【大紀元6月18日訊】
李華正在為朋友的生日party做准備，她生平第一次烤了一個蛋糕。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：from scratch和all set.
LH: Larry, 這是我烤的蛋糕，你嘗嘗。這可是我生平第一次烤蛋糕，不一定會好吃！
LL: Mmmm! This is delicious! Did you make this from scratch or did you use a cake mix?
LH: 你覺得好吃呀？太好了！哎，你剛才問我是不是make it from scratch? 那是什麼意思啊？我是照因特網上的一個食譜做的。
LL: Then you did make it from scratch. To make something from scratch is to make it yourself using all of the basic ingredients.
LH: 原來to make something from scratch就是自己用基本材料，從頭做起。是呀，我用雞蛋、面粉、牛奶和黃油做的。還有別的做蛋糕的方法？
LL: A lot of people nowadays use a pre-packaged cake mix with all the ingredients in it already, so it’s easier to make.
LH: 用事先調好的蛋糕粉那當然簡單多了。那多沒意思啊！自己把所有的材料准備好，從頭開始做，其實很好玩呢！
LL: Well, you should be proud of yourself. This cake is great!
LH: 謝謝，你說好吃我就放心了！對了，Larry，你有沒有自己烤過蛋糕？
LL: No, but I tried making chocolate chip cookies from scratch once.
LH: 自己做巧克力餅干啊？好吃嗎？
LL: They were awful because I forgot to put oil in them. After that, I decided that it was best if I didn’t try to make things from scratch anymore.
LH: 忘了放油！那餅干肯定會太硬。你一次沒做成功就決定下回不做了！你知道，做這種東西是試驗好多次才行。
LL: I know, but I’m not that patient.
LH: 嗨，要做好就得要有耐心嘛！
******
LL: All right, Li Hua. The cake is ready, the drinks are prepared, and the decorations look great. I think we are all set.
LH: We are all set？ 這是什麼意思？蛋糕、飲料都准備好了，一切都布置好了。你的意思是一切准備就緒了，是嗎？
LL: That’s right. To be “all set” is to be ready for whatever it is you’re going to do. In this case, we are all set to have a party.
LH: 對，要舉行party的個方面似乎都准備好了。那我是不是可以說we’re all set to have fun at the party?
LL: If you’re ready to have fun, then of course you can say that. Hey, what about the music – is that all set?
LH: 音樂啊？沒問題！我把激光唱機和幾片激光盤全放桌上了。So it’s all set.
LL: Great! Now, I’m all set to eat more of that cake you made. It’s really delicious
LH: 不行，你現在還不能吃這蛋糕，要等做生日的人吹完蠟燭後才能吃的！
LL: I know. I was just kidding. Hey, do you have a place for people to put presents?
LH: 放禮物的地方啊？早准備好了！我在進門的地方有張桌子。大家可以把禮物和生日卡放在那兒。.
LL: Okay, since everything is all set, we can relax until the guests start arriving.
LH: 我早就准備好在客人來以前先休息一下。籌辦一個生日party 可真是夠累人的！
LL: Preparing a party isn’t that bad; it’s cleaning up afterwards that’s a lot of work.
LH: Party結束後，我想你一定會幫我收拾的。對不對？
LL：Of course!
李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是from scratch, 意思就是從頭做起。第二個常用語是all set, 就是一切就緒，准備好了的意思。
(轉載自《美國之音》)(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
