商務英語口語對話:我們應該放他一馬

A: Where's Bill? The ambassador is already here. The meeting is set to start at 9 am.

B: He's late again. Traffic is probably holding him up. You know, he commutes from the suburbs. It's not easy commuting every day. We should cut him some slack.

A: Even though the trafic is bumper-to-bumper out there, I don't think it's heavy traffic that makes Bill late. He takes the train, remember?

B: Oh, that's right. Well, the train shouldn't be late. That means there is only one explanation.... Bill must have overslept.

A: Well, to be fare, since he's coming all the way from Lancaster, he's got to get up much earlier than the rest of us. He must get start on his commute about 6:30, no telling what time he actually gets up.

B: That's right, because he's got to get to the train station from his house, then take the blue line into the city, then switch trains to the red line. In all, the trip's got to take more than 2 hours.

A: Why doesn't he just drive to work?

B: It's too difficult to park your car in the city. Also, the traffic coming in from the suburbs is a nightmare.
比爾在哪兒？大使已經到了。會議定在上午9點開始。
他又遲到了。可能路上耽誤了。你知道，他從郊區坐公交車來上班。他每天坐公交車上下班不容易，我們應該放他一馬。
即使那兒路上的汽車一輛接着一輛，我認爲他也不會因爲交通繁忙而遲到。他乘火車上班，你忘了嗎？
噢，是這樣。火車可不會晚點。那就說明只有一種解釋，比爾一定睡過頭了。
好了，公正地講，由於他從蘭開斯特遠道而來，所以比我們所有的人都要起的早。他必須在6:30左右坐上公交車，不知道他到底是幾點起牀。
確實如此。因爲他得從家趕到火車站，然後乘藍線進站，接着再換乘去紅線的火車。這一路上總共要花兩個多小時。
那他爲什麼不開車上班？
在城裏找地方停車太難了。而且，從郊區開車進城簡直是太恐怖了。
traffic: 交通
There is too much traffic on the road.
這條路上行人車輛太多了。
Police control the traffic in large cities.
在大城市裏,警察控制交通。
Traffic is very heavy during the rush hour.
高峯時間交通十分繁忙。

Commute: 通勤,乘公交車上下班
She commutes between Chicago and Rockford every day.
她每天通勤於芝加哥和洛克福之間。

Suburb: 郊區
His family moved to the suburbs.
他的一家搬到郊區去了。

Explanation: 解釋

Oversleep: 睡過頭
I'm afraid I overslept and missed my usual bus.
很遺憾我睡過頭了, 誤了我通常坐的那班公共汽車.

Switch: 換乘

Drive: 開車

Park: 停車
Don't park the car on this street.
別把汽車停放在這條街上。

nightmare: 噩夢,可怕的事
Her first few days in that foreign land were a total nightmare.
她剛到達異邦的那幾天簡直像是一場噩夢。
Hold up:耽擱,阻礙
They were held up by fog.
他們被霧所阻。
The finals of the football was held up by a heavy storm.
由於一場兇猛的暴風雨，那場足球決賽被迫停賽了。
The train he took was held up for over 2 hours.
他乘坐的火車晚點了兩個多小時。

Cut sb. Some slack:放某人一馬

take a train:乘火車

bumper-to-bumper:一輛接一輛

to be fair:公正地說

get up:起牀

the rest of us:我們其他人

no telling:不知道
There's no telling what he'll think up next.
誰也不知道他下次會想出什麼花樣.