【大紀元7月18日訊】
李華跟Larry一起去看美式足球賽。今天我們要學兩個常用語：get with the program和cost an arm and a leg.
LH: Larry, 你幹嘛不穿襯衣，光著膀子，還把身上塗成這樣？嚇我一跳。
LL: Do you like it? I spent all morning painting myself the colors of my favorite football team, the Washington Redskins.
LH: 支持紅人隊也不用把自己糟蹋成這樣啊，戴頂帽子，穿件球衣不就得了。
LL: Oh come on, Lihua. Get with the program. Anybody can wear a hat. Only REAL fans paint their entire bodies.
LH: 等會兒，你說get with the what?
LL: Get with the program. If somebody doesn’t understand something that you think should be obvious, you can tell that person to “get with the program.”
LH: 我明白了， 如果你覺得是明擺著的事，而別人卻不明白，你就可以告訴對方，get with the program. 那你是說，你光著膀子，把自己畫成這樣，我不該大驚小怪了？
LL: Exactly. Don’t spectators at ping pong tournaments in China paint their chests and drink beer and scream at the players from the stands?
LH: Larry, I think YOU need to get with the program. 看乒乓球的人是絕對不會光著膀子，一邊喝啤酒一邊吶喊助威的，能讓中國球迷如此瘋狂的可能只有姚明瞭。
LL: Ok, ok. Well are you ready to go to the parking lot. I’m starving!
LH: 我們難道就在停車場裡吃東西嗎？還是進到球場裡面去買點吃吧。
LL: C’mon Lihua, get with the program. Everybody knows that the food in the stadium is too expensive. So before the game everyone brings a BBQ grill and cooks food out in the parking lot. We call it “tailgating” because you sit on the tail gate of your truck while you eat.
LH: 真的嗎？大家就坐在皮卡後面，一邊燒烤一邊聊天？太好玩了。不過，這好像跟你答應我的浪漫約會差得遠點兒。
LL: You don’t find eating hot dogs in a parking lot romantic?
LH: Larry, I think you need to get with the program. 大多數女孩子都不會覺得在停車場裡坐在車尾巴上啃熱狗有多浪漫的。
LL: Lihua, I think you need to get with the program too. By now you should know that dates with me may not be romantic, but at least they aren’t boring.
******
李華和Larry進場看比賽。
LL: Oh Lihua .. I think I may have eaten too many hot dogs in the parking lot. I’m not feeling so well.
LH: 誰讓你不聽我勸，非要跟那個人比賽吃熱狗，現在肚子痛了吧！
LL: I know … but he was rooting for the other team, so I had to accept his challenge. I had to do it for my team’s pride.
LH: 唯一值得慶幸的是，你最後贏了，還免費吃了那麼多熱狗。
LL: That’s true. If I had tried to buy all those hot dogs in the stadium it would have cost me an arm and a leg.
LH: 要花一條胳膊一條腿？真形象。這是一種很常用的說法嗎？
LL: Whenever you buy something that is unreasonably expensive, you can say that it cost you an arm and a leg.
LH: 在中文裡，這叫吐血。那我問你，我們坐在最後一排，什麼都看不見，這個位子的票價一定沒有讓你損失一條胳膊一條腿吧？
LL: Hey, they were the best I could get. But you’re right, I can barely see the players. I would give my right arm for some binoculars.
LH: 你要用右胳膊換望遠鏡？要這麼個換法，我看，用不了多久，你身上的零部件就要用光了。不過說真的，你剛才說的give my right arm跟cost an arm and a leg是一個意思嗎？
LL: Kind of. When you say that you would give your right arm for something, that means that you really want it.
LH: 我明白了，說願意用右胳膊換，意思就是特別想要。Larry, 這比賽看得我真是一頭霧水。I would give my right arm to know what the rules of football are.
LL: And I would give my right arm for a jacket. It’s freezing out, and it turns out that this paint doesn’t provide any warmth at all!
LH: 我可以把外衣借給你穿，而且it won’t even cost you an arm and a leg.
今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是get with the program意思是這是明擺著的。另一個是cost an arm and a leg，意思是價錢貴得離譜。(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
