Dialogue Script 2  对话原文 2

Kelly: You'll never guess what happened!
Jim: What? Tell me!
Kelly: You know now I'm looking for a new home?
Jim: Yeah. You said the housing market is thirty to forty percent lower than two years ago.
Kelly: Right. Well, the real estate agent took me to see Billy's old place!
Jim: Wow! He's really hit rock bottom!
Kelly: Yeah. It was almost creepy to see Billy's pad up for sale!
Jim: Oh. Something else a friend of Billy's told me...
Kelly: What's that?
Jim: The banks are leaning hard on Billy to return some unpaid loans.
Kelly: Maybe he left the city - or the country - to escape all this pressure.
Jim: I would too if I had collection agencies breathing down my neck!

讲解：

1. 看来Billy真的是够倒霉的了。Kelly一直在找新房子，因为房市比起两年前，价钱低了三到四层。但是今天房屋中介带Kelly去的就是Billy以前住的地方。看来Billy真的是穷途末路了。hit rock bottom，“陷入低潮”的意思。这个短语是用来形容一个人正处于人生的“低潮”，也就是low point，心情跌倒谷底。这时候好像做什么事情都不顺利，好像一瞬间所有坏运气都聚集到他身上，就像中文里面的“屋露偏逢连夜雨”。比如说，---Tom's wife left him after he lost his job. ---Poor guy. He is definitely hit rock bottom. ---Tom丢了工作之后，老婆也离开了他。---可怜的家伙。真是祸不单行，倒霉透顶。 ---Don't let yourself hit rock bottom, turn yourself around before it's too late! ---Thanks for the advice. ---别让自己陷入万劫不复的境地，在一切还没有太晚之前浪子回头吧。---多谢你的提醒。

2. Kelly说看到Billy的房子等着被拍卖是在让人心底发毛。Jim还听说银行这个时候也在催Billy还一些未付清的贷款。也许Billy已经离开这里，甚至潜逃出境，来摆脱所有的压力。Jim说，如果讨债公司死缠着我，我也会这么做。collection agency 的意思是“讨债公司”。

3. breathe down one's neck 表示“紧盯着某人”，小时候，如果你迟迟没有交作业，你的老师会用紧迫盯人的办法要你立即写完。breath down one's neck 正是用来形容这样的动作，想象一下，如果有人在背后紧盯着你，近到连他的呼吸你都可以感觉到，相信在这样的压迫感之下，被盯着的人应该马上就能把该交的东西交出来吧！我们用一个对话来作例子，---Are you coming home soon? ---I can't. the boss is breathing down my neck for this report. ---你快要回家了吗？---还不行。老板正盯着我要这份报告。

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