【句子】-- I think we should break it to him slowly.

-- like how? 【Modern Family S3E20】

【发音】/aɪ/ /θɪŋk/ /wiː/ /ʃʊd/ /breɪk/ /ɪt/ /tʊ/ /hɪm/ /ˈsləʊ.li/ /laɪk/ /haʊ/

【发音技巧】should break失去爆破；break it连读；it to失去爆破；like how不完全爆破；

【翻译】——我觉得我们应该循序渐进地告诉他（这个坏消息）。

——比如说？

【适用场合】

今天我们来一起学习一下这样一个表达，叫做：break it to sb.，口语中我们也可以说break the news to sb., 那么这样的短语应该如何去理解呢？

to tell someone about something unpleasant that will affect or upset them；

或者to deliver unfortunate or upsetting news to one；

“把不好的消息告诉某个人”；

我们在口语中也可以在这个短语的后面加上副词gently或者slowly，表示“用温和的方式告诉某个人”和“循序渐进地告诉某个人”这样的意思；

eg: Come on, what happened? Break it to me gently (= in a kind way).

快点儿，究竟发生了什么事？委婉地告诉我吧。

eg: I didn't want to be the one to break the news to him.

我可不想当坏人，把这坏消息告诉他。

eg: Sarah's been working on this project for months, so let's try to break it to her gently that the bosses have decided to scrap it.

莎拉为这个项目忙了好几个月了，所以当老板们决定取消这个项目时，我们尽量委婉地告诉她吧。

eg: Look, I hate to break it to you, but Molly doesn't want anything to do with you anymore.

听着，我实在不想这么直说，但莫莉再也不想和你有任何瓜葛了。

【尝试翻译以下句子，并留言在文章留言区】

Who's going to be the one to break it to Jeff that he's being fired?