李華和Larry 星期六早上坐船去釣魚(yú)。今天我們要學(xué)兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：try your
hand和getting the knack of something.

    LH： Larry，你說(shuō)的一點(diǎn)沒(méi)錯(cuò)，這里簡(jiǎn)直太美了。

    LL： See？ I told you. There's no better way to relax after a tough
week than to come out to the lake ， rent a boat and try our hand at catching
some fish.

    LH：什么？你不是準(zhǔn)備魚(yú)餌了嗎，為什么還要try MY hand ？用我的手做魚(yú)
餌？我不干。

    LL： No ， silly！ I don't mean "use your hand." I said "try your
hand." To try your hand at something means to give something a try that
might not necessarily be successful - like trying to catch fish.

    LH： Whew ！原來(lái)try your hand 是試試看的意思。

    LL： Right. Since we don't often go fishing ， we really don't know
how good we will be at catching fish. But that's OK. We can try our hand
at it anyway.

    LH：我明白了。那這樣，你在這兒慢慢釣魚(yú)試試看，我正好把這本書(shū)讀完。

    LL： But first， wouldn't you like to try your hand at it baiting
my hook ？ I bet you haven't put a live worm on a hook before ！

    LH： Eww！我最后一次去釣魚(yú)還是小時(shí)候跟爺爺，那會(huì)兒都是我爺爺幫我準(zhǔn)
備魚(yú)餌。我最怕擺弄這些扭來(lái)扭去的蟲(chóng)子了。

    LL： Ok ， fine. But you should really take this opportunity to try
your hand at some new experiences ！

    LH：只要你不讓我去擺弄那些蟲(chóng)子，讓我嘗試什么都行！

    LL： Really ？ I've got an idea. Maybe you could try your hand at
massaging my neck and shoulder while I am waiting for the fish to bite.

    LH： Larry，我按摩雖然沒(méi)學(xué)過(guò)，可跆拳道卻略通一、二，要不要試試？

    LL：饒命啊……

    ******

    Larry 和李華在湖邊待了整整一天，李華開(kāi)始覺(jué)得累了。

    LH： Larry，我累死了，咱們回去吧，上岸找點(diǎn)東西吃。

    LL： Give me just a few more minutes - I think I felt a nibble！

    LH：（Groans） Larry……一整天都沒(méi)釣到魚(yú)，每次我一提走，你就說(shuō)好象
有魚(yú)上鉤了。

    LL： Aww， but Lihua， we're just starting to get the knack of it ！

    LH： Get the knack？什么是knack ？我怎么沒(méi)聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)這種魚(yú)。

    LL： No ， When someone says they are getting the knack of something，
it means they are starting to become better at it. We've been fishing
all day without any luck， but I think we're getting the knack of it now.

    LH：哦，我明白了， getting the knack of something 意思就是有點(diǎn)入門
了。你是說(shuō)咱倆釣魚(yú)有進(jìn)步了，我怎么不覺(jué)得？

    LL： Of course we're making progress. You ， for example， are getting
better at dealing with our bait.

    LH：這倒是真了，我現(xiàn)在準(zhǔn)備魚(yú)餌已經(jīng)是專家了，不過(guò)，這都要?dú)w功于你。

    是你經(jīng)常讓狡猾的魚(yú)把魚(yú)餌叼走，我才有這么多鍛煉機(jī)會(huì)。

    LL： Fine. if you want to go back so bad， why don't you try your
hand at rowing？ I've been moving this boat around while you sit there
and relax the whole day.

    LH：你讓我把船劃回去？可我不會(huì)劃船啊，我只會(huì)原地打轉(zhuǎn)。

    LL： Just give it a try ， it's not that hard. I'm sure you'll get
the knack of it in no time.

    （Lihua starts trying to row the boat ）

    LH：哎，你當(dāng)初干嘛把船劃到湖中心來(lái)嘛！

    LL： The guy at the dock told me all the best fishing is out over
on this side of the lake. I wanted to try my hand at catching the big
fish！

    LH：這船怎么就是不動(dòng)�。�I'll never get the knack of this. 我永遠(yuǎn)也
學(xué)不會(huì)劃船。還是你來(lái)吧。

    LL： Oh ， alright. But I could have sworn I felt a fish nibbling
on my line！ Here ， take my rod. Try you hand at bringing a fish in.

    LH：沒(méi)問(wèn)題，只要你往回劃，讓我干什么多行。啊，有魚(yú)上鉤了！

    LL： There you go ！ See， you're already getting the knack of it ！

    I told you I had a fish biting.

    LH：現(xiàn)在怎么辦？你快來(lái)幫我把魚(yú)拉上來(lái)啊！

    LL： It's OK！ You try your hand at reeling it in. Just stay calm ，
patient and slowly reel it in ……I think I see it - It's huge！

    LH：什么魚(yú)這么重？

    LL： Wow！ It's a huge， black……boot. （sign）

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是try your hand ，意思是嘗試做某件事。

    另一個(gè)是getting the knack of something，意思是入門了，開(kāi)始掌握基本
要領(lǐng)了。