put food on the table挣钱养家

一个外号就把一个人的职业标签钉死，因果说得干净。

Someone is known as X because ...

给人下标签并给出理由时用；正式文书改成 is referred to as。

He's known as the fixer because he always cleans up. ／ That's why everyone calls her the closer.

中性

重读 Dr. Death，because 后放慢，句尾下沉。

She is known as the fixer because she solves every crisis. 她被称为救火队员，因为每次危机都是她摆平的。

用大白话否定对未来的断言，正好戳中「死亡医生」证词的软肋。

You can't tell what somebody will do.

劝人别把话说死、别替别人预判时用；书面可说 You cannot predict。

Nobody knows what he'll be like in ten years. ／ You can't predict how people will turn out.

口语

can't 和 tell 重读，gonna do 连读，句尾放平。

You can't tell what a kid's gonna do years from now. 一个孩子几年后会怎样，谁也说不准。

前半句留分寸，后半句把话说死，反驳得又稳又硬。

as far as we know, ...

在说「就我们所知」时用，既严谨又不把话说绝；正式文书常用。

To the best of our knowledge, there was none. ／ We have no record of it, as far as we know.

正式

as far as 轻快带过，重读 violence，句尾收住。

As far as we know, he had no history of violence whatever. 据我们所知，他完全没有暴力记录。

把医生的可怕预言原样复述，夸张得让人听见指控有多离谱。

I would ... and probably + 夸张结果.

转述别人对自己夸张的恶意预测时用；不适合拿来当玩笑。

They claimed I would burn the whole city down. ／ According to him, I'd wreck everything in sight.

口语

重读 crazy 和 butcher，half of 连读，句尾下沉。

They made it sound like I would go crazy and quit everything. 他们把我说得好像会发疯、把一切都撂下。

一句警告加一句时间对比，荒谬感一下子顶到最高。

Don't ever ... And he talked to me 15 minutes.

用反差拆穿对方判断草率时用；语气带讽刺。

Never trust me again, apparently, after a ten-minute chat. ／ One short talk and suddenly I'm dangerous.

口语

Don't ever 重读，15 minutes 放慢强调。

Don't ever trust me with a project. And we spoke for five minutes. 以后别让我碰项目。而我们只聊了五分钟。

前句刚说能理解偷窃和吸毒，这句一转，把不可原谅的界线划出来。

It's very hard to understand why ...

表达某件事无论怎么想都无法接受时用；正式演讲尤其有力。

There is no way to make sense of killing an officer. ／ That is the one act nobody can explain away.

正式

very hard 重读，why 引出从句时稍停。

It's very hard to understand why anyone would hurt a child. 很难理解，怎么会有人去伤害一个孩子。

把整段推理收在一句强调句上，冷得让人无话可说。

It was X that counted.

强调最终起作用的是某件事时用；正式书面也常见。

What mattered in the end was their decision. ／ Theirs was the call that stood.

正式

重读 their verdict，that counted 轻收，整句放慢。

In the end, it was the numbers that counted. 到头来，算数的是那些数字。