I don't think you could have done it better.
對(duì)話(huà)
Mary: I've just popped in to thank you very much for organizing last weekend’s trip to the seaside for the old folk.
Julia: That's very kind of you. They all seemed to enjoy it.
Mary: They certainly did. Everything went like clockwork, in fact I don't think you could have done it better.
Julia: I'm not sure about that, there were one or two things that could have been improved.
Mary: In a perfect world perhaps, but as far as I'm concerned it was a great success. So thank you again.
瑪麗：我順道過(guò)，要向你說(shuō)聲謝謝，謝謝你籌辦上周末的長(zhǎng)者海濱游。
朱莉雅：你太客氣了。他們似乎都玩得很開(kāi)心。
瑪麗：沒(méi)錯(cuò)。那天一切十分順利，實(shí)在不可能安排得更好了。
朱莉雅：我可不敢這么肯定。有一兩件事是可以安排得更好一點(diǎn)的。
瑪麗：如果世事有所謂的完美，那你說(shuō)得也許沒(méi)錯(cuò)；但對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，這次的旅行非常成功。再次謝謝你啦。
瑪麗告訴朱莉雅：I've popped in to thank you for organizing last weekend's trip for the old folk。Pop是擬聲字，指‘噗’一聲，例如：The cork popped as it came out of the bottle（軟木塞‘噗’一聲從瓶口拔了出來(lái)）。引申其義，pop in 是指突然探訪(fǎng)人家，事前沒(méi)有特別安排，逗留一般也不長(zhǎng)久，例如：He popped in this morning（他今早忽然來(lái)訪(fǎng)）。
Old folk的folk是指‘人們’，作集合名詞(collective noun)，但也有人用folks指‘人們’，例如：Some folk/folks find the new regulation rather annoying（有些人覺(jué)得新條例很麻煩）。留意無(wú)論folk還是folks都配復(fù)數(shù)形式動(dòng)詞。
有時(shí)，你會(huì)看到one's folks這個(gè)說(shuō)法，用復(fù)數(shù)形式是指某人的親屬，例如：My old folks live in Taiwan（我年邁的父母住在臺(tái)灣）。稱(chēng)呼一群人，也習(xí)慣用復(fù)數(shù)形式，例如：Let's go, folks（各位，我們走吧）。和people相比，解作‘人們’的folk多是指生活方式相同的人，或?qū)儆谀骋簧鐖F(tuán)的人，例如：Country folk/folks tend to be more conservative（鄉(xiāng)下人一般比較保守）。不過(guò)，嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)膶?xiě)作通常會(huì)用people取代folks，例如Country people tend to be more conservative。
瑪麗說(shuō)：Everything went like clockwork。Clockwork是鐘表等的發(fā)條裝置，例如：The toy soldier walks by clockwork（那玩具兵是用發(fā)條裝置步行）。Like clockwork是比喻，指‘順利’、‘準(zhǔn)確’或‘有規(guī)律’，His training schedule runs like clockwork即‘他的訓(xùn)練計(jì)劃很有規(guī)律’。