请先看下面这组对话:
Mark: "English is a very easy language to learn."
Susan: "What do you mean?"
Mark: "Well, what I meant to say was that it is easy if you practice every day."
Susan: "Oh, right."
这里,Mark说得话一开始Susan并没有完全听懂,于是Mark换了一种说法来表达自己的意思,如此一来Susan便理解了。
以下是几种在日常英语中能把问题解释清楚的地道说法:
1.重组语句,换一种说法。
"What I meant to say was…"
"Let me rephrase that…"
"Let me put this another way…"
"Perhaps I'm not making myself clear…"
2.从头再说一次。
"If we go back to the beginning…"
"The basic idea is …"
"One way of looking at it is…"
"Another way of looking at it is…"
3.如果一下子卡了壳,想不起来用英语怎么说,则……
"I can't find the word I'm looking for…"
"I'm not sure that this is the right word, but…"
"What I want to say is…"
不要害怕重复你的话,如果每次解释的话都有稍微的差别,让人可以猜测到你要说什么。