第73讲 作最坏打算 Keep sth. straight & Prepare someone for the worst

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英语学习来不得半点马虎，对于没有掌握的语言知识点（language points）不能囫囵吞枣，敷衍了事，必须keep them straight. 大家知道Keep straight最常用的意思是“直走”，多用在问路时的对话交谈中，但是keep something straight可不是这个意思。看下面的例句：

When studying English, we have to keep language points straight, which is totally confusing us.
(译文：当学习英语时，对那些使我们迷惑的语言知识点必须搞清楚。)

片语keep something straight的意思是“把某事搞清楚”。它也可以写作get something straight. If you keep (get) something straight, you make sure that you understand it properly, or that someone else does. For example:

The newspaper gave us a great deal of information about how to purchase a new house. We couldn't simple keep it all straight!
(译文：这份报纸告诉了我们许多关于如何购买新房子的信息，我们简直搞不清楚。)

许多事情我们预先是无法搞清楚的，这时，我们就需要作好最坏的打算。这里“作最坏的打算”在英文中可以用片语prepare someone for the worst来表示。

After interview, Mr. James Scott didn’t think that he did well on it, so he prepared himself for the worst.
(译文：面试后，James Scott先生认为他表现得不好，所以作好了最坏的打算。)

片语prepare someone for the worst的意思就是指我们常说的“作最坏的打算”。If you decided to prepare yourself for the worst to something, you expected it very bad, and had no any hopes. Let’s take a look at other examples:

After checking out for several times, the doctor confirmed that Bill had cancer, and the cancer had already spread throughout his body. Then the doctor told Bill’s fiancée to prepare her for the worst.
(译文：几次检查后，医生证实Bill患上了癌症，并且癌细胞已经扩散到了他的全身。接着医生告诉Bill的家人作好最坏的打算。)

结束语：研究生入考试刚一结束，同学就告诉我说他搞不清楚（doesn’t keep it straight）考试的结果会是什么样的。我告诉他凡事想开点，作好最坏的打算（prepare him for the worst），到时就不至于太难过。