【大紀元1月2日訊】Larry週末去找李華。今天我們要學兩個常用語：the cat is out of the bag和kick the bucket.
LL: Hi Li Hua, how’s it going?
LH: 挺好的，總算又考完了一門。你怎麼樣？
LL: I’m doing pretty well. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you…
LH: 你先別說，讓我猜猜，你要帶我出去渡假？
LL: What？How’d you know?! Who let the cat out of the bag?
LH: What? 什麼叫”let the cat out of the bag?”
LL: Who told you?
LH: 哈哈，當然是你妹妹Susie.
LL: I can’t believe she told you!
LH: Well. I guess she let the cat out of the bag.
LL: Did she ever! I can’t believe she let the cat out of the bag!
LH: 你還不瞭解Susie嗎，她肚子裡什麼事情也藏不住。
LL: I see that now.
LH: 你以後有什麼要保密的事，千萬不能告訴她。
LL: I guess Susie is not a good candidate for being a spy.
LH: 她要當間諜，第一天就把自己先出賣了！
LL: Oh well, so the cat is out of the bag, I want to take you on a vacation.
LH: 好啊！帶我去渡假我當然願意，可總得有點兒理由吧？
LL: Well, that project just finished and my boss offered me a few weeks off to relax since we all worked so many hours on it. Plus I just got a bonus for the work.
LH: 又放假，又發獎金。這可真是雙喜臨門。
LL: It’s pretty good. I’m just glad that now I have some time to relax.
LH: 那你有沒有想好去哪裏呢？
LL: I was thinking that we could go down to Miami, you know, just relax by the beach. I think it would be a pretty good way to get away from it all for a little bit.
LH: 邁阿密的陽光，我來了！
LL: It’s a shame you weren’t surprised though, now I know not to tell someone who might let the cat out of the bag next time.
******
李華第二天見到Larry. Larry看上去情緒十分低落。
LH: Larry, 你怎麼了，臉色這麼難看，發生什麼事情了嗎？
LL: My second grade teacher apparently just kicked the bucket.
LH: 你小學二年級老師kicked the bucket? 她的腳沒受傷吧？
LL: No, kicked the bucket means she died.
LH: 哦，原來kick the bucket是去世的意思。對不起，你一定很難過吧？
LL: Well, She always had some health problems. To be honest, I’m surprised she lived to be as old as she did. She was probably in her 60s when I had her.
LH: 不管怎麼說，自己以前的老師去世，心裏一定還是很不好受。
LL: Yeah, it is a little sad, and a little strange. I hadn’t thought of her in years.
LH: 那你是怎麼聽說她去世的消息呢？
LL: Someone from my hometown posted it on my facebook wall.
LH: 沒想到，臉譜網還能起到發訃告的作用。
LL: Yeah, it is kind of weird that someone would use facebook as an obituary. Usually people like to write about having kids online. But this is the first time I heard about someone kicking the bucket.
LH: 不說這些不高興的事了。Larry, 晚上要不一起去看電影？
LL: OK. Anything in particular?
LH: 我隨便，聽你的。
LL: I guess I’d like to see a comedy or something light.
LH: So you don’t think about your teacher having kicked the bucket?
LL: Well I guess, but also just because I feel like seeing a comedy.
LH: 對了，Larry, 要不要聽個小秘密？
LL: A secret? Of course.
LH: Jenny和Mark訂婚了。
LL: WOW! That’s great news!
LH: 別嚷別嚷。他們還沒有正式宣佈呢。You have to promise you won’t let the cat out of the bag!
今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是the cat is out of the bag， 意思是洩露秘密。另一個是kick the bucket意思是去世。 (http://www.dajiyuan.com)
