Larry 到小燕工作的“金龍”餐館去找她，發(fā)現(xiàn)餐館里很忙。今天我們要學(xué)
兩個(gè)常用語，一個(gè)是jumping ，一個(gè)是joint.

    （Sound of a busy restaurant）

    LL： Hi ， Xiaoyan. I was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by
and say "Hi." —— Wow. This place is jumping ！

    XY：沒錯(cuò)，真是忙死我了，今天是星期五，每到星期五和星期六晚上，這是
餐館最忙的時(shí)候。

    LL： So ， Xiaoyan， you obviously know that when a person says a
place is "jumping" - they mean it is very busy.

    XY：這我還能不知道，別忘了，我可是餐館的領(lǐng)班。我早就知道，說什么地
方j(luò)umping 就是客人特別多，生意特別好的意思。

    LL： Say， Xiaoyan， I'd like to stay and chat with you ， but I know
you have a lot of work to do. Is there a time when the restaurant isn't
jumping ？

    XY：你也知道，金龍是中國城生意最好的餐館，從來就沒有閑的時(shí)候。

    LL： But surely there are times when "The Golden Dragon" is not as
jumping as it is tonight.

    XY：相對來說，星期二晚上客人少一些，你要來吃飯，最好是星期二來。

    LL： Okay ， I will. See you later， Xiaoyan.

    XY：哎，別急著走��！雖然客人多，但我還是可以休息一小會(huì)兒。你等等啊，
我跟同事交代一下。（用中文跟另外一位帶位小姐交代，對方用中文回答說，沒
問題。）

    LL： Are you sure she doesn't mind working for you when the place
is jumping， Xiaoyan？

    XY：沒關(guān)系，就幾分鐘的時(shí)間，我怎么說也不能讓你白跑一趟��！

    LL： That's nice of you ， Xiaoyan. You know， I was hoping to have
dinner here at "The Golden Dragon"， but I didn't expect that it would
be jumping like this. How long is the wait for a table， anyway ？

    XY：現(xiàn)在來，差不多要等半個(gè)小時(shí)，再過一會(huì)兒，可能就要等上一個(gè)小時(shí)才
有空位了。

    LL： Thirty minutes to an hour？ That's too long. Is there anyplace
nearby I can have dinner that isn't jumping ？

    XY：我聽說街對面那家德國飯館挺不錯(cuò)的，而且隨時(shí)有空位，要不然你去那
邊試試看？

    ******

    LL： Well ， I guess I will have to try the German joint， Xiaoyan.

    XY：你剛才說joint ，我以前也經(jīng)常聽人這么說，joint 到底是什么意思��？

    LL： "Joint" is a slang for "place" - and it is often used to refer
to restaurants， clubs or other places of entertainment.

    XY：哦，我明白了，joint 指的是飯館、酒吧和夜總會(huì)這類地方。我今天又
學(xué)了個(gè)新詞。You should go to the German joint then.

    LL： I'm just sad I can't eat at your joint ， Xiaoyan. After all ，
the Golden Dragon is the best Chinese restaurant in town.

    XY：金龍確實(shí)是這里最好的中餐館，但是我聽說，對面那家德國餐館真的很
不錯(cuò)，不僅味道正宗，價(jià)格也很合理，你不會(huì)失望的。

    LL： Say， Xiaoyan， maybe I can come back after I have dinner and
you get off work， and we can go grab a beer at some joint nearby. What
do you think about that ？

    XY：好啊，你吃完飯?jiān)倩貋碚椅�，如果到時(shí)候，客人沒有那么多了，我就提
前下班，咱們一起去喝兩杯。

    LL： Okay. See you later！

    （Incidental music， door opening sound ）

    LL： Hello， Xiaoyan.

    XY： Larry，你回來了！Good to see you again.

    LL： Good to see you， too， Xiaoyan. So， is this joint still jumping
or has business slowed down since earlier this evening？

    XY：現(xiàn)在客人少多了，你等一下，我跟老板打個(gè)招呼，就可以走了。

    LL： Do you know of any good joints nearby， Xiaoyan， where you can
have a beer and listen to music ？

    XY：我知道附近有一個(gè)愛爾蘭酒吧，可以一邊喝酒一邊聽愛爾蘭音樂，氣氛
特別好。

    LL： That does sound like fun ， Xiaoyan. How do we get to this Irish
Pub from here anyway？

    XY：走過去，三條街就到了。

    LL： Well ， let's hurry over to the Irish joint， Xiaoyan. I could
really use a beer ！

    我們今天學(xué)習(xí)了兩個(gè)常用語。一個(gè)是jumping ，是指一個(gè)地方客人多，生意
繁忙。另一個(gè)是joint ，是指餐館、酒吧、夜總會(huì)和俱樂部等消遣的地方。