Day 25 美女经过不能说pass away！那应该怎么说？

A: Hey，Darby，a really hot girl just passed away.

B：What? How could you be so happy about that?

A: Cuz she's really hot，look!

B：Oh，she walked past us. You should say she passed by.

A: Oh，so what does pass away mean?

B：It means to die.

A: I don't care. She's hot.

B：What?

OK！听完今天的对话之后呢，我们要来学习“pass away”和“pass by”的区别。

So，Darby，what's the difference between“pass away” and “pass by”?

Well，these are two phrasal verbs using the word “pass”. Phrasal verbs are very difficult in English，because they are very similar.

Now“pass away” means to die. I could say：“I'm so sorry your grandfather passed away.”

“Pass by” means someone or something goes past us.

For example，that beautiful girl just passed by me，or the car just passed by me.

在今天的对话当中，我跟大白说“... a really hot girl just passed away.”。“passed away”是什么意思呢？就是“去世”的意思。那我要表达的真正意思是什么呢？应该是：一个漂亮的女孩从我们身边走过。那么正确的表达我们应该说：“Hey, Darby, a really hot girl just passed by.”

OK，so it's time for today's bonus. As you know，“pass away” means “die”，but it's very important to know that “pass away” is actually a very gentle way of saying “die”. So if you go to a funeral，and you say to your friend，“I'm so sorry your mother died.”，it's a little bit rude. So you could say：“I'm so sorry your mother passed away.”

OK，听完大白的解释以后不知道大家有没有了解“die”和“pass away”的区别？在中文当中，“die”相当于“死掉”，“pass away”相当于“去世”。也就是说，“pass away”是“die”的比较委婉的表达方式。我们如果说某人死掉了，这太直接太刺耳了，我们会说去世，“去世”就是“pass away”。