- Sorry, John.
- Can you spare a moment?
Can you spare a moment?
:"Can you spare a moment?"はここでは"Can we talk for a short time?"の意味。「少しお時間よろしいでしょうか/少しお話をしたいのですが。」
- Um, yes.
- Please, take a seat. How's Edith?
- Funny you should ask.
Funny you should ask
:"Funny you should ask."とあるが、 文字通り"funny(面白い)"という意味ではない。驚くべき偶然の一致を示唆する。
- She's the reason I came to see you.
- Oh really.
- She's not sick, is she?
sick
:"sick"は"ill"あるいは"unwell"の意味。「病気である/体調が良くない」
- No, no, she's fine. It's her mother.
- Had a bit of a tumble and she'll be in hospital for a week at least.
Had a bit of a tumble
:"had a bit of tumble"は"fell down"の意味。「転倒した」老人が転倒して怪我をするときに使われる。
- So Edith's going down to look after her.
- I see…
- Now that leaves me with the boys and their footie tournament at the weekend…
footie
:"footie"は"football/soccoer"の意味。 「サッカー」
- So, I was wondering…
I was wondering
:"I was wondering ~"は遠回しに要求を言う表現。
- Wait. Not Saturday!
- Really, I don't need the whole day.
- If you could see your way to letting me join you at lunch.
If you could see your way to
:"If you could see your way to ~"は要求の内容が実現が難しいことが分かっていて、丁寧にお願いする時に使う表現。
- Hang on. Where's my schedule…
- But you're down for the sales pitch at 11am!
sales pitch
:"sales pitch"は"business meeting"の意味。「商談/売り込み」。
- Could you maybe move it to after lunch?
Could you maybe
:"Could you maybe": 要求に柔らかい印象を持たせるために"maybe"などの表現を加える。
- I'm really sorry for all this trouble.
- Look, Brian, I'll cover for you this once.
cover for
:"to cover for"は"to take someone's place"の意味。「~の代役をする」
- But I'm really not happy about it.
- Be there at 12 on Saturday.
- Thank you so much.