李華到Larry 家借書，正好趕上Larry 的朋友Dave打電話來 .她今天要學(xué)兩
個(gè)常用語， fed up 和off the hook.

    LL： That was just Dave on the phone， Li Hua. He is really fed up
right now.

    LH： Dave 給你打電話，就是告訴你他吃多了嗎？

    LL： No ， Li Hua. To be fed up is to run out of patience in a difficult
situation and to become angry.

    LH：噢，fed up不是指吃多了，而是說受夠了。

    LL： That's right. Dave has been having a bad day ， and he has good
reason to be fed up.

    LH：他遇到什么倒霉事了嗎？

    LL： Well ， Dave's car broke down on his way to work today ， and
he called a tow truck to come and get him. He's fed up， because he has
been waiting for over an hour for the tow truck to arrive.

    LH：拖車一個(gè)多小時(shí)還沒到。換成我，也會(huì)fed up.

    LL： And Dave is also fed up with his car. This is the third time
in the last month that his car has broken down.

    LH：一個(gè)月壞三次。那可真得換車了，難怪他說自己受夠了。他給你打電話
就是抱怨這些嗎？

    LL： He was hoping that if the tow truck didn't come in the next few
minutes I might be able to give him a ride to work. He doesn't want his
boss to get too fed up with him.

    LH：噢，原來是求你送他去上班。一而再，再而三地因?yàn)檐囎訏佸^而上班遲
到，確實(shí)會(huì)引起老板的懷疑。

    LL： I don't think Dave's boss is completely fed up with him YET，
but Dave doesn't want to take any chances.

    LH：那當(dāng)然了。他好不容易才找到這份工作，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)被炒魷魚，太不值得
了。

    LL： Yeah. Personally ， I'm a little fed up with Dave right now，
too.

    LH： Dave 有什么讓你受不了的呢？

    LL： Well ， every time Dave's car breaks down， he calls me to ask
for a ride. I'm getting a little fed up with having to rearrange my schedule
to keep helping Dave out.

    LH：確實(shí)有點(diǎn)兒煩。不過，他是你的朋友，大家應(yīng)該互相幫助嘛！

    LL： You are right， Li Hua. I shouldn't get fed up with Dave.（Phone
rings ） It's Dave on the phone.

    ******

    LH： Dave 打電話說什么？

    LL： He told me the tow truck finally arrived. It looks like I'm off
the hook！

    LH： Off the hook ？這種說法跟釣魚有關(guān)吧？

    LL： Yes， it does， Li Hua. You know when you go fishing for fun ，
how you put a hook on the end of your line？

    LH：當(dāng)然了，我還記得上次跟你老爸一起去釣魚，魚線最后面有一個(gè)鉤子，
在上面掛上魚餌。

    LL： And when a worm is off the hook， it is free. Just like I am
now. I am off the hook， because I don't need to drive Dave to work after
all.

    LH：所以，off the hook就是脫身的意思。你不用再開車送Dave去上班了，
所以你說自己是off the hook.

    LL： That's right. Say， speaking of obligations， don't you have
a Chinese class you should be teaching right now？

    LH： Oh ， No. I am off the hook today， Larry. 今天學(xué)校放假，所以
我不用去教中文課了！

    LL： I forgot that today is a holiday. Unfortunately， I am NOT off
the hook today. I need to go into work this afternoon to finish up a project
I am working on.

    LH：那你就是on the hook 嘍？

    LL： Well ， we don't really say someone is "on the hook" in English
when we mean they have something they need to do.

    LH：所以說不用再去做一件事情是off the hook，但是反過來，必須去做一
件事情，則不能說on the hook.

    LL： You've got it， Li Hua. Say， how about going to a movie tonight？
Do you still have to write your paper for Professor Jones ， or are you
off the hook？

    LH：唉，I'm not off the hook. 我今天晚上必須得寫完那篇論文。我可不
希望讓瓊斯教授 fed up with me.

    今天李華學(xué)到了兩個(gè)常用語。一個(gè)是fed up，意思是不耐煩，受夠了。另一
個(gè)是off the hook，是脫身，擺脫責(zé)任的意思。