buy time
老師的生日派對馬上就要開始了,我卻接到Lily 的電話:“I'm so sorry I'm running late to the party, but I'm almost there now—buy me some time so that I don't miss the cake-cutting!”
她說,她就快到了,又不想錯過切蛋糕的時刻,所以希望我?guī)退?buy some time。沒錯,buy some time 可不是買時間,而是“拖延時間”的意思。
【例如】
I think we should try to buy some more time.
我想我們該多拖延一些時間。
a bad time
原來,Will 正急著出門參加派對的時候,一個難纏的朋友突然打來電話。這時Will 只能很不好意思的說:
“ I'm afraid you've called at a bad time. I'm already on my way out thedoor.”
bad time:A time that is inconvenient or inopportune.
bad time也不能翻譯成“壞時間”, 而表示不方便,不合時宜。
Will 告訴朋友,他正準備出門,這個電話打得有點不是時候。。。
a hard time
在Vivian匆忙趕路的時候,她先后遭遇了大雨,堵車:
She had a hard time on the way to the party.
a hard time 的用途非常廣,可以翻譯為遇到困難,而困難可能是 be frustrated or meet difficulty 遇到困難,被難題難?。?/p>
【例如】
I'm really having a hard time in math this semester—I need to get a tutor.
這個學期我學習力不從心,我需要一個家庭教師。
或表示:
Grief or frustration intentionally inflicted on one by another, in the form of teasing, bullying, or other ill treatment.被欺負或不公平對待
【例如】
The school bully started giving the new kid a hard time until the teacher sent him to the principal's office.
那個校園惡霸在送去校長室前,一直欺負新來的學生。
borrowd time
老師生日派對終于開始了。他年紀已經(jīng)很大了,在生日派對上,難免感嘆:
Accidents and disease can strike so unexpectedly that it feels like we're all living on borrowed time.
人生在世世事難料,不幸隨時可能會發(fā)生,我也是磨難中的幸存者。
borrowed time 字面上看,好像是借來的時間,而從語境中看出,它表示,經(jīng)歷磨難,感覺生存來之不易。我們來看一下這段英文解釋:
borrowed time :An uncertain length of time that may end soon or suddenly
所以borrowed time常表示自己能活下來,已經(jīng)非常慶幸,比預計的時間還要長,仿佛是上帝額外借給自己多一些時間。
【例如】
He was already living on borrowed time,for three times shells had freakishly left him untouched.
他僥幸活了下來,3次都神奇地沒有被炮彈炸。
race against time
派對上,老師繼續(xù)激勵我們:
We are all in a race against time to make our dreams come true.
為了實現(xiàn)我們的夢想
我們都在和時間賽跑
這個句子不難理解,就是與時間賽跑。抓緊時間,珍惜光陰,分秒必爭的意思。race既可以做動詞,也可以做名詞。
【例如】
Jen's going to have to race against timeif she wants to get her story in tomorrow's newspaper—it's almost time to send it to the publisher!
Jen想要明天在包之中發(fā)表她的故事,就要與時間賽跑,馬上就到交稿時間了。