PETS－2语法讲解(141)

　　Your work is absolutely first-class.
　　对话
　　Greg: Do come in and sit down. How are you?
　　Heather: I'm fine thanks. Have you had a chance to look at my proposal?
　　Greg: Yes, I have, that's what I mainly want to talk about.
　　Heather: I wasn't sure whether it was exactly the kind of thing you wanted.
　　Greg: Oh, have no worries. It's precisely what we need and your work is absolutely first-class.
　　Heather: Well I must say that's a great relief.
　　格雷哥：进来坐坐吧。近来还好吗？
　　希瑟：很好，谢谢。你有空看我那份建议书了吗？
　　格雷哥：看过了，我主要就是要谈这个。
　　希瑟：我不能确定这份建议书是否符合你的要求。
　　格雷哥：啊，别担心，这正是我们要的。你做得好极了。
　　希瑟：嗯，那我就放心了。
　　格雷哥称赞希瑟：Your work is absolutely first-class。First class、second class、third class本是火车、轮船分头、二、三等的用语，但second class、third class渐渐有了‘低贱’的含义，于是‘三等’现在往往改称为economy class（经济舱）或tourist class（旅客舱），‘二等’则变成business class（商务舱）、standard class（标准舱）等。此外，first class和second class、third class常引申来说‘优秀的’和‘低贱的’，例如：(1) She took legal action against the company for treating women employees as second-class citizens（她控告公司对待女雇员犹如二等公民）。(2) Service is first-class in that hotel（这家旅馆的服务是一流的）。作形容词，first-class等往往加连字号(hyphen)。称赞人家的工作，除了说Your work is first-class和八月九日曾介绍过的一些说法，你还可以说：It couldn't be better（不能再好了），例如："How do you like my proposal?" "Oh, it couldn't be better."（‘你认为我的建议书怎样？’‘啊，好极了。’）‘建议’除了叫proposal，还可叫proposition，例如：They have accepted my proposal/proposition to restructure the personnel department（他们接受了我改组人事部的建议）。但请留意：男女之间，proposal和proposition的意思完全不同。Proposal是名词，指‘求婚’；proposition是动词，指‘求欢’。