L:Michael,大家都說紐約人開車不守規(guī)矩,我看華盛頓的人也好不了多少。剛才那輛車差一點撞到我!
M: Yeah, I saw that. Crossing the streets in New York and Washington is dangerous. But getting ticked off about it won't do you any good.
L:對,在紐約和華盛頓穿馬路是很危險。你說什么對我沒好處?Ticked off?
M: Yes, Ticked off means to get angry or annoyed at something. Getting angry at the drivers will not do you any good.
L:噢,ticked off的意思是為什么事情生氣。你剛才說的是我對開車的人生氣沒有什么好處。看來讓我ticked off的事還挺多。
M: Yeah, like when your boyfriend broke up with you right before we started classes.
L:你還提醒我這事!我以前那男朋友剛開學就跟我分手,當時我真的非常生氣。不過,Michael,我覺得你也很愛生氣。
M: Well, I got pretty ticked off a few days ago when the professor gave me a low score on the exam.
L:對,和你同班的中國同學王光告訴我你那天非常生氣,因為那個教授給你的考試判分判得很低。Ticked off這個說法很好,以前我就知道用angry這個字。
M: Hey, are you hungry? We haven't eaten in a while.
L:剛才好生氣,連肚子餓也忘了。走,去吃點東西吧!
(Michael和李華吃完飯以后)
M: Now that we have eaten, let's walk to the White House. It's not too far from here.
L:到白宮去?太好了,除了照片外,我還沒有看到過真的白宮呢!
M: Watch out Li Hua! Get back!
L:喲!我的天哪!我的天哪!真嚇死我了!我以為這下我可完了!
M: Oh, my god! Are you okay? Geez, that was really a close call.
L:Michael,我都差一點被車撞了,而你還在說什么close call,這跟打電話根本沒有關(guān)系!
M: No, that's not what I meant by close call. I meant that the car nearly hit you.
L:對啊,那車差一點就撞上我了,這就是close call?
M: Actually, Li Hua, close call means that you narrowly avoided danger. Something bad could have happened to you, but you narrowly avoided a bad situation.
L:原來close call就是說,差一點發(fā)生倒霉的事,我算是逃避了這倒霉事。我可以說,今天我差一點沒被汽車撞了。對不對?
M: Yeah, that's right.
L:那close call是不是一定用在跟生命危險有關(guān)的場合呢?
M: Not really. Let me give you another example. The paper you and I turned in this week was almost late. That was also a close call.
L:對,那個教授讓我們在星期二前把學術(shù)報告交給他,我們是星期一晚上去交的,差一點就過了限期,這也可以說是close call。下回我可再也不敢這么做了。
M: Here we are! The White House!
L:太好了!白宮到了,那我們趕快走把。
今天Michael 和李華在對話中用的一個常用語是ticked off,意思是為了什么事情生氣;另一個是close call,意思是差一點沒發(fā)生倒霉的事,或是差一點完不成該做的事。