They’ve had it with the fear of retaliation, of being blackballed, of being fired from a job they can’t afford to lose. (他們長期害怕被報復、被反對、或是被裁員,而這個工作卻是他們怎麼也不能失去的。)
這句話道出了受害者的難處,由於害怕,導致很多人無法為自己發聲。說到害怕,通常我們會直覺想到be afraid of,不過,在此例句中Time用了一個介系詞片語with the fear of+Ving/N.(害怕∼)。
fear也用作動詞,因此也可以寫成「they fear that~」。但是注意that後面需加上子句,要有完整的句子結構,因此上述句子可以改成they fear that they will be retaliated(句子後段的retaliation改成動詞用法,才能符合英文基礎文法概念)。
They’ve …. being fired from a job they can’t afford to lose. 這邊還有個多益常見動詞afford,意思是負擔的起(金錢方面),例句:I can’t afford the car.(我無法負擔這輛車。)但afford也可以用在我們無法承擔失去某樣事情的後果,就像上述句子中受害者需要這份工作,而無法承擔失去工作的後果。
例句:They can’t afford to spend money on other luxuries. (他們實在無法再把錢花在其他的奢侈品上了。)
《Time》也提到: But she cannot afford to leave the job and says she must force herself out of bed every day to face the man she’s accused. (但是這位女性不能離開她的工作,她每天必須強迫自己下床來面對她所控訴(性騷)的男人。)
Accuse這個動詞指的是控訴。控訴某人做了件不好的事情我們會用accuse sb of something,介系詞of後要接一件事情(名詞)。這邊我們來看看兩個例句:
例句1: They accuse him of inappropriate behavior. (他們控訴他不當的行為。) 例句2: The boss accused the employee of stealing. (老闆指控員工偷東西。)
Accusation則是動詞accuse的抽象名詞變化,例句:Their accusation has been denied by the man. (那個男人否認了他們的指控。)而他的另外一個具體名詞變化則是accuser,「-er」指的是人的名詞,因此就是控訴者之意。
多益模擬試題:
1. I would appreciate if you could please refund _______ is left on my payment, if possible. (A)in which (B) that (C) which (D) whatever
2. I would like you to give me a written _______ about my cancellation of your Woman’s Secret magazine. (A) confirmation (B) accusation (C) appointment (D) claim