美國(guó)之音之流行美語(yǔ)Lesson 170 - high maintenance / dating 101
Larry在告訴李華關(guān)于他們的一個(gè)同學(xué)最近和女朋友鬧別扭的事。今天李華會(huì)學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：high maintenance和dating 101。
LL: You know, Li Hua, I feel bad for Tom. His girlfriend is so high maintenance.
LH: 什么？High maintenance不就是指一些需要精心維護(hù)的機(jī)器嗎？
LL: Exactly. And in this case, Rachel is very complicated, and Tom needs to put a lot of efforts into maintaining his relationship with her.
LH: 嗨，把high maintenance這個(gè)說法用在人的身上！不過也有道理，要是一個(gè)人需要high maintenance，那不就是很難伺候嘛！我和Rachel不熟，但是她看起來好象是個(gè)很好的人啊！為什么你認(rèn)為她很難伺候呢？
LL: Well, she gets upset if Tom doesn't call her every day. If he takes her out to eat, it has to be to a very expensive restaurant or she'll complain. It is hard for Tom to keep her happy.
LH: 真沒想到她那么難伺候。不每天給她打電話，不去高級(jí)餐館就要生氣。聽起來倒是和我的朋友美玲很像。美玲也是個(gè)需要high maintenance的人。
LL: Yeah, Meiling is a high maintenance friend. I know she doesn't like it when you spend time with me and not her.
LH: 就是。她經(jīng)常抱怨我花太多時(shí)間和你一起。我得經(jīng)常向她解釋我是在跟你學(xué)英語(yǔ)，還得跟她道歉。對(duì)了，Larry，你覺得我會(huì)不會(huì)像他們一樣很難伺候？
LL: Of course not, Li Hua, you are a very relaxed and easy-going person. In fact, as friends go, you are pretty low maintenance.
LH: Low maintenance，你是說，和我交朋友，你不需要為了避免我生氣而費(fèi)盡心思。那就好。我可不想變成朋友心目中很難搞的人呢。
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LL: Well, Li Hua, I just talked to Tom. Rachel just broke up with him. It is back to Dating 101 for Tom.
LH: Tom和Rachel分手啦？！你說Tom需要上約會(huì)101的課？我怎么沒聽說學(xué)校有開這門課呢？
LL: Of course the university doesn't offer such a class! But it does offer History 101, English 101, and Chinese 101. These are all basic classes.
LH: 噢，像歷史101，英語(yǔ)101都是指一些基本課程，所以dating 101就是指學(xué)習(xí)有關(guān)約會(huì)的一切，就好像他到學(xué)校里修一門基礎(chǔ)課學(xué)習(xí)怎樣約會(huì)。
LL: Right. And Tom isn't the only one who needs to take Dating 101. I haven't had a date in a long time.
LH: 嘿！Larry，說到約會(huì)，你還記得我很喜歡的那個(gè)男孩，上星期我和他出去一次。我們?nèi)ヒ患覛夥詹诲e(cuò)的餐廳，可是他的話實(shí)在不多。
LL: Sounds like he needs to enroll in Conversation 101. He should at least be able to keep a conversation going through dinner.
LH: 沒錯(cuò)，看來他的確需要修一門對(duì)話101的課程。不過他人是真的很好，就是非常害羞。
LL: Then maybe what he needs is Confidence-Building 101, instead.
LH: Larry，你真有意思，居然說他該上一門建立自信的基礎(chǔ)課，Confidence-Building101！
LL: And as for you Li Hua, you could use a little Relaxation 101. You are always so worried about your grades.
LH: 沒錯(cuò)，我是很擔(dān)心學(xué)習(xí)成績(jī)，所以你建議我修一門學(xué)會(huì)放松的基礎(chǔ)課，Relaxation 101。你呀！我看你應(yīng)該修一門有關(guān)整理家務(wù)的101課，看你的房間亂得那樣。
LL: Well, as you probably guessed, I failed Housekeeping 101. Dating 101 is a lot more fun.
今天李華學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是high maintenance。這是形容一個(gè)人需要?jiǎng)e人小心謹(jǐn)慎來對(duì)待，否則就會(huì)不高興，也就是很難伺候的意思。另一個(gè)常用語(yǔ)是dating101。這是指有關(guān)約會(huì)的最基本知識(shí)。
