生活英语对话 Episode 60: Bad news

本单元是关于坏消息的对话

Michal: What if it\'s her?
Tim: You\'ve got to talk to her.
Michal: Hello?
Dad: Michal? It\'s dad.
Michal: Oh dzien dobry tatus.
Dad: No, no, no you\'re in England, let\'s talk English. It\'s good for both of us to practise.
Michal: OK. So, how are you?
Dad: Not great.
Michal: What\'s wrong?
Dad: Oh, it\'s, it\'s my heart, nothing serious. Just a little heart attack. But you know ...
Michal: A little heart attack? There\'s no such thing!
Dad: Calm down! The doctor said it\'s time for me to look after myself more, time to stop working so hard, time to get some help around here. Em, em Michal I hate to ask you but ...
Michal: Dad, you know you can count on me.

Vocabulary (词汇):

a heart attack (心脏病发作):
a sudden serious medical condition when someone\'s heart stops working in its usual way

to count on someone (指望;依赖):
to be able to rely on someone or expect someone to behave in a particular way

本单元的语言点是短语动词，请看下面的与家庭关系有关的短语动词。

Phrasal verbs 4

Phrasal verbs or multi-word verbs are verbs that are combined with one or two particles (a preposition or adverb) like \'after\', to make verbs with new meanings. For example, look means to use your eyes to see something (She looked at the photograph and smiled) but look after means to care for someone (The doctor said that Michal\'s dad had to look after himself more).

Here are some phrasal verbs you can use when talking about family relationships:

Phrasal verbs - family relationships (与家庭关系有关的短语动词)

bring someone up: take care of a child
She was brought up by her grandparents after her parents died.
They brought their children up to be polite and to respect older people.

take after someone: to look like someone in your family
Her dad\'s really short but her mum\'s really tall. With those long legs, she certainly takes after her mother.
All the children take after their dad, he\'s really musical and all of them can play an instrument.

look up to someone: to respect or admire someone
When she was young she looked up to her parents. They were very good role models for her.
Footballers have a lot of responsibility because so many children look up to them.

grow up: to become more adult, the process of changing from a child to an adult
I grew up in Glasgow but moved to London after I graduated from University.
He grew up on a farm but always wanted to live in a big city.

get on with someone: be friends with someone
When I was young I didn\'t get on with my sister but now we\'re very good friends.
I tried to get on with him but he was rude I found it impossible to be friends with him.

fall out with someone: have an argument or disagreement with someone and stop being friends with him or her
She fell out with me after all these years over an invite to a party!
They were best friends for years but they fell out and now they don\'t even talk to each other.

live up to: reach an expected standard
His mother was a famous politician so he had a lot to live up to. Everyone expected that he would have a successful career in politics too.
Because all my sisters did so well at high school, I had a lot to live up to from the first day I went there.

stand up to someone: refuse to accept unfair treatment or behaviour:
After years of being treated badly by her husband, she finally stood up to him and made him change his ways.
If you don\'t stand up to her, she\'ll just treat you like dirt.

look back on something: remember something that happened in the past :
When I look back on my childhood, I remember lots of laughter and a few tears too.
When you look back on your life, what is your happiest memory?

tell someone off: talk to someone severely for doing something wrong:
The boss really told me off for being late for the second time this week. Her parents told her off for doing so badly in her exams this year.