大千世界:如何跟懷恨在心的"朋友"打交道

Dear Annie: I am a 24-year-old female and have been friends with "Danielle" for 12 years. In fact, she is the only friend I have. Recently, I expressed some personal frustrations to her about my brother-in-law's lifestyle. Last weekend, he came to visit and was obviously angry with me, but refused to say why. My brother-in-law and Danielle converse often, and I am fairly certain she told him what I said. This isn't the first time Danielle has done spiteful things to me. I have even called some things to her attention, and she apologizes, but nothing changes. In the past, I have overlooked Danielle's underhanded behavior in order to save our friendship. I want to confront her about this latest incident, but don't know how to do it without hurting her emotionally. — Confidences Betrayed in N.C. Dear N.C.: If this latest incident turns out to be Danielle's fault and you confront her, at best she will follow custom and apologize but change nothing. This is a toxic friendship, where you think it's necessary to appease her every time she hurts you. Apologize to your brother-in-law for whatever you may have done that upset him, and be cordial—nothing more—to Danielle. You need to branch out and find more trustworthy friends.

Converse: 【書】交談,談話[(+with/on/about)]

We conversed for hours on the phone.

我們在電話里談了幾小時。

Spiteful: 懷恨的;惡意的

It was very spiteful of her to do that.

她做那種事太惡毒了。

Overlook

1. 眺望;俯瞰

The house on the hill overlooks the valley.

小山上的房子俯瞰著山谷。

2. 看漏;忽略[+v-ing]

My calculation was wrong because I overlooked one tiny point.

由于我忽略了一個細(xì)微之處,我的計算錯了。

3. 寬恕,寬容

He has been kind enough to overlook my fault.

他很寬容,原諒了我的錯。

4. 【罕】細(xì)看;檢查

He overlooked the contract before he signed it.

他在簽字之前仔細(xì)閱讀了合同。

5. 照管;監(jiān)督;監(jiān)視

She did not know that she was being overlooked by the woman next door.

她不知道隔壁鄰居的女人一直在監(jiān)視她。

6. 高聳于...之上

The monument overlooks the square.

紀(jì)念碑高聳在廣場之上。

Underhanded

1. 秘密的;可恥的;狡詐的

He played an underhanded trick on me.

他跟我耍了一個卑劣的花招。

2. 人手不足的

The store is underhanded in the Christmas season.

該商店在圣誕節(jié)期間缺少人手。

Confront

1. 迎面遇到;面臨;遭遇

The soldiers were confronted by two terrorists as they left their camp.

士兵們離開營房時,迎面遇到兩個恐怖分子。

2. 勇敢地面對;正視;對抗

confront danger

勇敢地面對危險

3. 使面對;使遭遇;使對質(zhì)[(+with)]

confront a prisoner with a witness

使囚犯與證人對質(zhì)

Appease

1. 平息;緩和;撫慰

Nothing could appease the crying child.

什么都無法使孩子不哭。

2. 綏靖,姑息;對...讓步

It was a blunder for them to try to appease the aggressor.

他們想姑息侵略者,那是一個大錯。

3. 滿足

Can you appease the boy's curiosity?

你能滿足這個男孩的好奇心嗎?

Cordial: 熱忱的,友好的;衷心的;真摯的

a cordial reception

熱忱招待

a cordial welcome

熱忱歡迎

The hostess gave us a cordial greeting.

女主人熱忱地歡迎我們。