【大紀元6月25日訊】

今天李華到Larry家來借一本書，碰巧Larry的媽媽打電話來。什麼事呢？你聽了他們的對話就知道了。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：play hooky和put one’s foot down。

(Hang up phone)

LH: Larry，怎麼啦？你看起來很不高興。

LL: Oh, it’s just that my little sister is giving my mom a lot of trouble. She played hooky from school two days in a row last week.

LH: 你妹妹給你媽惹麻煩了。你說她上星期在學校連續兩天played hooky? 那是一種游戲嗎？為什麼你媽媽會生氣啊？

LL: No, it’s not a game. To play hooky is to skip school or work when you have no excuse for doing so.

LH: 噢！play hooky就是逃學，曠課的意思。那很嚴重耶！我要是逃學，我媽媽一定會非常非常生氣！

LL: Every kid plays hooky once in a while, but playing hooky as often as my little sister does is a serious problem. It’s affecting her grades.

LH: 對，偶爾曠課還可以，如果像你妹妹這樣常常逃課，成績當然會受影響嘍！那你媽媽打算怎麼做？

LL: She’ll forbid my sister from watching TV, talking on the phone, or going out with her friends for at least a month.

LH: 哇！至少一個月不能看電視、不許和朋友通電話，也不可以和朋友出去。這樣的處罰是夠厲害的。不過也許她能得到教訓，以後不再逃學。

LL: I hope so. Hey, you really never played hooky when you were a kid?

LH: 嗯，有那麼幾次我不想上學，就裝病待在家裡。這樣也算play hooky嗎？

LL: Of course, that counts! Actually, I think every kid has used that trick to play hooky at least once.

LH: 對，假裝生病是孩子們想逃學時常用的借口。我記得我是因為有的同學老是取笑我，所以我不想上學。

LL: Unfortunately, I think that’s probably a very common reason for playing hooky from school.

******

LH: Larry，剛才是誰打電話來？

LL: That was my sister. My mom really put her foot down this time. She’s not allowed to watch TV or see her friends for two months. She’s really upset.

LH: 你媽媽罰你妹妹兩個月不准看電視，也不准和朋友出去玩，那是夠厲害的。可是，Larry, 你剛才說”put her foot down”是什麼意思？

LL: Oh, to put one’s foot down means to take a really firm stance on something and enforce it.

LH: Put one’s foot down就是采取堅定立場，嚴厲執行。你媽媽是不是也曾經對你這麼嚴格啊？

LL: I was generally a good kid, but she did put her foot down once that I can remember. She thought one of my friends was a bad influence, so she didn’t allow me to hang out with him

LH: 那是可以理解。中國人常說，“近朱者赤，近墨者黑，”你媽媽是怕你交了壞朋友，所以才不讓你跟他交往。

LL: Well, haven’t you ever had to put your foot down with anyone?

LH: 你還記得我那討厭的同屋嗎？在她開始偷我的東西之後，我就對她不客氣了。

LL: Yeah, I remember that. I think you probably should have put your foot down before then, but you were too nice.

LH: 是，我可能早就不該遷就她了。不過，我總覺得不太好意思，不太敢和別人發生沖突。

LL: You’ve got to learn to put your foot down when it’s necessary, otherwise people will take advantage of you.

LH：沒錯，必要的時候就得學會對別人硬一些，有的人就是會欺軟怕硬。

今天李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是play hooky, 是逃學，或曠課。另外一個常用語是put one’s foot down, 意思是很堅定，采取嚴厲手段。

(轉載自《美國之音》)(//www.dajiyuan.com)