（中級）語料學習 （2）

來自專欄 Wallace的英語學習小站

One common problem with New Years resolutions is that they arent specific enough. Maybe you resolved to eat healthier or be friendlier. But if you dont have a plan, how will you know if youve reached your goal? Generally, resolutions tend to fade out of your memory. Theyll return again the next year when you start thinking about resolutions again.

常見的新年決心問題就是不夠明確。也許你決意要吃得更健康,或是對人更加友善。但是如果沒有明確的計劃,那要如何知道自己是否已經達成目標了呢?一般而言,新年決心往往會逐漸被淡忘。等到明年要重新開始思考下定什麼新年決心時,才會再度被想起。

tend to 是往往會，經常會怎麼樣，這個詞可以替代常用的often，always。

Women tend to live longer than men.

女人往往比男人長壽。

When Im tired, I tend to make mistakes.

我累了就容易出錯。

還有一個常用片語也可以跟它做替換，get/be used to習慣做什麼。這裡的to也是介詞，後面跟sth或者doing sth

Im not used to eating so much at lunchtime.

我不習慣午飯吃那麼多。

I found the job tiring at first but I soon got used to it.

起初我覺得這份工作很累人，但很快就習慣了。

fade out是漸漸變得模糊的意思，它的反義詞是fade in，就是逐漸增強to become clearer or louder / less clear or quieter。fade out of your memory是指漸漸淡忘，它比forget更形象，更有畫面感，就好像一幅畫在眼前慢慢的變得模糊不清了。

George saw the monitor black out and then a few words faded in.

喬治看見屏幕變暗，接著出現了幾個字。

Other resolutions fail because theyre not realistic. People either ask too much of themselves, or they pick something they cant control. The truth is, nothing changes when the clock strikes midnight on December 31. If you want to change, it will be hard whenever you try it. But the good side of that is that you can change your life any time you decide to.

另外有些決心則是因為不夠實際,以致無法落實。大家不是對自己要求太高,就是選了自己控制不了的事。事實就是,當鐘聲在12月31日的午夜響起之後,什麼也沒改變。如果你想要有所改變,任何時候做起來都不會容易。而正面的思考則是:只要你下定決心,任何時候都能改變人生。

ask too much 是個很口語化的表達，對誰要求太多後面加 of sb

ask too much of a child.

過分要求孩子

I intercepted her before she could ask too much.

在她能提更多問題前被我攔下了

You are asking too much of the kids when you expect them to complete their homework before dinner.

要求孩子們在晚飯前完成作業，這要求太高了。

Resolutions often fail, but dont be discouraged. If theres something you want to change about your life, it wont hurt to try. And if you fail now, dont worry. Lunar New Year is right around the corner!

人們立下的新年決心常常無疾而終,不過先彆氣餒。如果你對自己的人生還有什麼想改變的,不妨一試。就算現在沒成功,也無需擔心。農曆新年馬上就到啦!

it wont hurt to try這是說試一試又沒什麼關係。Try可以換成其他的動詞，比如

it wont hurt to ask

問一下又沒什麼關係

It wont hurt to postpone the meeting.

不妨把開會時間往後延.