Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!
Have you ever made a plan with someone, but then realised that you need to change the plan or cancel it?
嗨，我是 Emma，歡迎來到美味英語頻道！你有沒有曾經和某人制定了計劃，但隨後意識到你需要更改或取消計劃的這種情況？
In English, you need to be careful about the language that you use to make sure that you're doing it politely. Now, there's lots of reasons why you would need to change your plans or cancel your plans in English.
在英語中，你必須注意自己所使用的語言，以確保你表現得很禮貌。你可能有很多原因需要用英語來更改計劃或取消計劃。
Perhaps you genuinely can't meet someone because something more important or urgent has come up. Perhaps you've double-booked yourself — and that means that you've made two appointments at the same time without realising it, so you need to cancel one.
也許你無法和某人見面，因為某些更為重要的事情或者更加迫在眉睫的事情發生了。你可能預定過多了——這意味著你同時有兩個月，但是卻沒有意識到這個問題，所以你必須取消一個。
And other times you might just be feeling lazy or you just don't feel like meeting them. But of course, you don't want to offend someone by telling them that!
有時可能是自己感到懶惰或就是不想見他們。但是，當然因為告訴別人這件事情而冒犯到了別人！
Cancelling plans can be a little uncomfortable, a little awkward. So in this lesson I'm going to give you some useful expressions that will help you to change or cancel your plans in English!
取消可能會有點不舒服，有點尷尬。所以在本課中，我會給大家一些有用的表達方式，可以幫助你用英語更改或取消你的計劃！
Now, these expressions will be useful for formal appointments that you've made, like, at the doctors or the dentists, with a work client or a colleague, your child school principal or even a Skype lesson with a new English teacher!
But they can also be used informally as well, when you've made plans to have a coffee with friends or meet a date for dinner or even to cancel or change a meeting time with a new friend that you've met online.
現在，這些表達對於你的正式約會很有用，例如，和醫生或牙醫、與業務客戶或同事，你的孩子學校的校長，甚至與新的英語老師一起上 Skype 課程的約定！但是，它們也可以用在非正式的場合，當你和朋友喝咖啡，或一起吃個飯，甚至是取消或更改和網上認識的新朋友的見面時間。
So, the first thing you'll need to do is "break the news" and this idiom means to tell someone something — especially if it's something that they're not expecting to hear or it's bad news.
To "break the news" start with something like "I'm calling because. . ." or "The reason I need to speak to you is. . ."
因此，你需要做的第一件事是「說出實情」，這個習語意味著告訴某人某些事情——特別是如果這不是他們期望聽到的東西，或者是一個壞消息的話。要「道出實情」，請以「我因……而打電話」之類的表達開頭，或者「我需要和你聊一聊的原因是……」
So if you're at a professional office, for example, you could say "I need to cancel or change my appointment." If you're talking to a colleague that you don't know that well, you could say "I won't be able to attend the meeting on Thursday."
因此，例如你在職業辦公場合中，你可以說「我需要取消或更改我的預約」。如果你適合不太熟悉的同事說的話，你可以說：「我無法參加在星期四舉行的會議。」
But with a colleague that you do know well, you might say "I can't make it to the meeting on Thursday." It's a little more informal.
但是和一位你很了解的同事說的話，你可以說：「我不能在星期四參加會議。」這就更加非正式一點。
And, with a friend you could say "I can't make it to dinner on Friday." Now, these expressions are great if you're cancelling or rescheduling in a reasonable amount of time, you know, with enough notice.
如果是和朋友的話，你可以說：「我星期五不能去吃晚飯。」現在，如果你在合理的時間內，取消或重新安排時間的話，這些表達是很好的。
But let's be real, sometimes we aren't as organised as we want to be and we need to change or cancel an appointment without much warning, right? Perhaps the meeting or the appointment is tomorrow or it's even the same day!
但讓我們現實一點，有時我們沒有我們想要的那樣井井有條，我們需要改變或者是取消計劃，但是卻沒有什麼提前警示，對吧？也許是會議或約會就是明天，甚至是同一天！
So then, you really should include an apology. It's polite to include an apology any time that you change plans but if you do it at late notice you must apologise and you can do that simply by adding an introduction to your sentence.
所以，你真的應該道歉。在改變計劃的時候道歉是很有禮貌的，但如果通知得太晚，那就必須道歉，可以直接在句子的開頭加上一句引言。
"I'm really sorry, but. . . I need to cancel." "I'm so sorry for the late notice, but. . . I need to cancel."
「我真的很抱歉，但我需要取消。」「我很抱歉這麼晚通知你，但是……我需要取消。」
"My apologies, I need to cancel." Now, that's quite formal, that last example — best in an email or in a very formal situation.
「抱歉，我需要取消。」這是非常正式的，最後一個例子——最好在電子郵件或非常正式的情況下使用。
So, to "soften the blow" and that idiom means to make a bad situation less serious. To "soften the blow" you could add "I was really looking forward to it!"
因此，為了「緩解一下」，這意味著讓糟糕的情況沒有那麼嚴峻。為了緩解一下，你可以說：「我真的很期待呢！」
Now this helps to reassure the person or tell them that you're upset that you can't make it and that you still want to meet them at some stage in the future. "I was really looking forward to dinner on Thursday."
這有助於讓他人安心，或者是告訴對方你對於不能履行約定這件事情非常難過，你在未來的某個時間還是想見他們的。「我真的很期待星期四的晚餐。」
"We were really looking forward to meeting you!" "I was looking forward to seeing your new office!"
「我們真的很期待見到你！」「我很期待看到你的新辦公室！」
Okay, so you've broken the news, you've cancelled your plan and you've apologised. So now, you need to explain why you cancelled.
好吧，所以你說出實情，你取消了計劃，並且道歉了。所以現在，你需要解釋為什麼取消約定。
It's polite in any situation to offer a reason why you have to cancel. But you might not want to explain all of the details, especially if you don't know the person well, it might be a personal reason or it could be embarrassing!
提供你為什麼必須要取消的原因在任何情況下都是很有禮貌的。但是你可能不喜歡解釋所有細節，尤其是如果你不太了解這個人時，可能是個人原因，又或者是有點尷尬！
At times like this, you can use the expression "Something's come up." "Something has come up."
在這種情況下，你可以使用短語「發生了一些事情」。「發生了一些事情。」
Now, this is a good expression to cancel an appointment with someone that you don't know and most English native speakers will understand this expression.
They'll understand that it's not possible for you to attend the meeting or the appointment and there is a reason but you don't want to explain why and that's perfectly acceptable!
這是一個很好的用來和不熟悉的人取消預約的表達，大多數英語母語者都會理解這個表達。他們會明白你無法參加會議或者是預約，這是有原因的，但是你不想解釋為什麼，這是完全可以接受的！
Especially with formal appointments in a professional context or with people that you don't know well. "Something's come up and I need to reschedule." It's perfectly acceptable!
尤其是在職業情境中的正式的約定，或者是和你不怎麼熟悉的人。「發生了一些事情，我需要重新安排時間。」這完全可以接受！
But don't use this expression with friends or close colleagues because they might feel a little offended that you don't feel comfortable enough to explain why. Usually with friends, you can be a little more honest, right?
但是，不要和朋友或親密同事使用這個表達，因為他們可能會感覺被傷害到，因為你對解釋其中的原因感到不舒服。一般和朋友的話，你會變得更坦率，對吧？
So if you don't mind explaining why you had to cancel or change the plans, you can simply explain why. "I was really looking forward to dinner on Thursday, but I'm flying to Sydney on Wednesday night for work."
所以如果你不介意解釋為什麼必須取消或更改計劃的話，你可以簡單解釋一下原因。「我真的很期待星期四的晚餐，但是我星期三晚上因為工作原因要飛去雪梨。」
"I'm really, really sorry. I've had such a busy week and I've double-booked myself!"
「真的對不起。我這周太忙了，我超預定了！''
"I've been feeling under the weather all day. Is it okay if we postpone dinner until I'm feeling better?"
「我一整天心情都不太好。可以推遲晚餐，等我我感覺好一點再吃嗎？」
So now the last thing that you need to do is reschedule your appointment — to make another time. Since you're the one who's cancelling or changing the plans, you should try to reschedule the meeting by offering some suggestions.
所以現在你要做的最後一件事是重新安排你的約會——定下另一個約會。由於你是取消或更改計劃的人，你應該試著通過提一些建議來重新規劃一下見面的時間。
"Can we reschedule? I'm free at 3 p. m. on Friday." "Can we try for Tuesday instead?"
「我們可以重新安排時間嗎？我在星期五下午3點有空。「我們周二可以嗎？」
It's a little more informal. Now these ones are better for appointments, more formal appointments.
這更加非正式一點。這些都是約會比較適用的，更加正式的約會。
"Is it possible to reschedule?" "Can I make a new appointment time?"
「是否可以重新安排時間？」「我可以重新定一個時間嗎？」
So do you want to see some examples of all of these elements together? "I'm so sorry, Sarah.
你想一起看一下這些表達的例子嗎？「對不起，莎拉。
I was looking forward to catching up on Friday, but my boss has asked me to work late, so I won't be able to make it.?Can we reschedule to Monday?"
我很期待星期五見到你，但老闆要求我加班，所以我無法赴約了。我們可以重新安排到星期一嗎？」
"My apologies, but I can't make our meeting this afternoon. Something's come up.
「抱歉，我們今天下午不能見面了。發生了一些事情。
Are we able to reschedule to next week?" "Hi Farah! I'm really looking forward to meeting you on Skype, but I have to apologise because I need to cancel our meeting.
我們可以重新安排到下周嗎？」「你好，法拉！我非常期待與你在 Skype 上見面，但我必須道歉，因為我需要取消我們的會議。
I was confused by our time zone difference, so I need to reschedule to later in the evening. Is 7pm okay for you?"
我因為我們的時區不同感到很困惑，所以我需要把時間安排到今晚的晚點。晚上7點你覺得可以嗎？」
Well, that's it for this lesson, I hope that you've learned a few new useful expressions that can help you to cancel appointments or change meeting times in English. Make sure that you subscribe to the mmmEnglish channel right here so that you never miss a lesson!
好的，這節課程就這些啦，希望你學習到了一些新的有用的表達方式，可以幫助你用英語取消約會或更改見面的時間。一定要在這裡訂閱美味英語頻道，這樣你就不會錯過任何課程了！
You can do that just by clicking that red button there. And don't go anywhere just yet!
你只需單擊那裡的紅色按鈕即可。先不要去其他地方哦！
There are lots and lots of other lessons here on the mmmEnglish channel, like this one or this one. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next lesson.
這裡有很多美味英語頻道的其他課程，比如說這個和這個。感謝您的收看，我將在下一課中和大家相見。
Bye for now!
再見啦！