李華是在紐約上大學的中國學生。今天她的美國同學Michael 陪她練習開車，准備去考駕照。他們在路上几次遇到惊險的情況，盡管這樣， 李華還是學到了兩個常用語，一個是：cop; 另一個是：to freak out.
M：Your driving is getting better, Li Hua. Hey, you’d better slow down. This is a 35 mile per hour zone.
L：這地區每小時只能開35英里呀？我是不是開太快啦？喲，我的天吶，警察車跟在我后面，那怎么辦吶？
M：Calm down, Li Hua. Just find a parking lot and stop the car. The cop will follow us, and come over to your window to talk to you.
L：哪儿有停車的地方呀！ 行，就停在這里吧！你剛才說誰會過來跟我說話？是警察嗎？
M：That’s right. “Cop” means police officer.
L：警察要來跟我說話！我會不會倒霉呀？我該怎么辦呢？
M：Calm down! Sometimes the cops stop people just to warn them, not to give them a ticket. You weren’t going very fast anyway.
L： 你說警察可能過來只是警告我一下，不一定會給我罰單呀？但愿如此，我好象是沒有開太快。Michael, 你剛才說“cops”, 那警車里到底有几個警察呀？
M：When I say “the cops”, I mean the police in general. I’m not talking about any cop in particular.
L：噢，cop 這個名詞用复數的時候，cops, 可以總的指警察，而不是指某個警察。 我就把車停這儿吧。 Michael, 我能稱呼警察“cop”嗎？
M：No! The word “cop” is too informal. You should show respect when talking to the cops. Call him “officer”, don’t call him “cop”!
L：天哪！原來“cop”是很隨便的稱呼，你干嗎不早告訴我呀！我可不要惹警察生气！
M：Li Hua, don’t worry. I’m sure this isn’t very serious.
M：See, Li Hua, I was right. The cop didn’t give you a ticket.
L：謝天謝地，他沒有給我罰單。 他要罰我好多錢的話，那我就糟糕了。
M：I told you not to freak out. If a cop sees that you are nervous, he will be even more suspicious of you.
L：你告訴我什么？叫我別下車？
M：No, I told you not to “freak out”. “Freak out” means to panic or to act crazy and excited.
L：是啊， 我經常听到一些人說 freak out， 原來是指過于激動，顯得非常緊張。對不對？
M：That’s right. Actually, I was the one who should have been freaking out!
L：你才該感到緊張？為什么？
M：Because this is my car, and you only have a learner’s permit. I’d be responsible if you got in trouble.
L：這我就不懂了。是的，這是你的車，我只有一張學開車的許可證。可是，我開車出了問題，為什么警察會怪你呀？你為什么要freak out？
M：Hey! Li Hua, look out for that car!
L：Don’t freak out, Michael. 我看見那輛車了。不過，那車差一點就撞到我們了！
M：Oh, man! that was close! That guy is crazy! I wish the cops were here to see that!
L：對，剛才是夠險的，警察要看到他那么開車，准要給他罰單。不過，今天已經和警察打過交道了，夠了。再要跟cops打交道，那我可真是要freak out了。
M：Me too. Now, drive carefully!
今天這兩個年輕人真是夠惊險的。不過，李華學到了兩個非常有用的詞匯: cop, 警察；to freak out，非常緊張和激動。這次<流行美語>到此結束，我們下次再會。
──原載《VOA》(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
