Susan 在自己的老板John Marchetta的辦公室里，鼓足勇氣請老板給Grandpa
一個工作的機會。另她有些出乎意料的是，John Marchetta先生立即就答應讓Grandpa
明天來面試。

    Marchetta ： Now， how's the Stewart family ？

    Susan ： Fine ， thank you， Mr. Marchetta. Except for my grandfather.
Marchetta ： What's wrong ， Susan？ What's wrong with him？

    Susan ： He needs to work. In fact， that is the reason why I'm here
to see you. I know you're building a new factory， and I thought…maybe
…my grandfather is so experienced in the construction trade， he could
be so valuable. Marchetta ： Tel him to come and see me at ten o'clock
tomorrow morning. I have an idea that may solve the problem for him and
help a lot of other people. Susan ： Really ， Mr. Marchetta？ Can I tell
him that？

    Marchetta ： Sure can. Ten o'clock in the morning. Here. Susan： Oh
，thank you！

    「語言點精講」

    1. How's the Stewart family ？

    Stewart 全家人還好嗎？這里動詞用單數is，因為family是集體名詞，表示
全家人作為一個整體。

    2. Except for my grandfather. 這句話是“Everyone is fine except for
my grandfather. ”的省略。

    except for：除……之外。指若不計被除掉的這一點，其它方面都符合主句
的斷言。

    3. What's wrong ， Susan？ What's wrong with him？

    怎么了，Susan ？他怎么了？

    向對方表示關懷，詢問對方遇到什么麻煩了、有什么困難，可以有多種表達
方式。如：What's wrong？

    What's the problem？

    There is something on your mind. Something's bothering you. What's
the matter？

    Is anything/something wrong ？

    4. In fact， that is the reason why I'm here to see you.事實上，我
就是為這事來見你的。

    the reason why…：…的原因，…的理由。也可以說the reason that 或者
the reason for.

    5. My grandfather is so experienced in the construction trade ， he
could be so valuable. so experienced in the construction trade：在建筑
行業很有經驗。trade 除“貿易，交換”以外，還有“行業，手藝”的意思，因
此有 the construction trade 的說法。

    valuable：有價值的，有用的。注意以下幾個詞的意思： invaluable （無
價的；非常貴重的），valueless （無價值的；不值錢的），unvalued（不受重
視的）， valued （重要的；寶貴的）。

    6. Sure can.當然可以。是一種非正式用法。