matter

Could I talk to you about a personal matter?

我能和你谈件私事吗？

Allen denied any knowledge of the matter.

艾伦否认对此事知情。

Please phone me back – it's a matter of some importance.

你能给我回电话吗——有比较重要的事。

Talking about the world's problems is one thing, but solving them is another matter altogether (= is completely different).

谈论世界所面临的问题是一回事，而解决它们却完全是另一回事。

Her resignation is not going to help matters.

她的辞职无助于解决问题。

Three of our players were ill, and to make matters worse, our main scorer had broken his ankle.

我们的3名队员病了，更糟的是，主要得分手摔断了脚踝。

Baking a cake isn't difficult – it's just a matter of following the recipe.

烤蛋糕并不难——只需照着烹饪指南做就行。

Being arrested by the police is no laughing matter.

被警方逮捕可不是开玩笑的事。

What's the matter? Why are you crying?

怎么了？你为什么哭？

What's the matter with your hand? It's bleeding.

你的手怎么了？都流血了。

Is anything the matter?

有什么麻烦吗？

I don't know what the matter is with the car, but it won't start.

我不知道这车出了什么毛病，但就是发动不起来。

Some scientists believe that there is about ten times as much matter in the universe as astronomers have observed.

有些科学家认为，宇宙中的物质约有天文学家所观测到的10倍之多。

Most vegetable matter is compostable.

绝大部分蔬菜都可以用作堆肥。

There's no waste matter left over.

没有任何浪费的东西剩下。

advertising/printed matter

广告材料／印刷品

Do you find the subject matter of the book (= the subject that the book deals with) interesting?

你觉得这本书的主题内容有趣吗？

The interview was over in a matter of minutes.

采访约几分钟就结束了。

She complained he had short-changed her, but it was only a matter of a few pence.

她说他少找她钱了，其实只差了几便士而已。

We were late but it didn't seem to matter.

我们迟到了，不过看来不要紧。

“What did you say?” “Oh, it doesn't matter.”

“你说什么？”“哦，没什么要紧的。”

It doesn't matter what you wear – just as long as you come.

只要你来，穿什么都没关系。

It didn't matter that our best player was injured after ten minutes – we still won.

我们最好的球员比赛开始10分钟就受伤了——但这无碍大局，我们还是赢了。

I know Charles doesn't think this project is important, but it matters to me.

我知道查尔斯并不看重这个项目，但它对我来说很重要。