“I’m desperate”の意味は

名探偵シャーロック・ホームズを現代のイギリスに蘇らせたBBCのテレビドラマ『Sherlock』を観ながら、ETC英会話のトニー先生のレッスンを受けています。

今日はこんなダイアログから。

JOHN:　So, why do you put up with him?
DI LESTRADE:　Because I’m desperate, that’s why. And because Sherlock Holmes is a great man, and I think one day, if we’re very, very lucky, he might even be a good one.

さて、“I’m desperate”とはどのような意味なのでしょうか。

The direct translation for “desperate” means, I am desperate, like if I have pain in my tooth.
And I go knocking on a dentist door, “I am desperate, please. See to me know. Please. help me know now. I can’t wait till the next week. No, now. I am desperate.”
That is “desperate”.
But we now use that for situations too.
You are, especially when you come to ask somebody to do something that you wouldn’t usually ask, like maybe the last person you would ask.
So you would never go to them.
So you say, they would say to you, “why are you asking me, because I know that you don’t like me or I am the last person you would ask.”
And then your expression is “oh, I am desperate”.

Q: What can I say instead of “I am desperate”.

OK, “you are my last hope for solution” or “you are my last choice”, “you are my only choice”.
So the correct thing is not it.
“You are my only choice” or “you are my last choice” or “I have no choice. You are my only solution”.

desperate
捨てばちの、 やけくそになって、絶望的な.

 

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