第一，迷你对话

A: I have something for you. It will shake you to the foundations.

我有件事情告诉你，会让你大吃一惊。

B: What? Please tell me.

什么，请快告诉我。

A: Your sister-in-law is my brother's former lover.

你的嫂子是我哥哥以前的恋人。

B: Oh, my gosh. It's so unbelievable.

哦，天啊，太难以置信了。

第二，地道表达

shake sb. to one's foundations

解词释义

Shake有“使......震惊”的意思，foundations是“基础，根源”的意思。那么，shake sb. to one's (the)foundations的字面意思是“使......震惊到根基”，意思为：让某人在内心深处受到震动，令人大吃一惊，令人大感意外。

拓展范例

E.g. She was shaken to her foundations when he rounded on her and called her a liar.

他突然怒斥她说谎，她大吃一惊。

E.g. She was shaken to her foundations when she went round a College of Education.

去年，她顺便参观一所教育学院，对那里的情况大吃一惊。

E.g. I'm sure Henry was none too pleased to hear the news, which must shake him to his foundations.

我敢说，亨利听到这个消息肯定不高兴，他肯定会大吃一惊。

E.g. It shakes us to our foundations when they told us over two hundred employees would lose their jobs.

听说两百名雇员将被解雇，我们真是大吃一惊。

第三，好词妙语

have something for sb. ：告诉某人某事，给某某些事情做

E.g. Do you have something for me to write with?

你有没有东西可以让我用来写呢？

E.g. I am not the person who enjoys sitting still for long. I hope you shall have something for me to do soon.

我从就不喜欢坐着发呆没事做，我希望你很快就能找些事给我做。

E.g. I encouraged him that it would be good to have something for himself. He did. He had the wife of the instructor.

我鼓励他说，拥有一点自己的东西也许是件好事情，他照办了。结果他与指导教练的妻子好上了。