ESL Podcast 561 – Being Forgetful

Charlize: You won’t forget that we’re going over to the Wong’s for dinner tomorrow night, will you?

Pete: It’s etched in my brain. I won’t forget.

Charlize: It slipped your mind last week that we were meeting Donna at the movies, remember?

Pete: I was preoccupied¹ last week, but I won’t forget about tomorrow night.

Charlize: I’m reminding you because the week before that, you forgot to cash that check at the bank. Remember that?

Pete: I didn’t forget. I was just a little wrapped up in work that week. I’m not usually absentminded, you know.

Charlize: Right. Do you want me to send you an email tomorrow morning to jog your memory?

Pete: That won’t be necessary. I have the day, time, and even their address committed to memory. Do you want to test me?

Charlize: No, I don’t, but I just want to make sure we don’t have a repeat of what happened last month. You were supposed to meet me at the Donnelly’s at 8:00 and you never showed up. Remember that?

Pete: No, I don’t. I have amnesia². I won’t remember any other incident you want to throw in my face. I thought last week you said you would stop giving me a hard time about my bad memory. Remember that?

Charlize: Uh, no, I don’t.

Pete: I guess I’m not the only one who’s scatterbrained!


Script³ by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 amnesia   

n.健忘症，健忘

参考例句：

• People suffering from amnesia don't forget their general knowledge of objects.患健忘症的人不会忘记关于物体的一些基本知识。
• Chinese medicine experts developed a way to treat amnesia using marine materials.中国医学专家研制出用海洋物质治疗遗忘症的方法。

3 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。