Sean 在走廊上遇到同事 Mimi, 他一副忧心忡忡的样子。我们听听为什么。
Sean: Oh, man….I am not looking forward to this upcoming trip to Europe.
Mimi: But Europe is amazing! You’re going to Frankfurt, right? I’ve been there twice…. it’s a delightful city! You’ll love it!
S: Oh I’m sure I’ll like it when I get there…..that is, if I get there.
M: I’m not following you.
S: I’m terrified of flying!
M: Ah! You have “pteromerhanophobia!”
S: What?
M: That’s the technical term for the fear of flying.
Sean准备去欧洲出差。Upcoming is spelled u-p-c-o-m-i-n-g, upcoming 即将到来的。比如，the upcoming vacation 快要来的假期，the upcoming test 马上要来的考试。Sean 对去欧洲似乎并不开心，Mimi说 I’m not following. 意思是我听不太懂你的意思。原来，Sean 有飞行恐惧症，害怕坐飞机。Mimi 说，飞行恐惧症的术语 technical term 是 pteromerhanophobia. Phobia 是一个很有用的词根，比如，acrophobia, 就是 a-c-r-o 后边加上 phobia, acrophobia 恐高症。我们听听 Sean 飞行恐惧症有哪些症状。
S: Well whatever it’s called….I’ve got it – bad! Every time I get on a plane my heart starts beating faster, I sweat and every creak and squeak from the airplane makes me sure we are going to crash. It’s so exhausting that I arrive at my destination completely unnerved.
M: Wow! That doesn’t sound like fun. I assume this condition is quite common – I know lots of people who don’t like to fly.
S: Everyone should be afraid of flying! After all, it’s completely unnatural! We are crammed into a metal tube that’s flying through the air at hundreds of kilometers an hour!!
Sean 告诉 Mimi, 每次只要一上飞机，他就会心跳加速，直冒冷汗，飞机稍有风吹草动，他就觉得是要坠机了。Sean 在这里用的 every creak and squeak. Creak is spelled c-r-e-a-k, creak 是指咯吱咯吱的声音，and squeak is spelled s-q-u-e-a-k, squeak 是指刺耳的噪音。等到达终点的时候，He is completely unnerved. 他已经彻底崩溃了。其实，患有飞行恐惧症的人很多，Sean 觉得，这是因为坐飞机本来就是一个超自然的行为，那么多人 cram into 挤在一个金属做的管子里，在天上飞，时速高达几百公里。
M: Yeah sure, if you think about it that way it is scary….but driving isn’t natural either. And as I’m sure you know, many more people die every year from car accidents than from plane crashes – in fact, your chances of being in a fatal accident is something like one in 5 million! Those are pretty good odds!
S: Yeah, I’ve read those stats….but I guess when I’m driving at least I feel in control. I feel completely helpless when I’m on an airplane.
Mimi 说，要说坐飞机超自然的话，那开车也是超自然的行为，而且每年死于车祸的人要比坐飞机掉下来的人多得多。有统计数字显示，致命事件发生在我们身上的机会只有500万分之一。Those are pretty good odds. 机率还是满不错的。Odds 是机率的意思。比如，Your odds of being struck by lightning is greater than winning the lottery. 一个人被雷电击中的机率都要高过中彩票。 Sean 说，这些数据他也看过，stats is spelled s-t-a-t-s, 是 statistics 数据的简写，但是他总觉得，开车的时候，方向盘在自己手里，可是坐飞机，命运就完全不在自己的掌握之中了。