情景对话

A: It’s a great pity he left suddenly.

他突然离去，真叫人遗憾。

B: Yeah. He caught us on the hop.

是啊，真让我们措手不及。

A: He has lost a good chance to understand others.

他失去了一次了解他人的好机会。

B: Perhaps you’er right.

也许你是对的。

黄金短语

catch sb. on the hop

1. 解词释义

Catch sb. on the hop中的hop是指“单足跳”，短语on the hop表示“活动的，安静不下来的”的意思。那么，catch sb. on the hop “趁人不备时抓住，使人措手不及”等意思。习语词典中解释道：If you catch someone on the hop, you do something when they are not ready for it and may not be able to deal with it well.

2. 拓展例句

e.g. I'm afraid your order has caught us on the hop—the goods aren't available yet.

恐怕你的订单来得太突然，我们全无准备，目前尚无货源。

e.g. He always comes by without giving a call to me and catches me on the hop.

他总是事先不打电话就来访，搞得我措手不及。

e.g.His plans almost caught security chiefs and hotel staff on the hop.

他的计划几乎让安全主管和饭店工作人员都措手不及。

e.g. You've caught me on the hop, I'm afraid give me five minutes to get ready.

你弄得我措手不及，给我五分钟准备一下吧。

e.g. His presence is unexpected and has caught his opponents on the hop.

他的到场出乎预料，使他的对手们措手不及。

词海拾贝

on the hop：到处奔波，忙碌地

e.g. She was kept on the hop during our excursion.

在我们的旅行期间，她显得很活跃。

e.g. The young man was keeping on the hop for four hours while his wife is having the baby.

他妻子生孩子时，这小伙子一连忙碌了四个小时。

语法点拨

It’s a great pity he left suddenly.

要点解析：这是一个含有同位语从句的复合句。主句是it is a great pity，同位语从句是he left suddenly。同位词是pity，从句在这里起到补充说明这个pity的具体内容。此外，这里省略了引导词that。