I guess begging you to change your mind is out of the question.
我想求妳改變心意是不可能的。
Changing the seating arrangement is out of the question.
更改安排好的座位是不可能的。
Hiring three new assistants right now is out of the question.
目前沒辦法雇用三名新助理。
Walking into this board meeting is out of the question.
目前正在開董事會，不能進去。
★延伸應用．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
Not going through security first is out of the question.
一定要先通過安檢。
Buying so many bottles of wine at the duty-free shop is out of the question.
不能在免稅店裡買這麼多瓶酒。
★你知道嗎？．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
拒絕時，要怎麼明確表達立場呢？首先如果你覺得某事不妥，就清楚告訴對方你的感受，像是用 I feel uncomfortable about . . .、I feel that . . . is inappropriate（我覺得……並不適當）來表達。再者如果不願意就清楚說 I won't，不要只是說 I can't，因為對方如果認為你有能力做，就會讓他誤以為仍有商談的空間。最後是提供替代方案（substitution），讓對方知道你的底線，對所要求的事情沒有退讓的可能。
The professor gave a lecture about chaos theory, but it was all Greek to me.
那位教授的演說是關於渾沌定理，但我完全聽不懂。
A: Paula left a note for you.
寶拉留了張紙條給你。
B: I saw it, but it's Greek to me. Her handwriting is terrible.
我看到了。但是我看不懂。她的字跡很草。
★你還可以這麼說．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
Was that even English?
那是英文嗎？
Can you give that to me in English?
你可以用英文說一次嗎？
I can't make heads or tails of it.
我搞不清楚。
A: Did you look at our homework questions?
你看了我們的作業題目了嗎？
B: Yes, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I didn't answer a single one.
看了，但我不是很清楚。我一題也沒答。
★你知道嗎？．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
can't make head(s) or tail(s) of 最早出現於羅馬時代，當時西塞羅（Cicero）以 nec caput nec pedes（neither head nor feet）來形容混亂的景象，至於 head 和 tail 所指為何並不是很清楚，可能是頭部和底部（top and bottom）、開始和結束（beginning and end），也可能是硬幣的正反兩面，不過這個用法現在都引申有「不清楚、混淆」的意思。
．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
★大師開講．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
arm 表示「軍事；武器」的意思，像 arms（武器；軍備）、army（軍隊）就都跟軍事相關。而 arm 亦指「手臂」，在拉丁文中表示「肩膀」，如：sidearm 是指「佩槍」、armpit 則指「腋下」。
★必學應用字彙．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
alarm n. 警報；鬧鐘；驚慌；擔憂 v. 使驚慌；報警
The students were in the midst of their exam when the fire alarm went off.
火警響起時，學生們正在考試。
armistice n. 休戰；停戰協議
The signing of an armistice might end a war, but the disagreement still stands.
簽訂停戰協議或許能中止戰爭，但歧見仍舊存在。
armor n. 盔甲；甲冑
In the museum were suits of armor from the fifteenth century.
那間博物館裡有十五世紀以來的盔甲服飾。
army n.軍隊
The soldiers in the army live by a special code of honor.
軍中的士兵服從一套專門的榮譽規範。
disarm v.解除武裝；緩和
UN Security Council Resolution 1441 requires that Iraq disarm completely.
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