李華告訴Larry說,她跟一個學(xué)生約好,十點在她的辦公室見面,談?wù)勥@個學(xué)生的成績,可以這個學(xué)生沒有赴約。李華今天要學(xué)兩個常用語no show和lala land。
LL: So, you made an appointment with this student to talk about his grades, and he was a no show?
LH: A no show? 對呀,他沒來,沒有出現(xiàn),所以叫no show。這種說法簡潔明了。
LL: Right, a no show is some one who doesn't show up when they have agreed to. But, it is really rude to be a no show.
LH: 確實不禮貌。我專門跑到辦公室來,等了他好長時間,誰知道他卻是個no show。
LL: So, he didn't even call you to tell you that he wasn't going to come? It is even ruder to be a no show and not have called to let the person know you can't come.
LH: 對呀,不來就已經(jīng)很不禮貌了,連個電話都不打,就更不禮貌了。說實話,我挺意外的,因為這個學(xué)生看起來不象是那么不懂事的人。
LL: Well, maybe something unexpected happened to him. There might be a good reason why he was a no show.
LH: 失約還有什么好理由嗎?
LL: Well, maybe he was a no show because his car broke down, or he got lost, or even worse maybe he had an accident.
LH: 是呀,我怎么就沒想到呢。他的車可能會在半路拋錨。還有他可能會迷路。更可怕的是,還可能會出車禍。我本來挺生氣的,讓你這么一說,我反而開始替他擔(dān)心了。
LL: I remember one time when I was in college I made an appointment with a professor and ended up being a no show because my car ran out of gas.
LH: 什么,車跑到半路沒油了?你那個教授肯定火冒三丈。那后來呢?
LL: I felt so bad about being a no show, the first thing I did when I got to a phone was call the professor and apologize.
LH: 打電話道歉?那我們再等等吧,也許過一會兒我的學(xué)生就會打電話來了。
LL: Have you ever been a no show for anything, Li Hua?
LH: 倒是有一次,我的鬧鐘沒響,所以睡過了頭,結(jié)果沒去上課。
LL: That's not so bad. Lots of students are no shows for classes.
LH: 不好意思的是,那是我教的一門課。(Phone rings) 等等,我接一下電話。
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LL: Hey, was that your student? Did he have a good reason for being a no show or was he just in lala land?
LH: 打電話的就是那個學(xué)生。你為什么會覺得他在lala land呢?Lala land在哪呀?
LL: Lala land isn't a real place. It is a state of mind. It is where you go when you are day dreaming and not paying attention to the things going on in the real world.
LH: 我明白了,lala land不是一個地方,而是仙境、幻境的意思,做白日夢就是去了 "lala land"。這樣說來,那個學(xué)生確實是去了lala land。
LL: Really?! He was off in lala land when he forgot his appointment with you?
LH: 沒錯,他當(dāng)時正在跟朋友吃飯,完全忘記了跟我約好要見面。
LL: Yes, it sounds like he was in lala land. So what did you say when he told you this?
LH: 雖然我知道“忘了”不能算是失約的理由,但我還是很高興他能打電話來道歉,誰都有忘事的時候。換句話說,大家可能都到過lala land。
LL: That's right. Just last week I was a no show for a haircut appointment because I was off in Lala land.
LH: 還有更好笑的。昨天我監(jiān)考,有個學(xué)生走過來問我問題。
LL: Let me guess, you were so far off in lala land, you didn't even know the student was there!
LH: 你怎么知道的!我當(dāng)時確實有點兒心不在焉,那個學(xué)生碰了一下我的肩膀才讓我醒過神來。
今天李華學(xué)到了兩個常用語。一個是no show,意思是失約。另外一個是lala land,意思是身處幻境,心不在焉。