名人教英文：她生了四胞胎
she's had quads
她生了四胞胎
nesta : harry, i've just had zack on the phone. you'll never believe it. i think you'd better sit down for this bit of news. your son-in-law was in quite a state when he told me.
内斯塔﹕哈里，我刚刚跟扎克谈过电话。这消息是你决计想不到的，最好坐下来才听。你女婿告诉我时，情绪十分激动。
harry : is helen all right? nothing's gone wrong has it?
哈里﹕海伦怎样？没出什么岔子吧？
nesta : no, quite the opposite. she's had quads!
内斯塔﹕没有，刚好相反。她生了四胞胎！
harry : quads! quads! oh, my god. is she ok?
哈里﹕四胞胎！四胞胎！老天，她没事吧？
nesta : don't worry. both she and the babies are doing fine apparently.
内斯塔﹕不用担心。她和孩子看来都很好。
harry : thank goodness. but what are they? all girls?
哈里﹕谢天谢地。四个是男是女？都是女吗？
nesta : no, they're two girls and two boys. isn't that fantastic?
内斯塔﹕不是，是两女两男，真妙，对吗？
harry : i can't believe it. four new grandchildren in one day!
哈里﹕真是难以置信。一天添了四个外孙。
nesta : it must run in zack's family . his brother's wife had triplets.
内斯塔﹕这一定是扎克家族的遗传。他嫂子生了三胞胎！
哈里听到女儿平安诞下四胞胎，说thank goodness。goodness本是「善良」的意思，哈里怎么向善良致谢？
按 goodness这里等于 god（上帝）。英语表示惊讶、愤怒、悲伤等强烈情绪的时候，常用god、jesus（耶稣）、lord（天主）等字，基督徒认为那是不敬，是亵渎上帝（blasphemy）。所以，读古典英文小说，你有时会看见某人的说话，作者写作by——(blasphemous), i will kill him之类，那（blasphemous）表示用词不雅，不便刊出。his mouth is full of blasphemies即「他说话粗鄙」。
为免「亵渎神明」，英文常用音近的字取代god、lord、jesus等字，例如god变成gad、gawd、godfrey、great scott、goodness、golly、gosh等，lord变成lor、lawk、lawks等，jesus变成gee、jeez、jeepers、jessica、judas priest等，例如﹕(1) goodness knows what he is trying to do（天晓得他要做什么）。(2) golly-gosh, he made it（天哪，他成功了）。
内斯塔说﹕your son-in-law was in quite a state。这state指「兴奋、激动或紧张的心情」，习惯冠以a字，是俗语用法，例如﹕he was in a bit of a state before the job interview（他求职面试前，心情有点紧张）。
最后要说to run in the family。这词组常用来说「性格、特征等在家族之中遗传」，例如﹕breast cancer runs in her family（她家族常患乳癌）。