“惊喜”的日常英语口语对话练习

　　Grandpa在跟Arnold跟Peggy聊天，他们都对Pete提到的那个“惊喜”感到好奇。这时Pete回来了，他带来了另一位他们的老友人Lillian Winters女士的日常英语口语对话练习背景介绍。对话正文如下： 

　　Arnold: How's your family? Oh, I was sorry to hear about your wife having passed away.

　　Grandpa: Yes. About four years ago.

　　Peggy: And you're living with your children now? In New York? Pete wrote us and told us.

　　Grandpa: Yup. Retired and moved to New York to live with my son and his family.

　　Peggy: By the way, what do you think this big surprise is?

　　Arnold: It could be most anything, knowing Pete.

　　[Another car arrives. ]

　　Grandpa: Hey, that must be Pete! Now we'll find out about the surprise.

　　[They go to meet the car.]

　　Pete: So good to see you all!

　　Peggy: Oh, Pete, Pete! Oh, it's so good to see you!

　　Pete: Remember Lillian?

　　Lillian: I remember all of you. You haven't changed a bit.

　　Peggy: Lillian! Oh, my gosh!

　　Arnold: Lillian Winters. We were together in the Thursday night drama society.

　　【日常英语口语对话练习中的语言点精讲】

　　1. Oh, I was sorry to hear about your wife having passed away.

　　噢，我据说你夫人已经故去了，觉得很难过。

　　hear about: 据说；获悉。

　　pass away: 去世去，去逝，逝世。pass away是 die的委婉说法。类似的说法还有“pass on”以及“no longer with us”。

　　2. Yup.

　　这是Yes的书面语表白方式。

　　3. By the way, what do you think this big surprise is?

　　我问一下，你认为这叫人意想不到的事是什么？

　　by the way: 顺便说说，顺便问一下。日常英语口语对话练习经常看到by the way插入语，在提到常假想到的事，与当时所说的话题无关的事，或对已说的话增添一些说明时利用。

　　4. It could be most anything, knowing Pete．

　　知道Pete这个人（的性情），就晓得这有可能是任何东西。意思是说，Pete这个人点子多，他说的惊喜到底是什么，这很难猜准了。

　　knowing Pete: 这里的动词当初分词短语起状语作用，表示起因。

　　5. Oh, my gosh!

　　啊呀，天哪。

　　这句话用来表现惊奇。gosh是为了避免直接说God而转的音。

　　6. You haven't changed a bit.

　　你们一点也不变。这也是久别重逢时常用的寒暄语。

　　7. We were together in the Thursday night drama society.

　　咱们当年一起参加周四晚上的戏剧社。

　　society: 这里指的是社团，团体。