I have been instructed by my agent that you still owe me 100 pounds. 我的代理人通知我,你还欠我100磅。
I had been a footman for 20 years. 我曾做过20年的听差。
Be \Be\ (b[=e]), v. i. [imp. {Was} (w[o^]z); p. p. {Been} (b[i^]n); p. pr. & vb. n. {Being}.] [OE. been, beon, AS. be['o]n to be, be['o]m I am; akin to OHG. bim, pim, G. bin, I am, Gael. & Ir. bu was, W. bod to be, Lith. bu-ti, O. Slav. by-ti, to be, L. fu-i I have been, fu-turus about to be, fo-re to be about to be, and perh. to fieri to become, Gr. fy^nai to be born, to be, Skr. bh[=u] to be. This verb is defective, and the parts lacking are supplied by verbs from other roots, is, was, which have no radical connection with be. The various forms, am, are, is, was, were, etc., are considered grammatically as parts of the verb ``to be'', which, with its conjugational forms, is often called the substantive verb. [root]97. Cf. {Future}, {Physic}.] 1. To exist actually, or in the world of fact; to have existence.
To be contents his natural desire. --Pope.
To be, or not to be: that is the question. --Shak.
2. To exist in a certain manner or relation, -- whether as a reality or as a product of thought; to exist as the subject of a certain predicate, that is, as having a certain attribute, or as belonging to a certain sort, or as identical with what is specified, -- a word or words for the predicate being annexed; as, to be happy; to be here; to be large, or strong; to be an animal; to be a hero; to be a nonentity; three and two are five; annihilation is the cessation of existence; that is the man.
3. To take place; to happen; as, the meeting was on Thursday.
4. To signify; to represent or symbolize; to answer to.
The field is the world. --Matt. xiii. 38.
The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. --Rev. i. 20.
Note: The verb to be (including the forms is, was, etc.) is used in forming the passive voice of other verbs; as, John has been struck by James. It is also used with the past participle of many intransitive verbs to express a state of the subject. But have is now more commonly used as the auxiliary, though expressing a different sense; as, ``Ye have come too late -- but ye are come. '' ``The minstrel boy to the war is gone.'' The present and imperfect tenses form, with the infinitive, a particular future tense, which expresses necessity, duty, or purpose; as, government is to be supported; we are to pay our just debts; the deed is to be signed to-morrow.
Note: Have or had been, followed by to, implies movement. ``I have been to Paris.'' --Sydney Smith. ``Have you been to Franchard ?'' --R. L. Stevenson.
Note: Been, or ben, was anciently the plural of the indicative present. ``Ye ben light of the world.'' --Wyclif, Matt. v. 14. Afterwards be was used, as in our Bible: ``They that be with us are more than they that be with them.'' --2 Kings vi. 16. Ben was also the old infinitive: ``To ben of such power.'' --R. of Gloucester. Be is used as a form of the present subjunctive: ``But if it be a question of words and names.'' --Acts xviii. 15. But the indicative forms, is and are, with if, are more commonly used.
{Be it so}, a phrase of supposition, equivalent to suppose it to be so; or of permission, signifying let it be so. --Shak.
{If so be}, in case.
{To be from}, to have come from; as, from what place are you? I am from Chicago.
{To let be}, to omit, or leave untouched; to let alone. ``Let be, therefore, my vengeance to dissuade.'' --Spenser.
Syn: {To be}, {Exist}.
Usage: The verb to be, except in a few rare cases, like that of Shakespeare's ``To be, or not to be'', is used simply as a copula, to connect a subject with its predicate; as, man is mortal; the soul is immortal. The verb to exist is never properly used as a mere copula, but points to things that stand forth, or have a substantive being; as, when the soul is freed from all corporeal alliance, then it truly exists. It is not, therefore, properly synonymous with to be when used as a copula, though occasionally made so by some writers for the sake of variety; as in the phrase ``there exists [is] no reason for laying new taxes.'' We may, indeed, say, ``a friendship has long existed between them,'' instead of saying, ``there has long been a friendship between them;'' but in this case, exist is not a mere copula. It is used in its appropriate sense to mark the friendship as having been long in existence.
Been \Been\ [OE. beon, ben, bin, p. p. of been, beon, to be. See {Be}.] The past participle of {Be}. In old authors it is also the pr. tense plural of {Be}. See 1st {Bee}.
Assembled been a senate grave and stout. --Fairfax.
They have been rallying by the hundreds of thousands to push for more control over Kosovo, an ancient Slav heartland bordering Albania that is now dominated by ethnic Albanians.
Authorities confiscated 570 pounds of heroin alleged to have been imported by Kon's organization in several seizures over the years, Stutman said.
The Cipollone plaintiff counsel and jury apparently assumed it reassured smokers by telling them that the health problems had been solved.
What makes Cray Computer a more unusual pick for Mr. Duncan is that its earnings have been nonexistent. Nevertheless, he looks for the firm to break even next year and hit $3 a share in earnings by 1994.
He notes that the idea has been used with other assets including stocks, options, real estate and art.
Two settlement proposals offered by the alliance have been rejected by the writers.
Perhaps Columbus, had been right, after all. I took my leave of the finest green refuge on New York City's outskirts: the evening bell was sounding and somebody was driving a car along the lower terrace to remind us that highway morals rule.
It has been losing money through the 1980s.
The two-story frame farm house and the surrounding 25 acres in suburban Mount Pleasant had been slated for part of a residential development, but a citizens group known as Friends of Historic Snee Farm took title to the property over the weekend.
London could win but it requires a level of unity and co-operation which has not been seen in recent years." 'My sentiments entirely,' said the sports minister.
Representative offices have not been allowed in the past to carry out full banking business.
Micek said officers examined the records of a number of fires and noticed that Marts had been at the scene of several. "It just clicked," Micek said.
A definitive contract between Faberge's owner, Riklis Family Corp., and Unilever United States Inc., the holding company for Unilever's American operations, has been signed and the transaction is expected to be completed within 30 days.
"What I've been told is the campaign will see what it looks like tonight and the senator will talk to his advisers to see what direction the campaign will take," Mulligan said.
A spokesman for Affiliated said that Mason Hawkins, who heads the investment firm, "has in the past been supportive of management" and that he didn't know why Southeastern had changed its stance.
While many people, including Mr. Gorbachev and President Yeltsin, have been interviewed by the investigators, charges were lodged only against those who actually planned the coup and not those who supported it politically, Mr. Stepankov said.
There has been much speculation recently that the next step in the Wall Street investigations will be to move beyond insider trading to broader questions such as market manipulation and tax evasion.
He has been transferring money in his general portfolio from south-east Asia to Latin America for the past four months.
Under the measure, the arrest authority for Border Patrol agents has been expanded from immigration law violations to other crimes, including suspected drug activity.
Previously only fragments of such an animal had been uncovered, the report said.
Pozsgay shot up in popular esteem last January when he became the first public leader to proclaim that the 1956 revolt was a popular uprising and not a counterrevolution, as it had officially been termed for more than 32 years.
The case has been turned over to the district attorney's office, Police Chief Bruce Beaty said.
Films of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters even have been used in campaign ads.
Bond prices, which had been up in early trading, fell in response to the purchasing managers report, and the stock market followed suit.
But it's been a real circus getting it here.
If Bellamy had only known, his hero would have been mystified not only by organ music but also by cavernous echoes that seemed to issue from 100 yards behind his sofa.
Those groups have been largely disillusioned with Mrs. Aquino's failure to institute reforms after the "people power" revolution.
The withdrawal of the SRAM-A follows Cheney's disclosure in late May that a safety problem existed with U.S. nuclear artillery shells in Europe, but that it had been fixed and a risk of accidental nuclear explosions never materialized.
The Saudis have been reluctant in the past to allow any U.S. military exercises on their soil, not wishing to provoke their neighbors.
He said it had been shrinking since then, now getting a fraction of 1 percent of the budget.