VOA慢速英语:The Rise and Fall of Mark Hurd as H-P Chief

close to离…近

例句：His house is close to mine.
      他的房子靠近我家。

      It is close to fact.
      这更接近于事实。

2.But Steven Slater is in a lot of legal trouble and details of exactly what happened on that JetBlue flight and how he acted are still up in the air.

up in the air悬而未决

例句：Plans for the picnic are still up in the air since we can't decide where to go.
      由于我们不能决定去哪儿, 野餐计划还未定。

3.It had sales last year of almost one hundred fifteen billion dollars.

almost, nearly, about, approximately, around, roughly
这些副词均有“大约，差不多”之意

almost ：指在程度上相差很小，差不多。

nearly与almost含义基本相同，侧重指数量、时间或空间上的接近。

about ：常可分almost和nearly换用，但about用于表示时间、数量的“大约”时，实际数量可能多也可能少。

approximately ：多用于书面语，指精确度接近某个标准以致误差可忽略不计。

around ：多用于非正式场合，常见于美国英语。

roughly ：指按精略估计，常代替about。