of thing I mean.”,“I think you understand what I mean. I can t think of the exact word, but you know.”
6. 此外,你还可以用一些conversational fillers来争取一些思考的时间。常用的有:Mm, Uh,um,er,erm,well,well then,now,actually,of course,in fact,I mean,you know,you see,as a matter of fact,shall I say...,sort of,kind of,like,and等等。