新概念英语-让别人“等等”不要说“wait a moment”

Notice that in the example, you give your colleague a reason for the delay. Needing to wait can feel inconvenient for the person who wants your attention. Giving someone a reason for inconveniencing them is a way to “soften the blow” in polite English.

不知道大家注意到了没有，在例句中，除了稍等一下之外你还给了你的同事一个稍等的原因。需要等待的人会因为你让他等一下而感到不方便。所以，在礼貌的英语中，给某人一个不方便的理由是一种减轻冲击的方式。

Of course, in face-to-face situations the other person will often be able to see why you need a little bit of time, so you don t have to give the reason. Your friendly tone of voice and body language will be polite enough.

当然，在面对面的情况下，对方通常会明白为什么你需要一点时间，所以你不必给出理由。你友好的语气和肢体语言就足够有礼貌了。

However, if you are using these phrases on the phone, where the other person can't see what you re doing, it s more important to give a reason for the inconvenience. 

For example

但是，如果你在电话里这么说，而对方却不知道你在做什么，那么给对方一个不方便的理由就更重要了。

例如

- Hey, could we meet up this week to go over the Henderson report?

嘿，我们这周能不能见面看看亨德森报告？

- Sure! Just a sec, let me pull up my calendar.

当然！等一下，让我打开日程表看一下。