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| 第7輯 第7課 I'm afraid there isn't much time left for further discussion today. |
| 曾經看過一本企業書說絕對要避免馬拉松式的會議，長度最好維 持在一個小時。如果時間差不多到，這時候就應該有人站起來說："I´m afraid there isn´t much time left for further discussion today."「今天恐怕沒有多餘的時間繼續討論了。」現代人生活緊張，實在花不起太多時間跟人家沒完沒了，在必須停的時候就該叫停。 I´m afraid there isn´t much time left.「恐怕時間所剩不多了。」或者你也可以說：I´m afraid we´ve run out of time."意思是一樣的。此外，還有一句非常通用的口語："Time´s up. " "Time is up."表示「時間到了。」 |
| 對話 A：What are some of the problems we may face? 甲：我們有哪些問題要面對的﹖ B：Well, as for tariffs, we found out that our products would not be liable for duty. 乙：嗯，在關稅方面，我們的產品原來是無須繳納關稅。 A：What about shipping facilities? 甲：運輸工具方面怎樣﹖ B：That can be a problem. There are very few direct sailings. Well, I´m fraid there isn´t much time left for further discussion today. So may I suggest we discuss this at the next meeting? 乙：這可能是個難題，因為直航船很少。嗯，恐怕今天沒有足夠時間作進一步的討論了，我建議在下次開會再討論好不好﹖ |
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| 餘下時間不多了 I´m afraid there isn´t much time left是說「恐怕沒多少時間了」。那left一字的用法值得注意。 Left是leave的過去分詞(past participle，即完成式動詞），意思是「餘下」。Nothing was left for me to do即「沒有事情需要我做了」。這樣的說話，往往會用there be（包括is, was等be的變體）句式表達，例如：There was nothing (that was) left for me to do。括弧裡的字，一般會隱去；left的主詞是隱去的關係代名語(relative pronoun) that，不是nothing。 I´m afraid there isn´t much time (that is) left for further discussion. 一語，就是用上述句式，要不用當然也可以：I´m afraid not much time is left for further discussion. 除了there be，left還往往用於have (not) got句式，例如Little money is left for drinks.（幾乎沒有多餘的錢買飲料了）一語，可改寫如下：We have got little money (that is ) left for drinks.To have little money是「幾乎沒有錢」，to have a little money則怎樣？按a little比little多一些，quite a little又比a little為多，有「不少」的意思。To have quite a little money. 是「頗有錢」，to have a little money是「有些錢」，to have little money則是「幾乎沒有錢」。用於可數名詞的few字也是一樣：to have few direct sailings是「直航班次甚少」，to have a few / quite a few direct sailings 則是「有幾班 / 多班直航船」。 |
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資料來源：生活美語（點我看真人對話）
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