PETS－2語法講解(255)

　　They've probably been held up by the traffic.
　　對 話
　　Tom: You're not looking too cheerful.
　　Henry: Well I arranged with Bob and Chris to meet me here for a drink at seven o'clock. It's now a quarter to eight and neither of them has turned up.
　　Tom: I wouldn't give up hope. They've probably been held up by the traffic -
　　it's been very heavy for the past hour.
　　Henry: Even so, they should have turned up by now.
　　Tom: Well, I'd give them another quarter of an hour or so.
　　Henry: OK, but after that I'm going home.
　　湯姆：你看來不很高興。
　　亨利：我約了巴佈和尅裡斯七點鍾在這裡見麪，喝盃東西。現在七點四十五分了，兩人都還未見蹤影。
　　湯姆：我想他們會來的，應該衹是塞車，過去半小時，交通非常混亂。
　　亨利：即使如此，他們現在也應該到了。
　　湯姆：假如我是你，就會多等十五分鍾左右。
　　亨利：好吧，但再過十五分鍾，我就要廻家去。
　　交通阻塞，往往使人時間上失了預算。要曏朋友、同事等解釋遲到原因，可以說：I've been held up by the traffic。Hold up是‘阻止’或 ‘延誤’，例如：(1) An accident held up the traffic.（一件意外事故，阻礙了交通）。(2) Production was held up by the strike.（生産爲罷工所阻）。
　　和以前談過的make up（化妝）、get (somebody/oneself) up（穿上特別或古怪服裝）等動詞詞組一樣，hold up二字連起來也可作名詞，例如：There is a traffic hold-up because of road works.（由於道路工程，交通受阻）。
　　此外，hold up還可以指搶劫，多是指持槍打劫銀行、店鋪、車輛等，例如：(1) Three men held up the bank, and escaped with more than two million dollars.（有三個男人打劫銀行，搶去二百多萬元）。(2) During the bank hold-up, two cashiers were shot.（在這宗銀行劫案中，兩名出納員中槍）。這樣的hold up可不止是‘延誤’了。
　　畱意I wouldn't give up hope、I'd (= I would) give them another quarter of an hour的說法。這其實是If I were you, I wouldn't give up hope和If I were you, I would give them another quarter of an hour的縮略。要給人家意見，即可用這句語法：不是說自己會怎樣做，而是說‘假如我是你，就會那樣做’。由於‘我是你’是不可能實現的假設，動詞和輔助動詞就用假設語態過去式were、would等。