迷你对话学地道口语第905期:AA制

 　　A: There’s a question I’m not sure whether it is suitable to ask.

　　有个问题，我不知道能不能问。

　　B: You know that I have no secrets toward¹ you.

　　你知道我对你可没什么保密的。

　　A: When you go dinner with John, who feets the bill?

　　你和约翰出去吃饭时，是谁付账的？

　　B: Why asking that? It’s often the sort of Dutch treat.

　　问着干什么？一般都是各付各的。

　　Dutch treat

　　1. 解词释义

　　Dutch treat是指“（付账时）各付各的”，也就是我们说的AA制。

　　2. 拓展范例

　　e.g. Today we'll have a Dutch treat at the restaurant.

　　今天在餐馆吃饭我们将各自付费。

　　e.g. Let's compromise².How about making it a Dutch treat?

　　我们折中一下吧。各付各的怎么样？

　　e.g. I thought he was treating, but it turned out to be a Dutch treat.

　　我以为他要请客,但结果是各付各的。

　　e.g. A Dutch treat can sometimes pull you out of an embarrassing³ situation.

　　各自付费有时能使你摆脱窘境。

　　1. go to dinner with sb.：和……一起吃晚餐

　　e.g. If we go to dinner with your boss, you're not to talk shop.

　　要是我们和你老板一起去吃饭,你可不许谈工作。

　　e.g. It's boring to go out to dinner with a cheapskate.

　　和小气鬼一起出门吃饭真没意思。

　　2. foot the bill：付账

　　e.g. I was in a jam because I didn't have enough money to foot the bill.

　　我带的钱不够付帐,处境很狼狈。

　　e.g. I suppose Jim will foot the bill, as always.

　　我想吉姆会像往常一样付账的。

　　3. the sort of：那种

　　e.g. That's the sort of painting I like: simple, suggestive and unpretentious.

　　我就是喜欢这种画；朴素，发人深思，而且毫无矫揉造作之感。

　　e.g. He's not the sort of man who would go back on his word.

　　他不是那种会食言的人。

　　3. be suitable to do sth.：做某事恰当

　　e.g. Would now be a suitable to show the slides?

　　现在放幻灯片合宜吗？

　　e.g. It is not suitable to make a joke at the moment.

　　现在不宜开玩笑。

　　There’s a question I’m not sure whether it is suitable to ask.

　　要点解析：这个是一个含有定语从句的复合句。主句是There’s a question，定语从句是I’m not sure whether it is suitable to ask。先行词也就是被修饰的词是question这个名词，它在定语从句中做ask的宾语，指代物，引导词可以用that或者which，而且可以省略。

　　在定语从句中，含有一个由whether引导的补语从句：whether it is suitable to ask，补充说明not sure的的具体内容。

1 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

2 compromise   

n.妥协；妥协方案；vt.损害；vi.妥协，让步

参考例句：

• The spokesman made it clear that no compromise was yet in sight.发言人表明，目前还不会妥协。
• The probable outcome of the talks is a compromise.会谈的结果很可能是妥协。

3 embarrassing   

adj.使人尴尬的，令人为难的v.（使）窘迫，（使）局促不安( embarrass的现在分词)

参考例句：

• His jokes didn't even raise a smile, which was embarrassing. 听了他讲的笑话，都没人笑一下，真是太尴尬了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was in the embarrassing position of having completely forgotten her name. 当时我完全忘记了她的名字，很是尴尬。 来自《简明英汉词典》