李華告訴Larry 說，她跟一個學(xué)生約好，十點在她的辦公室見面，談?wù)勥@個
學(xué)生的成績，可以這個學(xué)生沒有赴約。李華今天要學(xué)兩個常用語no show 和lala
land.

    LL： So ， you made an appointment with this student to talk about
his grades， and he was a no show ？

    LH： A no show？對呀，他沒來，沒有出現(xiàn)，所以叫no show.這種說法簡潔
明了。

    LL： Right， a no show is some one who doesn't show up when they have
agreed to. But， it is really rude to be a no show.

    LH：確實不禮貌。我專門跑到辦公室來，等了他好長時間，誰知道他卻是個
no show.

    LL： So ， he didn't even call you to tell you that he wasn't going
to come ？ It is even ruder to be a no show and not have called to let
the person know you can't come.

    LH：對呀，不來就已經(jīng)很不禮貌了，連個電話都不打，就更不禮貌了。說實
話，我挺意外的，因為這個學(xué)生看起來不象是那么不懂事的人。

    LL： Well ， maybe something unexpected happened to him. There might
be a good reason why he was a no show.

    LH：失約還有什么好理由嗎？

    LL： Well ， maybe he was a no show because his car broke down， or
he got lost ， or even worse maybe he had an accident.

    LH：是呀，我怎么就沒想到呢。他的車可能會在半路拋錨。還有他可能會迷
路。更可怕的是，還可能會出車禍。我本來挺生氣的，讓你這么一說，我反而開
始替他擔(dān)心了。

    LL： I remember one time when I was in college I made an appointment
with a professor and ended up being a no show because my car ran out of
gas.

    LH：什么，車跑到半路沒油了？你那個教授肯定火冒三丈。那后來呢？

    LL： I felt so bad about being a no show， the first thing I did when
I got to a phone was call the professor and apologize.

    LH：打電話道歉？那我們再等等吧，也許過一會兒我的學(xué)生就會打電話來了。

    LL： Have you ever been a no show for anything， Li Hua ？

    LH：倒是有一次，我的鬧鐘沒響，所以睡過了頭，結(jié)果沒去上課。

    LL： That's not so bad. Lots of students are no shows for classes.

    LH：不好意思的是，那是我教的一門課。（Phone rings ）等等，我接一下
電話。

    ******

    LL： Hey， was that your student？ Did he have a good reason for being
a no show or was he just in lala land ？

    LH：打電話的就是那個學(xué)生。你為什么會覺得他在lala land 呢？Lala land
在哪呀？

    LL： Lala land isn't a real place. It is a state of mind. It is where
you go when you are day dreaming and not paying attention to the things
going on in the real world.

    LH：我明白了，lala land 不是一個地方，而是仙境、幻境的意思，做白日
夢就是去了 "lala land". 這樣說來，那個學(xué)生確實是去了lala land.

    LL： Really ？！ He was off in lala land when he forgot his appointment
with you？

    LH：沒錯，他當(dāng)時正在跟朋友吃飯，完全忘記了跟我約好要見面。

    LL： Yes， it sounds like he was in lala land. So what did you say
when he told you this ？

    LH：雖然我知道" 忘了" 不能算是失約的理由，但我還是很高興他能打電話
來道歉，誰都有忘事的時候。換句話說，大家可能都到過lala land.

    LL： That's right. Just last week I was a no show for a haircut appointment
because I was off in Lala land.

    LH：還有更好笑的。昨天我監(jiān)考，有個學(xué)生走過來問我問題。

    LL： Let me guess ， you were so far off in lala land ， you didn't
even know the student was there ！

    LH：你怎么知道的！我當(dāng)時確實有點兒心不在焉，那個學(xué)生碰了一下我的肩
膀才讓我醒過神來。

    今天李華學(xué)到了兩個常用語。一個是no show ，意思是失約。另外一個是lala
land，意思是身處幻境，心不在焉。