第一，迷你对话

A: What should I do?

我该做什么？

B: What has happened?

发生什么事情了？

A: My daughter wants to marry Tom, the bad egg.

我女儿想和Tom那个坏蛋结婚。

B: Maybe you can persuade her out of that silly idea.

也许你可以说服她。

A: No use, it only wasts my breath.

没有用的，那只是白费口舌。

B: Or you may take her along far and apart to spend a holiday.

或许你可以带她去远一点的地方度假。

A: That seems a better idea.

这看起来是个更好的主意。

第二，地道表达

waste one's breath

1. 解词释义

Waste one's breath的字面意思是“浪费某人的气息”，比喻为“白费口舌”的意思，用之来表示人费劲唇色去劝说某人或评说某事而未能奏效。在短语后面用介词on sb. or sth.或者ing形式。

2. 拓展范例

E.g. Don't waste your breath trying to persuade him.

别白费口舌去劝他了。

用法：waste one's breath doing something

E.g. He was too intent on quitting the lake, and in making his preparations, to waste his breath on a subject of this nature.

他一心想离开湖上，正忙着收拾东西，当然不会为这些事多费唇舌。

用法：waste one's breath on something

E.g. If you don't listen to me, I've no time to waste my breath on you!

你要是不愿意听我的，我正没工夫跟你费吐沫玩！

用法：waste one's time on somebody

E.g. He won't take the exam, so don't waste your breath trying to persuade him.

他不会应试的，所以不要白费唇舌地试图劝他了。

用法：waste one's breath doing something

E.g. They won't listen, so don't waste your breath telling them.

他们听不进去, 不必和他们白费唇舌了。

用法：waste one's breath doing something

第三，视野拓展

1. bad egg：坏蛋，不可信任的人

E.g. He's been in prison several times for all sorts of crimes; he's a bad egg.

他因各种罪行入狱多次，他是个坏蛋。

E.g. The bad egg tried to nip away but was caught on the spot.

坏蛋想赶紧溜掉，但被当场抓。

2. persuade sb. out of：说服某人放弃......，规劝某人不要做某事

E.g. Can you persuade him out of his foolish plans?

你能说服他放弃他愚蠢的计划吗？

E.g. None of us could persuade him out of lending his money to that untrustworthy man.

我们谁都不能说服他不要借钱给那个不可靠的人。

3. take along：随身携带，随身带上

E.g. The students will take along pens and notebooks on their visit to the factory.

学生们将带笔和笔记本去参观工厂。

E.g. He always take along with him a mini english dictionary in order to look up new words whenever possible.

他经常随身携带英语字典以便随时查阅新单词。