Maxine: That's him. Well I've just read in the local paper that he's been sent to prison for 18 months.
瑪克辛：就是他。我剛才在本地報紙上讀到新聞，說他被關入獄18個月。
Lynette: What! Oh my god! What for?
萊內特：甚麼！天啊，為甚麼？
Maxine: Well it says that he had been evading taxes. He hadn't declared all his income to the tax authorities.
瑪克辛：報紙說他逃稅。他沒有把所有收入都向稅務當局申報。
Lynette: Well my aunt will be dumbstruck. You'd think a lawyer would be the last person to risk evading taxes, because he knows what the penalties are.
萊內特：姑母一定非常驚訝。一般人都會認為，律師決不會冒險逃稅，因為他們知道逃稅的刑罰。
瑪克辛談到律師逃稅，萊內特說：My aunt will be dumbstruck。
「逃稅」是tax evasion，即違法向稅務當局申報不翔實的收入資料，和tax avoidance不同：tax avoidance是「避稅」，即以法律容許的手段減少納稅，例如：(1) Tax avoidance means finding loopholes in the tax laws（避稅是要在稅務條例之中找尋漏洞）。(2) Charged with tax evasion, he is faced with the grim prospect of imprisonment（他被控逃稅，面臨入獄厄運）。
此外還有tax dodge一詞。Dodge是「規避」，作動詞、名詞都可以，例如：(1) He dodged the question by talking about something else（他規避那個問題，改談其他事情）。(2) He gave his brother a handsome salary as a tax dodge（他給弟弟優厚的薪水，以減少納稅）。Tax dodge可以是合法的，也可以是非法的。
Dumbstruck或作dumbstricken，是to be struck / stricken dumb（被震驚得張口結舌）的意思，作形容詞用。一個同義的動詞是dumbfound，過去式和完成式是dumbfounded，例如：(1) His sudden death dumbfounded all of us（他突然去世，我們都大為震驚）。(2) I was dumbstricken / dumbfounded by her rude behavior（她無禮的舉動，令我張口結舌）。
Dumbstruck / dumbstricken由dumb和strike的完成式sturck / stricken合成，不難明白；dumbfound是不是由dumb和find的完成式found合成？答案是：found是confound（使惶惑）的縮寫。Confound的過去式和完成式都是confounded，所以dumbfound也可以加ed。
明日課文
He was assaulted by two guys in a night club
他在夜總會裡被兩人毆打
