break the news告知壞訊息

拿最黑暗的歷史人物給一顆玩笑藥背書，語氣越平實越冷得發笑。

It worked for X. It's simple, and it's effective.

不想嚴肅推薦某個荒唐辦法時可用；葬禮等正經場合別說。

It did the job for them, and it'll do the job for you. ／ Simple, effective, and proven.

口語

worked 重讀，simple 與 effective 之間稍停，句尾收平。

It worked for my grandfather. It's simple, and it's effective. 我爺爺用了都管用。簡單，而且有效。

把風流情聖的名號安在牙醫身上，一本正經的抬舉本身就是笑點。

You're the X of Y.

熟人之間拿頭銜開涮時用；對不熟的人這麼叫會顯得冒犯。

You're the Casanova of the clinic. ／ You're the Don Juan of this whole base.

口語

dental 和 Don Juan 連著說，Detroit 下落收尾。

Look at you, the Casanova of the mail room. 看看你，收發室的卡薩諾瓦。

把鑽牛角尖的毛病推給「讀書」，一句歪理比長篇解釋更像這幫人的口氣。

X is a Y, and a Y shouldn't ... That's his whole problem.

半開玩笑地給別人的毛病下定論時用；別拿去評價真實困境。

He's a dentist, and reading was his undoing. ／ The man thinks too much. That's the whole trouble.

口語

dentist 與 shouldn't 之間略頓，whole problem 放慢加重。

He's an engineer, and an engineer shouldn't read blogs. That's his whole problem. 他是個工程師，工程師就不該看部落格。他的問題全在這兒。

把剛才那通胡扯接著用，一句就讓人物和語氣都立住了。

He hasn't even started ... yet.

調侃事情才剛開始、後面更離譜時用；正式場合不合適。

He hasn't even begun to lose it yet. ／ We haven't seen the half of it yet.

口語

hasn't even 連得緊，yet 輕輕收尾帶笑意。

The deadline is Friday, and he hasn't even started panicking yet. 截止時間是週五，他還沒開始慌呢。

在滿屋子的玩笑裡突然洩出真怕，一句就讓人物可憐起來。

Boy, I just can't face it.

對朋友承認自己扛不住時用；對上司或公開場合顯得太軟。

I really can't bring myself to face it. ／ I just can't deal with it right now.

口語

Boy 拉長嘆氣，just can't 連讀，face it 下沉收。

Boy, I just can't face another meeting today. 天哪，今天我真沒法再開一個會了。