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In this episode, I am going to teach you a very strange expression. This expression always feels a little bit old-fashioned or formal.
在这一集中，我将教大家一个非常奇怪的表达方式。这个表达方式总是让人感觉有点过时或正式。
I don't think it's something that you will hear a lot in conversation. But you might hear it sometimes, and I think you can still find it in written English.
我认为这不是你在谈话中经常听到的用法。但你有时可能会听到它，而且我认为你仍然可以在书面英语中找到它。
The expression is "Be that as it may." Be that as it may. That's b-e, t-h-a-t, a-s, i-t, m-a-y. Be that as it may.
这个表达是“Be that as it may”。
Whatdo you think it means? Can you figure out the meaning just by looking at all of the parts? "Be that as it may."
你认为它是什么意思？你能通过查看所有部分来弄清楚它的意思吗？
I don't think that I could figure out what that expression means just by looking at each word. It seems like kind of a mystery to me.
我不认为我能通过查看每个单词来弄清楚这个表达的含义。这对我来说似乎有点难以理解。
"Be that as it may." It doesn't even really look like an English sentence or like an English expression. The words are all English. They're all simple words.
它甚至看起来不像一个英语句子或英语表达。这些词都是英语。它们都是简单的单词。
But when we put them together in that way, I don't think I could know what it meant.
但是当我们以这种方式将它们放在一起时，我想我无法知道它的意思。
This is what "Be that as it may" means: "Be that as it may" means "Even if that thing is true." That's what it means. It means "Even if that other thing is true."
“Be that as it may”的意思就是这样：“Be that as it may”的意思是“即使那件事是真的。”这就是它的意思。它的意思是“即使另一件事是真的。”
It's a way of saying, "Okay, that might be true, but let's look at this thing." Or "That thing might be true, but I think this other thing is important." Or "That thing might be true, but let's not forget this thing."
像是在说，“好吧，那可能是真的，但让我们看看这件事。”或者“那件事可能是真的，但我认为另一件事很重要。”或者“那件事可能是真的，但我们不要忘记这件事。”
It almost has the feeling of nevertheless or although. It's kind of a way of saying, "That thing might be true—or maybe it's not true—but I would like to tell you about this." Or "I would like you to remember that this is important."
它几乎有nevertheless或although的感觉。像是在说“那件事可能是真的——或者可能不是真的——但我想告诉你这件事。”或者“我想让你记住这很重要。”
Even this explanation is confusing and strange. So let me give you an example of a situation where somebody might use the phrase "Be that as it may."
即使是这种解释也令人困惑和感到奇怪。举例说明有人可能会使用短语“Be that as it may”。
Imagine somebody at work. This person's boss has given him a very difficult assignment: he has to write this very complicated report in only one hour.
想象一下某人在工作。这个人的老板给了他一个非常困难的任务：他必须在一个小时内写出这份非常复杂的报告。
And this employee is complaining about this assignment. He says, "One hour? That's not enough time! That's not fair. How can the boss think that I will be able to finish this report in one hour? It's just not fair."
这位员工正在抱怨这项任务。他说：“一个小时？时间不够！这不公平。老板怎么会认为我能在一小时内完成这份报告？这太不公平了。”
And when she hears this, his coworker says, "Be that as it may, the boss still wants it in one hour." Be that as it may, the boss still wants this report in one hour.
当她的同事听到这句话时，她说：“Be that as it may, the boss still wants it in one hour.”不管怎样，老板还是希望我在一小时内完成这份报告。
In other words, "Well, that might be true, but…" Or "Yes, I see what you mean when you say that that is unfair. However, you still need to do it."
换句话说，“嗯，这可能是真的，但是……”或者“是的，我明白你说这不公平的意思。但是，你仍然需要这样做。”
Or "Yes, I know what you're saying, but if that's what the boss wants, then I guess you have to do it."
或者“是的，我知道你在说什么，但如果老板想要这样，那么我想你必须这样做。”
So, in this example, "Be that as it may" is a way of saying, "Well, even if that is true—even if what you are saying is true,
在这个例子中，“Be that as it may”是在说“好吧，即使那是真的——即使你说的是真的，
even if your complaint is a good complaint—let's not forget this other thing: let's not forget that you still need to finish this assignment."
即使你的抱怨是合理的——我们也不要忘记另一件事：不要忘记你仍然需要完成这项任务。”
I hope it makes a little bit more sense after you hear this example of how we use this phrase.
我希望在你听到如何使用这个短语的这个例子后，它能更好理解一点。
That is "Be that as it may," a strange but interesting expression that I think you should know.
以上就是“Be that as it may”的用法，一个奇怪但有趣的表达，我认为你应该知道。
