Larry 跟李華約好，下班后一起在餐館吃飯，李華先到了一步。今天我們要
學(xué)兩個(gè)常用語：have a full plate 和 to kill time.

    LH：（遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地）Hey ， Larry！我在這兒呢！

    LL： Hi Lihua. Phew ！ It's so good to finally sit down and relax.

    LH：你怎么累成這副樣子？沒不舒服吧？

    LL： I'm just a bit tired ……I've got quite a full plate at work
right now ； it's been a very stressful couple of weeks.

    LH： A full plate ？什么？你在辦公室已經(jīng)吃了滿滿一盤子飯菜？不是說
好跟我一起吃飯的嗎？

    LL： Oh ， I don't mean a real plate of food， Li Hua ， it's just
a figure of speech. Saying you have a full plate at work means that you
are very busy ， it doesn't actually have anything to do with food.

    LH：哦，我明白了，說自己 have a full plate意思就是在有限的時(shí)間里有
許許多多的事情要做。

    LL： That's right. That's exactly how I would describe my situation
at the office right now.

    LH：那我期末考試前沒日沒夜地復(fù)習(xí)功課，也可以說 I had a full plate ？

    LL： Yes， that would be a perfect example. Everyone feels like they
have a lot on their plate when finals come around. Or ， last fall when
my friend Steve was working two part-time jobs while going to school -
I could say he really had a full plate back then.

    LH：好，我明白了，說了這么半天 a full plate ，我肚子已經(jīng)咕咕叫了。

    服務(wù)員來了，你想好點(diǎn)什么了嗎？

    LL： You bet I am ！ I've had such a full plate at work ， I didn't
even have time to eat lunch today ！

    LH：什么？你居然忙得連午飯都沒顧得上吃，早知道這樣，我們應(yīng)該去吃自
助餐才對(duì)！

    ******

    Larry 和李華吃完晚飯，Larry 一副酒足飯飽、心滿意足的樣子。

    LL：（Sounding satisfied） Ah ！ That was a superb bacon-cheeseburger.
Now if only I didn't have to worry about going back to work tomorrow morning.

    LH：不想去上班？你開什么玩笑？我敢擔(dān)保，象你這種閑不住的人，如果沒
工作，整天待在家里，一定會(huì)無聊得發(fā)瘋。

    LL： Lihua， You don't know how lazy I can be. Killing time is one
of the things I do best.

    LH： Killing time ？什么是kill time ？

    LL： Killing time is just another way of saying "wasting time." Of
course I wouldn't actually kill anything！

    LH：哦，killing time就是中文里說的打發(fā)時(shí)間。

    LL： That's right. And I am an expert at killing time.

    LH：這一點(diǎn)我可以作證。你每天把大把的時(shí)間都用來打電子游戲，浪費(fèi)時(shí)間
的能力確實(shí)已經(jīng)達(dá)到了“專家”的水平。

    LL： Very funny ……So I like to kill time with my Playstation on
the weekends， there's nothing wrong with that. And besides ， I'm not
the only one who knows how to kill time. I always see you playing those
online games with your friends.

    LH：這倒是真的，上網(wǎng)玩游戲確實(shí)是消磨時(shí)間的好辦法，可以讓我放松。Well，
I guess I am good at killing time too.

    LL： Now if I didn't have such a full plate at work ， we could have
more time to kill together.

    LH：（哈哈），要不這樣吧，你明天下班來圖書館陪我看書，我準(zhǔn)備考試，
你消磨時(shí)間。

    LL： Well ……I think I'd rather go shoe shopping before staring at
the walls in some library.

    LH： Shoe shopping？對(duì)啊，好主意，我們?nèi)ス湫�店�?/p>

    LL： Uhh……Let's just say I'd much rather kill some time at home
rather than spending a few hours at the library or the shoe store.

    LH：想反悔，沒那么容易，既然你主動(dòng)提醒我，那就一定要陪我去逛街。

    LL：（Reluctantly ） OK. Can I at least listen to my mp3 player while
you try on the shoes. Listening to music is a very relaxing way to kill
time.

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個(gè)常用語。一個(gè)是have a full plate ，意思是在有限的時(shí)
間里有好多事情要做。另一個(gè)是to kill time，意思是打發(fā)時(shí)間，消磨時(shí)光。