名人教英文：他现正办理离婚手续
he's going through the divorce now
他现正办理离婚手续
nancy : hi, seb. haven't seen you for ages. how are things going?
南施﹕喂，西巴，很久没见啦，近来怎样？
sebastian : well, i'm doing ok, but things in my family aren't going so well.
西巴斯钦﹕嗯，我还不错，但家里有点麻烦。
nancy : i'm sorry about that. i hope it's nothing serious.
南施﹕那就不好了。希望不是什么大麻烦吧。
sebastian : it sure is. my mother left my father for another man six months ago. it really hit him hard.
西巴斯钦﹕怎么不是。六个月之前，家母撇下家父，去了跟另一个男人，令家父十分难过。
nancy : oh, that's awful. have they divorced?
南施﹕啊，那真糟糕。他们离婚了吗？
sebastian : well he tried hard to get her back but it didn't work so he's going through the divorce now.
西巴斯钦﹕家父最初努力劝家母回来，但不成功，现在只能办离婚手续。
nancy : going through a divorce can be really painful. how's he coping?
南施﹕办离婚手续，可以令人十分苦恼。令尊应付得来吗？
sebastian : not too well really. he's been really depressed for months. my sister and i are trying to give him as much support as we can.
西巴斯钦﹕他难以承受这个打击，近几个月十分消沉，我和妹妹唯有尽力支持他。
divorce（离婚）一字，在今天，几乎和marriage（结婚）一样常见。从前，英国人觉得离婚很不体面，英文甚至没有字说「离婚者」，只是借用法文的divorcé（读divawsay）说「已离婚男人」，divorcée（读divawsee）说「已离婚女人」。不过，到了二十世纪末，英国每三对男女结婚，几乎就有一对以离婚收场，兼言男女离婚者的英文字divorcee（读divawsee）就逐渐取代那两个带重音符号的法国字。
to go through a divorce即「办理离婚手续」。英文常用go through这动词词组（phrasal verb），说「办理一切必须手续」，
例如﹕the president-elect has to go through a swearing-in ceremony
（候任总统须行宣誓仪式）。
"my mother left my father for another man" 这一句，带出另一种词词组to leave for，即「离开（某人、某地）前去（某一处）」。我见过"he left for london" 这样的句子，给误解作「他离开伦敦」等等，殊不知应解作「他出发去伦敦」。"he left hong kong for london" 则是「他从香港去伦敦」，"he left london" 才是「他离开伦敦」。
南施听到西巴斯钦父母关系破裂，说"that's awful"。这awful一字，出自awe（敬畏），原意是「令人敬畏的」，例如﹕he felt dwarfed by the awful sight of the himalayas（喜马拉雅山之奇壮，令他感到自己渺小）。但awful今天几乎已失去本来的庄严含义，常用于口语，表示「很糟」或「十分」，
例如﹕(1) that is an awful joke
（这个笑话糟透了）。
(2) that's awfully kind of you
（你真好人）。