Ｉｔ ｊｎｓｔ ｒｅｍａｉｎｓ ｆｏｒ ｍｅ ｔｏ ｅｘｐｒｅｓｓ ｏｕｒ ａｄｍｉｒａｔｉｏｎ

Jules：Has everything been deait with now?

Marcel：Yes，the casualties have all been takenfo hospital，the electricity supply has beenrestored and traffic is now flowing normally.

Jules：What a difference from the chaos andconfusion of two hours ago.

Marcel：Yes，for a time we thought we mighthave fo call for reinforcements.but thankgoodness in the end we didn’t have to.

Jules：Well it just remains for me fo expressOur admiration for the exemplary way in whichyou dealt with a difficult and dangeroussituation.

Casualty可以指事數或戰爭中的傷者、死者、例如：The car crash resulted in eightcasualties.(那次車禍有八人死傷。)

Fatality 則專指事故或戰爭中的死者，例如：There were 174 fatalities in the planecrash.(飛機墜毀，有174人死亡。)

exemplary，可說是example的形容詞，指“可作模范的”，例如：His behavior as a studentis exemplary.(他的行為可作為其它學生的模范。)

此外，請留意兩個時間詞組：for a time、inthe end。

For a time常用來說一件事維持了一段時間，暗示其后有變，例如：For a time hehesitated，but then he made up his mind.(他最初猶豫不決，但后來立定了主意。)For a time和for some time不同：for some time是說事情經過一段頗長的時間，例如：I’ve been feelingunwell for some time。(我身體不舒服已有一段時聞。)

In the end則有“終于”的意思，表示經過某些情況之后，終于發生了一些事，等于at last或finally，例如：I worked hard，and in the end/al fest/funally gained a first-class honorsdegree.(我努力讀書，終于取得一級榮譽學位。)In the end和at the end不同；al the end指事情的盡頭。

(責任編輯 覃福貴)