「我们要的是一个属於人民的政府！」细说美国独立史

上次的文章连载中，提到了美国独立的起源来自於一本名为《常识》的小册子。这本书的消息传遍了13州殖民地，最後卖出了约50万册。到底作者佩恩葫芦里卖的是什麽药呢？让我们继续看下去┅┅

【Paine's Common Sense】
In his pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine argued for breaking away from Great Britain. He said that the people, not kings and queens, should make the laws. “A government of our own is our natural right,” he wrote. At a time when monarchs ruled most countries of the world, this was a fairly new idea. Paine said that the colonies should demand their independence.

【单字及片语】
·   break away from┅ (v.) 与┅断绝关系，自┅独立
·   monarch (n.) 君主
·   colony (n.) 殖民地

选举和山崩到底有什麽关系？

He is expected to win the class election by a landslide.
咦？我记得老师说过landslide是山崩的意思呀？

没错，landslide这个名词的本意是「山崩」，後来大家用著用著，便被另外引申用来描述「选举时某人赢得非常多的选票而当选」，想像一下某个候选人选票多到像是一座山要崩落下来，其他人只能望洋兴叹的样子，是不是形容得恰到好处呢？所以这一个例句，正确的翻译是「在此次班级选举中，大家预期他会赢得压倒性胜利」。
让我们继续看看landslide的英文解释∶
landslide   (n.)   a large victory won by gaining the approval of the majority
虽然山崩不是一件好事，不过这个用法只能用来形容巨大的胜利喔！


会议答题短句通

之前向大家介绍了开会时用英文向同事提问的惯用语句，有人提问当然就必须有人回答，被问到的时候不用紧张，以下有几个常用且好用的答题开头短句供读者们参考∶


(1)  I'd like to answer that. I'm Donovan from Sales Group 2.
     我来回答这个问题。我是第二业务组的唐纳文。
 ·  也可以这样说→ Donovan will be able to tell us about that.
     唐纳文可以为我们说明这个问题。
(2)  Concerning your question, I'll talk about the outlook at this time.
     关於您的问题，我先说明一下目前的展望。
 ·  也可以这样说→  That hasn't been decided.
     目前尚未做决定。
(3)  I'm not sure about that. I'll have Mr. Tarantino explain it.
     那个我不太确定。我请塔伦提诺先生说明吧。
 ·  也可以这样说→  I don't know so much about that. Mr. Tarantino is the expert.
     那个我并不太了解，而塔伦提诺先生是专家。