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，欢迎来到美味英语频道！你有没有曾经和某人制定了计划，但随后意识到你需要更改或取消计划的这种情况？
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.
在英语中，你必须注意自己所使用的语言，以确保你表现得很礼貌。你可能有很多原因需要用英语来更改计划或取消计划。
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.
也许你无法和某人见面，因为某些更为重要的事情或者更加迫在眉睫的事情发生了。你可能预定过多了——这意味着你同时有两个月，但是却没有意识到这个问题，所以你必须取消一个。
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!
有时可能是自己感到懒惰或就是不想见他们。但是，当然因为告诉别人这件事情而冒犯到了别人！
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!
取消可能会有点不舒服，有点尴尬。所以在本课中，我会给大家一些有用的表达方式，可以帮助你用英语更改或取消你的计划！
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.
现在，这些表达对于你的正式约会很有用，例如，和医生或牙医、与业务客户或同事，你的孩子学校的校长，甚至与新的英语老师一起上 Skype 课程的约定！但是，它们也可以用在非正式的场合，当你和朋友喝咖啡，或一起吃个饭，甚至是取消或更改和网上认识的新朋友的见面时间。
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“说出实情”，这个习语意味着告诉某人某些事情——特别是如果这不是他们期望听到的东西，或者是一个坏消息的话。要“道出实情”，请以“我因……而打电话”之类的表达开头，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，例如你在职业办公场合中，你可以说“我需要取消或更改我的预约”。如果你适合不太熟悉的同事说的话，你可以说：“我无法参加在星期四举行的会议。”
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说的话，你可以说：“我不能在星期四参加会议。”这就更加非正式一点。
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.
如果是和朋友的话，你可以说：“我星期五不能去吃晚饭。”现在，如果你在合理的时间内，取消或重新安排时间的话，这些表达是很好的。
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!
但让我们现实一点，有时我们没有我们想要的那样井井有条，我们需要改变或者是取消计划，但是却没有什么提前警示，对吧？也许是会议或约会就是明天，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，你真的应该道歉。在改变计划的时候道歉是很有礼貌的，但如果通知得太晚，那就必须道歉，可以直接在句子的开头加上一句引言。
"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。”“我很抱歉这么晚通知你，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。”这是非常正式的，最后一个例子——最好在电子邮件或非常正式的情况下使用。
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，为了“缓解一下”，这意味着让糟糕的情况没有那么严峻。为了缓解一下，你可以说：“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."
这有助于让他人安心，或者是告诉对方你对于不能履行约定这件事情非常难过，你在未来的某个时间还是想见他们的。“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!"
“我们真的很期待见到你！”“我很期待看到你的新办公室！”
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，所以你说出实情，你取消了计划，并且道歉了。所以现在，你需要解释为什么取消约定。
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!
提供你为什么必须要取消的原因在任何情况下都是很有礼貌的。但是你可能不喜欢解释所有细节，尤其是如果你不太了解这个人时，可能是个人原因，又或者是有点尴尬！
At times like this, you can use the expression "Something"s come up." "Something has come up."
在这种情况下，你可以使用短语“发生了一些事情”。“发生了一些事情。”
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!
这是一个很好的用来和不熟悉的人取消预约的表达，大多数英语母语者都会理解这个表达。他们会明白你无法参加会议或者是预约，这是有原因的，但是你不想解释为什么，这是完全可以接受的！
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!
尤其是在职业情境中的正式的约定，或者是和你不怎么熟悉的人。“发生了一些事情，我需要重新安排时间。”这完全可以接受！
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，不要和朋友或亲密同事使用这个表达，因为他们可能会感觉被伤害到，因为你对解释其中的原因感到不舒服。一般和朋友的话，你会变得更坦率，对吧？
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释为什么必须取消或更改计划的话，你可以简单解释一下原因。“我真的很期待星期四的晚餐，但是我星期三晚上因为工作原因要飞去悉尼。”
"I"m really, really sorry. I"ve had such a busy week and I"ve double-booked myself!"
“真的对不起。我这周太忙了，我超预定了！""
"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。可以推迟晚餐，等我我感觉好一点再吃吗？”
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.
所以现在你要做的最后一件事是重新安排你的约会——定下另一个约会。由于你是取消或更改计划的人，你应该试着通过提一些建议来重新规划一下见面的时间。
"Can we reschedule? I"m free at 3 p. m. on Friday." "Can we try for Tuesday instead?"
“我们可以重新安排时间吗？我在星期五下午3点有空。“我们周二可以吗？”
It"s a little more informal. Now these ones are better for appointments, more formal appointments.
这更加非正式一点。这些都是约会比较适用的，更加正式的约会。
"Is it possible to reschedule?" "Can I make a new appointment time?"
“是否可以重新安排时间？”“我可以重新定一个时间吗？”
So do you want to see some examples of all of these elements together? "I"m so sorry, Sarah.
你想一起看一下这些表达的例子吗？“对不起，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?"
我很期待星期五见到你，但老板要求我加班，所以我无法赴约了。我们可以重新安排到星期一吗？”
"My apologies, but I can"t make our meeting this afternoon. Something"s come up.
“抱歉，我们今天下午不能见面了。发生了一些事情。
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.
我们可以重新安排到下周吗？”“你好，法拉！我非常期待与你在 Skype 上见面，但我必须道歉，因为我需要取消我们的会议。
I was confused by our time zone difference, so I need to reschedule to later in the evening. Is 7pm okay for you?"
我因为我们的时区不同感到很困惑，所以我需要把时间安排到今晚的晚点。晚上7点你觉得可以吗？”
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，这节课程就这些啦，希望你学习到了一些新的有用的表达方式，可以帮助你用英语取消约会或更改见面的时间。一定要在这里订阅美味英语频道，这样你就不会错过任何课程了！
You can do that just by clicking that red button there. And don"t go anywhere just yet!
你只需单击那里的红色按钮即可。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.
这里有很多美味英语频道的其他课程，比如说这个和这个。感谢您的收看，我将在下一课中和大家相见。
Bye for now!
再见啦！
