PETS－2语法讲解(147)

　　I don't think you could have done it better.
　　对话
　　Mary: I've just popped in to thank you very much for organizing last weekend’s trip to the seaside for the old folk.
　　Julia: That's very kind of you. They all seemed to enjoy it.
　　Mary: They certainly did. Everything went like clockwork, in fact I don't think you could have done it better.
　　Julia: I'm not sure about that, there were one or two things that could have been improved.
　　Mary: In a perfect world perhaps, but as far as I'm concerned it was a great success. So thank you again.
　　玛丽：我顺道过，要向你说声谢谢，谢谢你筹办上周末的长者海滨游。
　　朱莉雅：你太客气了。他们似乎都玩得很开心。
　　玛丽：没错。那天一切十分顺利，实在不可能安排得更好了。
　　朱莉雅：我可不敢这么肯定。有一两件事是可以安排得更好一点的。
　　玛丽：如果世事有所谓的完美，那你说得也许没错；但对我来说，这次的旅行非常成功。再次谢谢你啦。
　　玛丽告诉朱莉雅：I've popped in to thank you for organizing last weekend's trip for the old folk。Pop是拟声字，指‘噗’一声，例如：The cork popped as it came out of the bottle（软木塞‘噗’一声从瓶口拔了出来）。引申其义，pop in 是指突然探访人家，事前没有特别安排，逗留一般也不长久，例如：He popped in this morning（他今早忽然来访）。
　　Old folk的folk是指‘人们’，作集合名词(collective noun)，但也有人用folks指‘人们’，例如：Some folk/folks find the new regulation rather annoying（有些人觉得新条例很麻烦）。留意无论folk还是folks都配复数形式动词。
　　有时，你会看到one's folks这个说法，用复数形式是指某人的亲属，例如：My old folks live in Taiwan（我年迈的父母住在台湾）。称呼一群人，也习惯用复数形式，例如：Let's go, folks（各位，我们走吧）。和people相比，解作‘人们’的folk多是指生活方式相同的人，或属于某一社团的人，例如：Country folk/folks tend to be more conservative（乡下人一般比较保守）。不过，严谨的写作通常会用people取代folks，例如Country people tend to be more conservative。
　　玛丽说：Everything went like clockwork。Clockwork是钟表等的发条装置，例如：The toy soldier walks by clockwork（那玩具兵是用发条装置步行）。Like clockwork是比喻，指‘顺利’、‘准确’或‘有规律’，His training schedule runs like clockwork即‘他的训练计划很有规律’。