词汇大师-- Words of Comfort for an Unfortunate Event

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: more advice about expressions of sympathy.
RS: Last month, English teacher Lida Baker¹ talked about things to say. Now we move on to writing.

　　LIDA BAKER: "I think if you're writing someone a personal note, you would write the same things that you would say to a person. 'I'm so sorry for your loss.' 'My condolences.' If you're picking out a card to send to a person, look for a card that has on it either the word condolences or the word sympathy. For example: 'Our heartfelt sympathy.' 'My deepest sympathies on your loss.'
"So those are things that are appropriate to say as well as to write when someone has died."
RS: "And to go beyond that, if you know the person that died, you can add a few personal notes to make the note a little bit more personal."
AA: "An anecdote² about a memory or something, or a fond memory."
RS: "Right."
AA: "What about -- "
LIDA BAKER: "Absolutely."
AA: " -- an e-mail. How do you feel about (it)? I mean: it offers immediacy, but is it really appropriate?"
LIDA BAKER: "I suppose that there are people who would say that an e-mail is too casual³ or too informal and that you really should send a handwritten note. But I would rather receive an e-mail than nothing, wouldn't you?"
RS: "Absolutely."
AA: "Sure."
RS: "Is this something you can teach in the classroom?"
LIDA BAKER: "Normally⁴, when we're teaching⁵ functions of this sort, the standard classroom activity is to have students role-play. But dealing⁶ with this topic, which is so sensitive, probably I would not push my students to role-play expressing condolences to somebody if they didn't feel comfortable.
"On the other hand, it is a topic that is worth spending some time on because in real life this is a skill that we all have to have. We have to know how to express condolences. So maybe instead of role-playing, perhaps bring in a scene from a movie, a funeral scene, or a little section of a book or a play. Or the teacher can write her own short, little script⁷ -- just a very natural conversation that might take place at the home of a person that you're visiting after there's been a death in the family."
AA: "Let me ask you one more question. Let's talk for a second just about a different kind of loss -- let's say, the loss of a job. When you find out, let's say, that a friend or someone you know has lost a job, any thoughts on what is appropriate to say in, let's say, an e-mail or a handwritten note or a phone call?"
LIDA BAKER: "To my knowledge, we don't have any set phrases for expressing sympathy in the event of a loss which is not a death. In other words, when someone has died, we have phrases that everyone in our culture is familiar with -- such as 'I'm so sorry for your loss' or 'My condolences.' You would never use the word condolences when someone has suffered, let's say, a job loss or if they've had a car accident or some other unfortunate event.
"The words sympathy and condolences really are only used in the event of a death. But if someone has had another unfortunate event happen to them, I think I would say something like 'I'm sorry for what happened. Is there anything that I can do to help?' What would you say?"
RS: "'What can I do to help' or 'I'm sorry' ... "
AA: "'Thinking of you.'"
LIDA BAKER: "'I heard what happened. How can I help?' Again, I don't think we have any set phrase for a situation like that."
RS: "You try to be optimistic while being -- showing some sort of sense of reality."
AA: "Actually, in fact, that saying, 'I heard the news,' that's what I wrote recently to someone who'd had some cuts where he worked and I said 'I just heard the news and I was very sorry to hear that.'"
RS: "I think the point of all of this is just to communicate and to tell people what you're thinking, because I think that that helps on any level, whatever the loss is."
AA: "Transcends⁸ language, right?"
LIDA BAKER: "Right, and I think the phrase 'I'm sorry,' when it comes from your heart, is appropriate in any situation. And, you know, people are going to hear the intention, the kindness in your words. And remember that even if you make a grammar mistake, or if you accidentally⁹ use the wrong word, it's your kindness and your intention that comes across and that, you know, people will remember."
RS: The first part of our conversation with English teacher Lida Baker in Los Angeles is on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster.
AA: And that's WORDMASTER for this week. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

3 casual   

adj.漠不关心，冷漠的；随便的，非正式的；偶然的，碰巧的

参考例句：

• He earns a living by casual labour.他靠做临时工为生。
• The guests wore casual clothes.客人们穿着便服。

4 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

5 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 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。

8 transcends   

超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过…

参考例句：

• The chemical dilution technique transcends most of the difficulties. 化学稀释法能克服大部分困难。
• The genius of Shakespeare transcends that of all other English poets. 莎士比亚的才华胜过所有的其他英国诗人。

9 accidentally   

adv.偶然地；意外地

参考例句：

• Mary accidentally let out that her mother had telephoned.玛丽无意中说出她的母亲来过电话。
• As I turned around,I accidentally hit him in the face.我转身时不经意撞了他的脸。