第15讲 光阴似箭，逝者如斯夫！Catch up on something & Track something down

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万籁俱寂，夜深人静，窗外的细雨沙沙的打在梧桐树上，远方的亲人不知过得还好不好。家乡位于一个四面绕水的小岛上，想想生我养我的母亲河，童年的一幕幕映入脑海…离开故土故然心伤，然男儿志在四方，只是岁月匆匆，想起滔滔东逝的江水，不禁感叹：逝者如斯夫。

I always say when I have more time，I’d like to catch up on spending more time with my parents.
（译文：我总是说当我有更多时间的时候，我要赶出多点的时间陪陪女友。）

是的，时间就像流水一般，失去的不再来，所以一定要catch up on something you have to do. 对了，这里的catch up on something 意思是“赶上某事，赶赶时间把某事完成”。 Catch up 这个片语大家都知道是“追赶（come to; overtake）”的意思。如：You have to work hard in order to catch up with the rest of the class. 而catch up on something常指赶赶时间完成原本应该做而暂时没有做的事情。 The idiom means to do what needs to be done because you have not been able to do it until now. Fox example:

Now, I need to catch up on cleaning my bedroom, reading as well. But I think, the most important thing is to catch up on sleep. That’s the best bet.
(译文：现在我需要打扫我的寝室，赶一赶要读的书，但我想最重要的还是赶一赶睡眠，这是最佳选择。)

俗话说得好，时间就是袋子里的水，要靠挤才出得来。我们必须找出时间来catch up on something, 看看下面这个句子是如何鼓励我们的：

It’s not difficult to find extra time. I have the feeling the time to do may already be there if something to catch up on is truly important. The only thing we have to do is to track the time down.
（译文：找点额外的时间并不难，我有这样的感觉：如果一些需要赶赶时间来完成的事情很重要，时间总是有的。我们唯一要做的就是把它找出来。）

在这个例句中，我们看到了另一个片语track something down, 它的意思是“追查某事、寻找某物。”track是“足迹”的意思，我们知道，看到足迹就能追踪到留下足迹的人或动物，所以这个片语应该很好理解吧！它也可以写作track down something. To track someone or something down means to find them after a long difficult search, especially by following evidence that has been left behind.

让我们看一看英文解释：

Tracks are marks left in the ground by the feet of animals or people, or by the wheels of vehicles. If you track animals or people, you try to follow them by looking for the signs that they have left behind, like their tracks in the ground or other signs that they were there. To track someone or something down means to find them after a long difficult search as they didn't want to be found. For example, police track criminals down. Investigators track the truth down.

从上面这段话我们可以看出，这个片语主要指通过一些努力，克服一些困难或根据一些证据、线索而查到、找到。接下来再看两个例子：

The police have tracked down the escaped convict.
（译文：警察已追捕到逃犯。）

I always tried to track down different restaurants to eat Chinese food when I was abroad.
（译文：当我在国外时总是尽力找些不同的地方品尝中国菜。）

结束语：在这一讲里，我们主要围绕时间话题为大家介绍了两个片语。catch up on something的意思是“赶上某事，”往往有补充、补偿的意味在里面，如赶作业，赶瞌睡等。Track something down的意思是“寻找某物、追查某事。”