名人教英文：他们决定分手
they have decided to split up
他们决定分手
effie: well, i could see it coming. i knew it would happen sooner or later.
埃菲﹕嗯，我早就知道这一天会来临，迟早都会这样。
joyce: you mean about the new parking restrictions?
乔伊斯﹕你是说新的停车限制吗？
effie: no, i mean about my brother paul and his girlfriend hetty.
埃菲﹕不是，我是说我弟弟保罗和他女朋友赫蒂。
joyce: is something going wrong between them?
乔伊斯﹕他们之间有什么问题吗？
effie: gone wrong: they've decided to split up after living together for two years.
埃菲﹕当然有﹕他们同居两年之后，决定分手。
joyce: oh, i am surprised. i thought they were a well-matched couple.
乔伊斯﹕啊，我真感到意外。我向来认为他们十分匹配。
effie: well, i'm not. i didn't think they were well-matched at all and i said to myself at the time: "this won't last."
埃菲﹕我可不觉意外。我早就觉得他们一点都不匹配，暗想﹕「他们的关系不会维持多久。」
joyce: well i think it's a real shame because they're both very nice people.
乔伊斯﹕嗯，真可惜。他们两个都是好人。
埃菲说，弟弟和同居女友决定分手﹕they've decided to split up after living together for two years。男女像夫妻般同居，除了to live together，英文还有其他说法。
第一个说法是to shack up (with someone)。这是俚语，或带贬义。shack本来是指简陋的小屋，俚语用作动词，指男女未婚同居，例如﹕she shacked up with her boyfriend at this address（她和男友在这个地址同居）。 to shack up改为被动语态（passive voice）的to be shacked up也可以，例如﹕she was shacked up with her boyfriend at this address / they were shacked up togehter at this address。
另一说法是to cohabit，名词是cohabitation。这是正规用语，少见于口头，例如﹕they cohabited for two years / they had two years' cohabitation before they decided to get married（他们同居两年，然后决定结婚）。「和某人夫妻般同居」则可说to cohabit with someone，例如﹕mary has cohabited with henry for many years（玛丽和亨利同居多年了）。
此外，to live with someone也可解作「和某人夫妻般同居」，和to live together一样，是较随便的常用语，例如﹕how long have you been living with your boyfriend?（你和男朋友同居有多久？）
乔伊斯听说保罗和赫蒂分手，认为it's a real shame。it is a shame和it is a pity一样，都是「可惜」的意思，和shame的另一意思「羞耻」不同，切勿误解作「可耻」。