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Passing ships 如擦肩而过的航船，难得相遇

Episode 260714 / 14 Jul 2026

节目简介

有人把人生比作汪洋大海，而每个人都是一条在风浪中行进的小船。虽然大海无边无际，但船只的航线也总有交汇的时刻。英语表达 “passing ships” 就用 “交错驶过的船只” 来比喻两个人 “即使相隔不远，但因为生活忙碌而难得见上一面” 的场景。听节目，跟主持人菲菲和 Georgie 学习这个表达的用法。

文字稿

（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）

Feifei
Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English, where we explain phrases and expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them, too! I'm Feifei, and I'm joined by Georgie. How are you?

Georgie
I'm very well, thank you, Feifei. How are you?

Feifei
I'm very well, thank you, Georgie. I haven't seen you much lately. What's going on?

Georgie
I know! I think our schedules are quite different at the moment. Whenever I'm at my desk, you seem to be in meetings, and then when you're back at your desk, I'm doing something else, somewhere else in the office building. We're like passing ships at the moment! 

Feifei
Passing ships. That's the expression we're learning in this programme. The longer version is 'like ships that pass in the night'. 

Georgie
Yeah, so let's actually imagine that. Two ships at night. They briefly see each other in the darkness, and then they continue in different directions. The encounter is brief and the people on board the ships probably don't have time to speak to each other. 

Feifei
Right. So recently, our schedules are different, so we're not seeing each other very much, and when we do, the interaction is very short. We're like passing ships. 

Georgie
Yeah. Hopefully our schedules line up a bit soon, so we can catch up! 'Passing ships' is often used to talk about busy adult life when two people are finding it hard to meet.  

Feifei
That's right. Let's hear some more examples from our BBC Learning English colleagues.  

Examples
I really need to meet up properly with my neighbour like have dinner. We talk a lot over the fence, but we never have time. It's like we're passing ships. 

My brothers and sister always seem to visit my town when I'm away, so I never get to catch up with them. We're like passing ships. 

I've got a colleague I get on with really well, but we work different shifts, so we're like passing ships! We only see each other for a couple of minutes every time.

Feifei
你正在收听的是 BBC 英语教学制作的 “地道英语” 节目。在本期节目中，我们正在学习表达 “passing ships” 的用法。“Passing ships” 是一个名词短语，字面意思是 “互相驶过彼此的船只”，它形容人们 “行色匆匆，擦肩而过” 的场景。

这个表达传递出的感觉，和它更完整的说法 “like ships that pass in the night” 很相似：两个人像是在黑夜中偶然相遇的小船，打了个照面后，便各自回到原本的航线，消失在夜色之中。所以，我们经常用这个表达来感叹 “生活太忙碌，即使在同一个地方，我们也总是完美错过，想见一面真的不容易”。

Georgie
Now, because we're comparing ourselves to passing ships, we often use the word 'like' – we're like passing ships. We can also make the metaphor stronger by removing 'like' – we're passing ships at the moment.

Now, another phrase that expresses a similar idea is 'cross paths'. Again, you can imagine this literally – two people walking on separate paths which then meet. But metaphorically it means that two people's lives intersect in some way.  

Feifei 
是的，除了 “passing ships”，我们还可以用 “cross paths” 来表达类似的含义。短语 “cross paths” 的意思是 “路线发生了交汇”，人们通常用它来比喻 “偶然相遇，和彼此发生了交集”。

Georgie
OK, so for example, my best friend and I crossed paths at university, but we didn't become friends until much later. 

Feifei
Great. Now let's recap. We learnt the expression 'passing ships', which means that two people are on different schedules and are limited to brief encounters.

Georgie
Thanks for joining us. Goodbye!

Feifei
Bye-bye!

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