Larry和李華在海灘享受溫暖的陽光。不過李華有點(diǎn)心事,因?yàn)樗呐笥袹oe向她借了錢,卻一直沒還。今天李華會學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語:deadbeat和cool it。
(Ambience sound on the beach)
LL: Li Hua, relax and enjoy the day. Joe isn't a deadbeat. He'll pay you back as soon as he can.
LH: 我也希望Joe會還我錢。你說Joe不是一個(gè)deadbeat,那是什么意思啊?
LL: A deadbeat is someone who does not pay his/her debts or fulfill his/her obligations. Joe is not a deadbeat. He always pays people back.
LH: A deadbeat就是一個(gè)故意賴帳的人。你說Joe不是那樣的人,可要是他一直不還我錢,那我該怎么跟他提這件事,又不傷他的自尊心呢?這事真麻煩!
LL: You're right; money is an awkward subject. I usually just avoid lending people money altogether. That way I don't have to worry about deadbeats.
LH: 唉,我也不喜歡借錢給別人,可我是真的想幫他忙。
LL: Yeah, I know what you mean. Just be careful who you help in the future: there are a lot of deadbeats out there.
LH: 我知道,下回我再要借錢給別人,一定會格外小心,因?yàn)榻桢X不還的人還是有的。對了,Larry,我還聽過別人說deadbeat dads。那是什么意思???
LL: Well, after a divorce, a man is supposed to send money to his ex-wife to help her support their children. A man who doesn't send money is a "deadbeat dad."
LH: 噢,我懂了,A deadbeat dad就是離婚后不肯負(fù)擔(dān)孩子撫養(yǎng)費(fèi)的父親。
LL: Exactly. I know a guy whose father was a deadbeat dad. The poor guy's mother had to work three jobs to support her children.
LH: 這個(gè)媽媽要做三份工來撫養(yǎng)她的孩子,就是因?yàn)榘职植豢蠐狃B(yǎng)孩子。難道法律都不懲罰這些不負(fù)責(zé)任的父親嗎?
LL: Well, the courts can tell a deadbeat dad that he needs to pay child support, but that doesn't mean that he actually will.
LH: 什么!法庭告訴他們要付錢,他們不付也沒事呀?唉,真是糟糕!
******
LL: Wow! Those kids over there are really loud. I wish they'd cool it.
LH: 那些孩子是挺吵的。你要他們怎么著,cool it?什么意思呀?
LL: I wish they would "cool it" means calm down. It can also mean to stop what one is doing.
LH: 噢,cool it就是安靜下來,或者停止做某件事的意思。你的意思是要這些孩子別再吵了。
LL: Exactly. I wonder where their parents are? I'm surprised that their parents haven't told them to cool it yet.
LH: 就是啊,那些孩子在那里鬼吼鬼叫好一會兒了。他們的爸媽到底聽見了沒?怎么不好好管教自己的孩子呢?
LL: It's hard to enjoy the day with such noisy kids around. I'm considering going over there myself and telling them to "cool it."
LH: ???你想自己過去叫那些孩子安靜一點(diǎn)?我不知道這樣做好不好呢。
LL: Why not? Their parents obviously aren't going to do it and those kids are ruining the day for a lot of people.
LH: Larry,也許你該冷靜一點(diǎn),cool it,別跟那些孩子一般見識了。不然,我們可以搬到遠(yuǎn)一點(diǎn)的地方坐。
LL: Yeah, that's probably a good idea.
LH: 來吧,我們把東西收一收,搬到海灘的另一邊去好了。
LL: Okay, let's go.
今天李華學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語。第一個(gè)是deadbeat,是指借錢不還,故意賴帳的人。另一個(gè)常用語是cool it,是指安靜下來,或停止做某件事。