【英语多益通】川金会cancel？跟着金正恩怒学取消的4种说法！
文／Buffy
最近北韩动作频频，先是主动对南韩友好，尔后向美国释出善意，承诺放弃核武，因而促使了川金会的演成。不过美国与南韩最近展开大规模联合军演，惹怒了金正恩，继取消与两韩会谈后又威胁取消川金会。
到底国际上谈到「取消」会议除了cancel外，还有别的说法吗？我们就从这次川金会可能取消的新闻，学多益常考且容易混淆的单字吧！
Call ~ off 取消On Tuesday night, North Korea threatened to call the whole thing off.（周二晚间，北韩威胁要取消会议。）
在这句话里面，报导采用了一个较为口语的常见片语「call ~ off」，也就等同于取消的意思，注意这个片语和「put ~ off」不同，后者意思为延后、暂缓，等同于postpone之意，常出现在多益听力题，听的时候要注意「动词用法决定语意」，不然误会可就大了。
再补充一个和call有关的英文常见片语「call for~」，意思为呼吁，后面接呼吁事项的内容，可接名词或动名词，例句：Several of the newspapers were calling for his resignation.（许多报纸媒体呼吁他尽快下台。）
Back out of 退出Why is North Korea, which had been all sweetness and light for the past several months of negotiations, all of a sudden saying it might back out of the talks?（为何过去几个月以来对于协商一直表现友善亲切的北韩突然间说他可能会退出会谈？）
另外一个用法就是「back out of~」，为表达退出的意思。Back原本是后方的意思，但片语「back out of~」取用往后退的含义，因此有退出之意。
另外和back有关的片语就是back up，可表达为有备份或是支持的意思，例句：All the evidence backs up her story.（所有的证据都支持了她的故事。）而当变成backup时，词性则变成名词，而该名词属于复合名词，这也是英文常见的单字创作法之一。
在这里需注意一点，那就是英文常会出现同个单字，但配上不同的介系词使用后而完全改变语意的状况，这些我们称之为collocations（搭配字词）。因此若要更理解外国人谈话的内容，对于各种单字的collocations一定要有基本认知，建议在准备多益测验时，顺便整理一些collocation的单字表，增加对惯用语的掌握度，因为这些collocations经常会出现在英文对话题中。
Scuttle 阻饶破坏They don’t believe Pyongyang is trying to scuttle the talks, at least not yet.（他们不相信北韩政府试图阻饶破坏会谈，至少现在还不是。）
Scuttle这个单字有表达阻饶破坏之意，相似于取消的含义，也和destroy、sabotage等单字同意。例句：Some of the stockholders are threatening to scuttle the deal .（部分的持股人威胁要破坏这个交易。）
Pull out of~ 退出Kim appeared to suggest that it was Bolton, "talking about (a) formula of 'abandoning weapons first, compensating afterwards,'" which had prompted the threat to pull out of the planned summit. （金正恩似乎在暗示川普新聘的国家安全顾问John Bolton的论述「谈到先弃武，后补偿」的公式促使他威胁退出计划好的高峰会。）
「Pull out of~」其实和前面提到「back out of~」有异曲同工之妙，概念很类似，只是采用不同动词罢了。我们都知道pull有拉扯的意思，因此从某个东西中拉出来，就是退出的含义。另外比较正式的动词为「withdraw from~」，皆有退出的意思。例句：Both countries agreed to withdraw their troops.（两国同意双方军队撤退。）
多益模拟试题：
W: Why didn’t you tell me the product planning meeting had been called off? I was sitting in the seminar for 15 minutes, from 10:00~10:15, but nobody came.M: It was posted on our department sub-site this morning. We are supposed to log on and check the e-schedule every morning when we come in, right? Charles Burnett, who is in charge of product development, called in sick at around 8:00. There is no way we can have the planning session without him.W: Didn’t it occur to you that since I arrive every morning at 7:00, maybe I did check our website but it wasn’t posted at that time?M: I see your point. Oh, it’s my fault, I suppose. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know.
1. What is the problem?(A) A website is down.(B) A product is faulty.(C) A meeting was cancelled.(D) An employee was late.
2. What did the man assume about the woman?(A) She called in sick today.(B) She didn’t plan to attend the meeting.(C) She already received the sales report.(D) She knew about the change in schedule.
3. When did the woman arrive for work this morning?(A) 7:00.(B) 8:00(C) 10:00(D) 10:15
解析：
1. 正确答案为(C)，题意为「出了什么问题？」对话的一开始女方就质问男方说「Why didn’t you tell me the product planning meeting had been called off?（你怎么没告诉我产品计划会议已经被取消了？）」由于call off的同义词为cancel，因此可以判断正确答案为(C) A meeting was cancelled，其中注意选项(B) A product is faulty是典型的混淆视听题型，对话中虽然出现fault，但是和产品有瑕疵的（faulty）完全无关，因此不能选。
2. 正解为(D)。题意为「男方的假设女方的什么事情？」其中男方被质问后说到「We are supposed to log on and check the e-schedule every morning when we come in, right? （我们每天早上到公司就要登录网站并且确认当天的电子行程表，不是吗？）」男方用反问句来确认一个肯定的讯息，因此我们可以推断这是共识，男方认为女方如果有确认新的行程表，应该会知道会议遭取消一事，因此答案为选项(D) She knew about the change in schedule。其中选项(A) She called in sick today也是混淆视听题，对话中提到生病请假的人是产品发展主导人，而且不是女方，故不能选。
3. 正确答案为(A)。题意为「女方几点到公司？」虽然对话中有出现多个不同的时间点，不过在对话中，女方说了这么一句话「Didn’t it occur to you that since I arrive every morning at 7:00, maybe I did check our website but it wasn’t posted at that time？（你难道没想过既然我每天早上都七点到公司，或许我确实有确认过但是当时行程表还没更新吗？）」因此可以确认答案要选(A) 7:00，其余时间分别代表负责人打来请假时间、女方在会议室等待时间等，因此皆不可选。