Today we're going to look at a very common idiom and a very useful idiom for speaking.

今天我們要探討一個會話中常用到的俚語。

It's quite an easy one.

它蠻簡單的。

It's very obvious to know what it means but it's very, very good for your speaking.

它的意思非常淺顯易懂，在交談時非常好用。

The idiom we're going to look at is this one: To make a long story short.

我們要探討的是這個：長話短說（簡而言之）。

Now, this simply means "To get to the point quickly." "To leave out all the details and to jump to the ending."

也就是「迅速切入重點。」或「別管細節了，直接下結論。」

So imagine you're talking to your friend in English and you have an interesting story.

想像你和朋友以英語聊天，正說到有趣的事情時，

But perhaps you don't have time to tell all the details.

但你不見得有時間描述所有的細節，

You can just jump straight to the conclusion.

你想直接跳到結論，

You can use this idiom.

這個俚語就派上用場了。

You simply say, "To make a long story short, we did this" or "To make a long story short, this happened."

你只要說「簡而言之是這樣。」或「總之事情就發生了。」

So you jump straight to the ending, the point of your story.

所以你就直接跳到結論、說出重點。

Now let's have a look at a couple of examples in use, so it becomes much clearer for you.

現在，讓我們來看一些讓你更容易明暸的實例。

So I want you to imagine, this example is a company CEO and he has no time to explain all the details.

請想像某公司的執行長，他無暇解釋所有的細節，

He just goes straight to the point.

他很直接的說：

So he says or she says, "The company is having serious problems at the moment.

「公司此刻面臨嚴重的問題，

To make a long story short, it is in debt and we have to make staff cuts."

總之就是負債，不得不裁員。」

So the CEO didn't go into all the details.

這位執行長並沒有說明細節，

He or she simply went to the conclusion.

只是下了結論。

He didn't say, "This is why we're in debt, this is what happened, these are the problems," etc.

他並沒說「這就是我們為何負債、到底發生了什麼事、這就是問題之所在」等等的話，

He went straight to the point.

他直接說出重點。

Okay? He had no time for the details.

他沒空處理具體內容。

So he used the idiom "To make a long story short".

所以他用了「總之」這樣的慣用語。

Let's look at another example.

再來看另一個例子。

This is two friends who went out and were separated and one friend is asking the other what happened.

有兩個朋友一起外出然後走散了，其中的一位問另外一位發生了什麼事。

So Sam says, "Where did you guys disappear to last night?"

於是 Sam 說：「你們這幾個傢伙昨晚怎麼消失了？」

And Mick says, "It was crazy! To cut a long story short, we ended up going to a house party and stayed out till 6 am."

Mike 說：「總之這一切都太荒唐了，最後我們去了個家庭聚會在那裏逗留到清晨6點。」

So you can see that Mick went straight to the conclusion.

你看到 Mick 直接說出結論，

He didn't go into all the details of what happened.

他並未交待詳情。

Also, notice that there are two varieties of this idiom.

也請留意這個俚語有兩種變化，

We can say "to make a long story short" or "to cut a long story short".

我們可以說 「to make a long story short」，或「to cut a long story short」。

They both mean the same thing.

他們都是一樣的意思。

Just two ways to express the same idiom.

只是可以有兩種方式表達這個慣用語。

Now, when you leave out the details and go straight to the conclusion, you can explain the details after.

所以當你略過細節、直接下結論，你也可以往後再解釋詳情。

So you can explain the conclusion first, and then go back to the details if you have time.

這樣你就可以先下結論，然後在有閒暇時再交待細節。

So for example, Mick might say, "To cut a long story short, we ended up going to a house party and stayed out till 6 am."

舉例來說，Mick 可以直接了當地說：「最後我們去了家庭聚會，一直逗留到清晨6點。」

Then he can go to the details.

然後他再交待細節。

He might say, "We were walking along, we met a group of people and they were having fun."

他說：「我們走著走著遇到一群正在玩樂的人，

And they said, "Hey, come back to our house and let's have a party."

他們說來吧，去我家聚會。」

So he might explain the details after.

所以他可以之後再解釋細節。

You see, so there are two ways you can either leave the details completely or you can go back to them after if you have time.

所以你有兩種可能的作法，要嘛你完全略過細節、或者你可以在有空的時候再回頭處理細節。

And make sure you, when you explain the conclusion, try to explain it in as few words as possible.

並確保你在解釋結論時，盡量要試著用最少的言詞。

Get straight to the point.

切入重點。

Ok, you can go into the details after if you wish.

如果需要的話，你可以之後再進行解釋細節。

So if you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below.

你可以在下方的評論欄留下你的問題。

Hit the thumbs up button and thanks for watching.

按個讚，感謝你的觀賞，

See you in the next video.

下回見。