Larry 星期五提前下班，去學(xué)校接李華。今天我們要學(xué)兩個常用語：a pretty
penny 和sure-fire.

    LL：（Bike bells ring ） Hi ， Li Hua ， I'm right over here！

    LH： Larry，你怎么騎著自行車就跑來了，不是說好開你的新車來接我嗎？

    LL： I never said "new car" ， I said "new ride". What， don't you
like it ？

    LH：我的媽呀，這就是你的new ride，新車嗎？

    LL： Yea， I just bought it yesterday ……it cost me quite a pretty
penny ， too.

    LH： A pretty penny ？一美分？這么新的車，不會只要一美分吧？哪有這
種便宜事，是不是哪個女孩子送你的？

    LL： No ， Lihua， I didn't pay just a penny for the bike. "A pretty
penny" is a phrase that means a large amount of money - this was an expensive
bike！

    LH：真有趣，原來a pretty penny意思是一大筆錢。

    LL： That's right. I'll have you know that this is a state-of-the-art
brand-name bicycle. I also bought this bike bell， two helmets and a seat
for you to sit on in the back. All together it really did cost a pretty
penny ！

    LH：你既然舍得花a pretty penny買一輛自行車，干嘛不索性再加點錢買輛
汽車呢？

    LL： A car is way more expensive！ After you buy a car， you have
to pay for gas， pay for insurance， and not to mention upkeep……it all
adds up to be quite a pretty penny - and way more money than I can afford.

    LH：那好，既然你沒買汽車，一定省下不少錢，帶我到那家新開的日本壽司
店，好好打打牙祭如何？

    LL： I thought we are trying to save money to go on vacation together？

    If you want to go somewhere exotic， airfare alone will cost a pretty
penny.

    LH：別這么小氣好不好。我們都好久沒出去吃了，一次壽司肯定不會把你吃
窮的。

    LL： All right， all right. Hop on. Let's go get some sushi tonight！

    ******

    Larry 和李華騎車來到日本壽司店。

    LL： Hey， Li Hua ， can you hold the door open for me？ I want to
bring the bike inside.

    LH：你把車鎖在店門口不就行了嗎？干嘛一定要推到店里來？

    LL： Leave an expensive new bike outside？ No way ！ That's a sure-fire
way to get your bike stolen.

    LH： Sure-fire是什么意思��？

    LL： Sure-fire means "absolutely，" or "beyond doubt." You use it
to express that you are sure about something or that something will surely
happen. And leaving my brand new bike outside is a sure-fire way to getting
it stolen.

    LH：我明白了，sure-fire 是肯定的意思。你是擔(dān)心自己這么貴買的車，如
果放在外面的話，一定會丟。

    LL： Don't forget. I spent a pretty penny on this bike. But hey ，
at least I'm willing to spend a pretty penny at this sushi restaurant ，
too. Eating sushi is definitely a sure-fire way to spend a lot of money.

    LH：壽司雖然貴，可是it's also a sure-fire way to get me happy ！

    LL： Alright， let's look at these menus. （Sign） How can food be
so expensive if it's not even cooked？

    LH： Larry，做壽司可不簡單，要經(jīng)過嚴(yán)格的培訓(xùn)呢！

    LL： Oh ， so that's why sushi costs such a pretty penny？

    LH：沒錯。不僅包壽司需要功夫，做壽司用的材料也要特別新鮮才行，否則
的話……

    LL： I know ， otherwise it's a sure-fire way to get sick ！ I guess
that's why people are willing to spend a pretty penny on sushi.

    LH：就是啊，否則吃了不新鮮的壽司八成會拉肚子。Larry ，你看，這家店
有綠茶冰激凌，我們點一個吧？

    LL： Didn't you just have ice cream last night？ You know ， Li Hua
，eating ice cream all the time is a sure-fire way to put on weight.

    LH：不就是吃點冰激凌嗎？如果撐得走不動了，坐你的自行車回家就是了。

    LL： Yea， and once my bike breaks from the extra weight， it will
cost a pretty penny to get it fixed again ……

    LH：要不我來騎，你坐后面歇著？

    LL： You know what， that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Are you sure
you know how to ride a bike with someone sitting on the back？

    LH：沒試過，不過肯定沒問題。

    LL：…… Well ， it's a good thing I spent a pretty penny on these
helmets.

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個常用語。一個是a pretty penny，意思是一大筆錢。另一
個是sure-fire ，意思是肯定會。