賴世雄英語書信通Unit 27：回老友函

March 10, 2005

Dear Robert,

Thank you for your recent letter. I’m sorry I couldn’t reply sooner. I’ve been really busy at work. Sometimes it seems like I hardly have time to breathe. But my company is expanding, so there’s a lot to do. Competition is fierce, too, so I’m afraid to relax for fear of losing ground.

There’s not really much I can add. As I said, I’ve been busy working, so I haven’t had time for anything else. I would love to take a vacation, but I’d worry too much about my business to really enjoy it. Let’s keep in touch. It’s always good to hear from old friends. I promise to write back, even if it takes me a while.

Sincerely yours,

Terry Harris

親愛的羅勃特：

謝謝你的來信。很抱歉我沒有及時回信。我一直非常忙著工作。有時候似乎就像沒有時間呼吸了。但因我的公司正在擴充之中，所以有許多事要做。此外，因為競爭很激烈，因此我怕放輕松以免失去優(yōu)勢。

我沒有別的話說了。正如我所說，我一直忙著工作，所以我沒有時間做任何別的事。我是想去度個假，但我會過于擔心我的事業(yè)以致無法真正好好渡個假。咱們保持聯(lián)絡。接到老朋友的信總是好事。我承諾會回信給你，縱使那須要花我一些時間。

泰利?哈力斯　敬上

2005年3月10日

字詞解說：

1.recent 最近的

例:That band's recent albums haven't been as good as their older ones.

(那樂團最近出的專輯沒有他們以前的好。)

2. reply 答復，回答

例:He hasn't replied to my email yet.

(他還沒有回復我的電子郵件。)

3. breathe.呼吸

breath 呼吸

hold one's breath屏息靜氣;屏住呼吸

例:It's hard to breathe in this polluted area.

(在這個被污染的地區(qū)呼吸很困難。)

The diver can hold his breath for a long ime.

(潛水員可以屏住呼吸很久。)

4. expand 擴充/展/張

例:That company is always expanding.

(那家公司總是在擴張。)

5. competition 競爭，角逐

compete.競爭，角逐

in competition with…與……競爭/角逐

compete with…和……競爭/角逐

例:Pepsi is in competition with Coca-Cola for this market.

(百事可樂和可口可樂正在競爭這個市場。)

Susie had to compete with five other women for that job.

(蘇西必須和其他五個女人角逐那份工作。)

6. fierce .激/猛烈的

例:They had a fierce argument over politics.

(他們激烈地爭論政治。)

7. relax仁ri lxks} vi.放松，輕松

例:Carl is so busy that he never has time to relax.

(卡爾是那么的忙碌以致他從沒有時間放輕松。)

8. for fear of.二以免……

例:Sharon is afraid to drive anywhere by herself for fear of getting lost.