英語口語練習小對話 第876期:使措手不及
A: It’s a great pity he left suddenly.
他突然離去，真叫人遺憾。
B: Yeah. He caught us on the hop.
是啊，真讓我們措手不及。
A: He has lost a good chance to understand others.
他失去了一次瞭解他人的好機會。
B: Perhaps you’er right.
也許你是對的。
catch sb. on the hop
1. 解詞釋義
Catch sb. on the hop中的hop是指“單足跳”，短語on the hop表示“活動的，安靜不下來的”的意思。那麼，catch sb. on the hop “趁人不備時抓住，使人措手不及”等意思。習語詞典中解釋道：If you catch someone on the hop, you do something when they are not ready for it and may not be able to deal with it well.
2. 拓展例句
e.g. I'm afraid your order has caught us on the hop—the goods aren't available yet.
恐怕你的訂單來得太突然，我們全無準備，目前尚無貨源。
e.g. He always comes by without giving a call to me and catches me on the hop.
他總是事先不打電話就來訪，搞得我措手不及。
plans almost caught security chiefs and hotel staff on the hop.
他的計劃幾乎讓安全主管和飯店工作人員都措手不及。
e.g. You've caught me on the hop, I'm afraid give me five minutes to get ready.
你弄得我措手不及，給我五分鐘準備一下吧。
e.g. His presence is unexpected and has caught his opponents on the hop.
他的到場出乎預料，使他的對手們措手不及。
on the hop：到處奔波，忙碌地
e.g. She was kept on the hop during our excursion.
在我們的旅行期間，她顯得很活躍。
e.g. The young man was keeping on the hop for four hours while his wife is having the baby.
他妻子生孩子時，這小夥子一連忙碌了四個小時。
It’s a great pity he left suddenly.
要點解析：這是一個含有同位語從句的複合句。主句是it is a great pity，同位語從句是he left suddenly。同位詞是pity，從句在這裏起到補充說明這個pity的具體內容。此外，這裏省略了引導詞that。
