迷你对话

A: Hi, Patti. I am sorry for being late.

黑，帕蒂，对不起，我迟到了。

B: I have cooled my heels for nearly an hour.

我百般无聊地等了将近一个小时。

A: I am awfully sorry. There are traffic jams everywhere this hour of the day., you know.

实在是对不起，这个点儿到处塞车，你也知道的。

B: You should have started earlier.

你可以早点出来嘛。

特别声明：该内容出自可可编辑Juliet和外教，英语教育专家共同合作发行出版的《娜娜教英语》之《小题大做》篇，在此倾情供给可可会员学习，若需转载，请注明出处。

黄金短语

cool one’s heels

1. 解词释义

Cool one’s heels的字面意思是“使得某人的脚后跟变凉了”，意即：让人就等了。在此，引申为“百般无奈地等待”。

该习语产生于16世纪，原指马跑了很长一段路后，马蹄变热，主人就得停下来再继续赶路，后来此语转来指人。

2. 拓展范例
e.g. Let him cool his heels in the outer office, that will teach him to be more polite.

让他在外间办公室等候着，那将可教训他以后客气点。

e.g. I was early for the appointment, so I had to cool my heels in the outer office.

我比约定的时间来得早，所以只得在外面的办公室里等着。

e.g. I'm going to let you cool your heels in jail until the chief gets back.

我要让你在监狱里多呆一会儿，直到警长回来为止。

e.g. Although I was normally quite patient, I was beginning to feel he had been left to cool his heels too long.

我虽然好耐性，却也感到坐冷板凳的滋味了。

词海拾贝

1. be sorry for：因……而感到抱歉，对不起……

e.g. I'm sorry for what I said; I never meant to insult you.

我为我所说的话道歉;我不是有意要侮辱你。

e.g. "I am sorry for having taken your material," Pablo said."It was an equivocation."

“我拿走了你的器材，非常抱歉。”巴布罗说，“那是一时糊涂。”

e.g. It is never too late to be sorry for the past and to start a new life.

痛改前非，重新做人，永远不会太晚的。

e.g. I think you'll be sorry for being so stubborn about Jem.

我想你自会为对杰姆的偏见感到抱歉的。

2. traffic jams：交通堵塞

e.g. Traffic jams happen all the time during rush hours.

交通高峰期塞车是常有的事。

e.g. This section of the road is so narrow that there are bound to be traffic jams now and then.

这个路段太窄以至于交通有时不免堵塞。

语法点拨

You should have started earlier.

要点解析1：这句话使用了虚拟语气，是情态动词should的虚拟语气用法，这个用法是should + have done，表示“过去本应该做的事情但是没有做”。

要点解析2：start这个词语是不能用于现在完成时态中的，这里的have started是情态动词should的虚拟语气用法，所以，不要认为这里出现语病。