【大紀元3月15日訊】
Larry和李華在海灘享受溫暖的陽光。不過李華有點心事，因為她的朋友Joe向她借了錢，卻一直沒還。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：deadbeat和cool it。
(Ambience sound on the beach)
LL: Li Hua, relax and enjoy the day. Joe isn’t a deadbeat. He’ll pay you back as soon as he can.
LH: 我也希望Joe會還我錢。你說Joe不是一個deadbeat，那是甚麼意思啊？
LL: A deadbeat is someone who does not pay his/her debts or fulfill his/her obligations. Joe is not a deadbeat. He always pays people back.
LH: A deadbeat就是一個故意賴帳的人。你說Joe不是那樣的人，可要是他一直不還我錢，那我該怎麼跟他提這件事，又不傷他的自尊心呢？這事真麻煩！
LL: You’re right; money is an awkward subject. I usually just avoid lending people money altogether. That way I don’t have to worry about deadbeats.
LH: 唉，我也不喜歡借錢給別人，可我是真的想幫他忙。
LL: Yeah, I know what you mean. Just be careful who you help in the future: there are a lot of deadbeats out there.
LH: 我知道，下回我再要借錢給別人，一定會格外小心，因為借錢不還的人還是有的。對了，Larry，我還聽過別人說deadbeat dads。那是甚麼意思啊？
LL: Well, after a divorce, a man is supposed to send money to his ex-wife to help her support their children. A man who doesn’t send money is a 「deadbeat dad.」
LH: 噢，我懂了，A deadbeat dad就是離婚後不肯負擔孩子撫養費的父親。
LL: Exactly. I know a guy whose father was a deadbeat dad. The poor guy’s mother had to work three jobs to support her children.
LH: 這個媽媽要做三份工來撫養她的孩子，就是因為爸爸不肯撫養孩子。難道法律都不懲罰這些不負責任的父親嗎？
LL: Well, the courts can tell a deadbeat dad that he needs to pay child support, but that doesn’t mean that he actually will.
LH: 甚麼！法庭告訴他們要付錢，他們不付也沒事呀？唉，真是糟糕！
***
LL: Wow! Those kids over there are really loud. I wish they’d cool it.
LH: 那些孩子是挺吵的。你要他們怎麼著，cool it？甚麼意思呀？
LL: I wish they would 「cool it」 means calm down. It can also mean to stop what one is doing.
LH: 噢，cool it就是安靜下來，或者停止做某件事的意思。你的意思是要這些孩子別再吵了。
LL: Exactly. I wonder where their parents are? I’m surprised that their parents haven’t told them to cool it yet.
LH: 就是啊，那些孩子在那裏鬼吼鬼叫好一會兒了。他們的爸媽到底聽見了沒？怎麼不好好管教自己的孩子呢？
LL: It’s hard to enjoy the day with such noisy kids around. I’m considering going over there myself and telling them to 「cool it.」
LH: 啊？你想自己過去叫那些孩子安靜一點？我不知道這樣做好不好呢。
LL: Why not? Their parents obviously aren’t going to do it and those kids are ruining the day for a lot of people.
LH: Larry，也許你該冷靜一點，cool it，別跟那些孩子一般見識了。不然，我們可以搬到遠一點的地方坐。
LL: Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.
LH: 來吧，我們把東西收一收，搬到海灘的另一邊去好了。
LL: Okay, let’s go.
今天李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是deadbeat，是指借錢不還，故意賴帳的人。另一個常用語是cool it，是指安靜下來，或停止做某件事。
——轉自《美國之音》(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
