【大紀元8月20日訊】
Larry陪李華帶著她新領養的貓咪-小雪球-去看獸醫。兩人聊起了一位共同的朋友。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：workaholic和nutty.
LL: I’m really worried about Bob. He seems as though he has turned into a real workaholic.
LH: 你很擔心Bob，因為他成了workaholic. Workaholic, 那是什麼意思？是不是Bob生病了？
LL: No, Bob doesn’t have a disease. He’s a workaholic. A workaholic is someone who works all of the time and never takes time for anything else.
LH: 啊，我懂你的意思了。Workaholic是指一個人工作過度，從來不休息。就是“工作狂”的意思嘛！Bob天天加班，怪不得他看起來總是那麼累。這樣對身體很不好呢！
LL: No, it’s not. Workaholics often get stress-related problems such as high blood pressure or ulcers.
LH: 就是，高血壓和潰瘍都是一些工作過度的人常有的毛病。我爸爸就是個工作狂。我小的時候很少見到他，因為他總是在辦公室裡加班。結果在我10歲的時候，他得了潰瘍，醫生要他立刻減少工作量。
LL: That’s a shame, but it’s actually pretty common. I’ve known a few workaholics, too.
LH: 現代人工作忙碌，變成工作狂是很常見的。哎，Larry也許我們應該和Bob談談，讓他知道我們很擔心他。
LL: I don’t know how he’ll respond to that. Maybe it would be better if we just pressured him to hang out with us and relax more.
LH: 這倒是個好主意，讓他和我們一起出去玩，一定可以放松心情的！ 要不這樣吧！我們可以邀請Bob下星期到我家玩，順便看看我的小雪球！
LL: I don’t know if meeting your crazy cat is going to help prevent Bob from becoming a workaholic, but at least it will get him out of the office for a while.
LH: 嘿！我的小雪球才不瘋呢！她只不過是只小貓咪，愛玩而已嘛！
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LL: Well, did the vet officially diagnose your cat as being totally nutty?
LH: Nutty? 那是什麼意思。你該不是在說我的小雪球有什麼行為方面的問題吧？
LL: You could say that. Nutty means crazy.
LH: 所以nutty就是瘋瘋顛顛的意思。哎，我跟你說過了，小雪球不瘋。她只是比較好動。
LL: Did the vet agree with you?
LH: 當然嘍！獸醫還說，小雪球既不瘋，也沒有心理問題。她只是一只小貓，所以特別需要別人注意她。獸醫還說我應該經常陪小雪球玩。
LL: Oh, I see, she’s so nutty because she has too much extra energy. If we play with her and tire her out, she’ll be calmer.
LH: 沒錯，只要我們多陪陪她，消耗她的體力，她就不會精力旺盛地動來動去。所以我打算用繩子做一些小玩具，每天至少陪她玩15分鐘。
LL: Hey, that actually sounds fun. Can I help?
LH: 當然嘍！但是你得先答應我，不可以再叫她是個小瘋子，或是nutty了。這樣我才讓你和她玩。可以嗎？
LL: All right, I won’t make fun of your nutty cat anymore.
LH: Larry! 你怎麼又這麼說她啊！
LL: I’m just kidding. I think it’s funny that you get so offended when I call Snowball nutty.
LH: 我當然要生氣咯！小雪球是只很乖的小貓。我真的很喜歡她。所以你不可以這樣嘲笑她。
LL: Okay, I won’t. Let’s take her home and play with her now. I’m sure she doesn’t want to stay here any longer.
今天李華學到兩個常用語，一個是workaholic,指的是一個人工作過度，不休息，也就是我們常說的：工作狂。另一個常用語是nutty，是指行為瘋瘋顛顛的，不太正常。
(轉載自《美國之音》)(//www.dajiyuan.com)
