Larry 和李華正在為他們的朋友Laura 擔(dān)心。他們兩人都覺得Laura 好像有
什么心事。今天李華會學(xué)到兩個常用語：clamup和to tank.

    LL： Laura has been acting really strange lately， but every time
I try to ask her what's bothering her ， she just clams up. LH：我也注
意到了，Laura 最近是有點怪怪的。我也問過她怎么回事，她就是不肯說……對
了，Larry ，你剛才說clam up ，那是什么意思��？

    LL： To clam up is to become silent and refuse to talk about something.
LH： To clam up 就是閉緊了嘴巴，不肯把心里的事告訴別人�？墒荓arry ，clam
不是一種蛤蜊嗎？這跟說不說話有什么關(guān)系？

    LL： Yes， in fact， that's where the expression comes from. Clams
can close their shells very tightly. If a person refuses to talk， his
lips are closed just like a clam's shell. LH：噢，對了。一個人嘴巴閉得
緊緊的時候，就好像蛤蜊閉上殼，怎么也不打開。這個說法太形象了！

    LH： The problem is that Laura has clammed up about whatever is bothering
her ， which means that we have no way of helping her out. LH ：那倒也
是。她要不說，我們又怎么能幫她。也許我們應(yīng)該讓她一個人靜一靜，等她想說
的時候自然會告訴我們到底是怎么回事。

    LL： That's probably the only thing we can do. LH ：其實我爸爸也是
一樣。心里如果有事，從來不肯說。有的時候把我媽急的一直生氣。

    LL： A lot of people clam up when something is bothering them. I tend
to clam up when I'm really nervous. LH：我也是耶！我只要一緊張，就不說
話了。每個人不一樣，我妹妹一生氣就可以幾天不說話。別人也不知道她在生什
么氣。

    LL： That's like my mother. She could clam up for days when she is
angry with my father. LH：你媽媽跟你爸爸生氣幾天不說話。那你爸爸怎么辦
哪？

    LL：Whenever my mother clams up ， he clams up too.

    ******

    LL： I found out what was bothering Laura. She was upset because the
last play she wrote tanked. Everyone criticized it. LH：大家都批評她最
近寫的劇本。為什么？你說她寫的那個劇本tanked，那是什么意思？Tank，不就
是打仗用的坦克嗎？

    LL： No ， this has nothing to do with the tank used in war. This
"tank" is a verb. When something "tanks" that means that it is a complete
failure. LH ：噢，這個tank和軍用坦克毫無關(guān)系。這里說的tank是個動詞。意
思是完全失敗。所有的劇評家都批評Laura 的舞臺劇。那真是太慘了。可憐的Laura！

    LL： Yeah ， no wonder she clammed up. I wouldn't want to talk about
it if one of my projects tanked ， either. LH ：就是啊，自己的成果被別
人這樣批評，心情一定不好受。對了，Larry ，為什么大家不喜歡Laura 的劇本
呢？

    LL： I have no idea. I haven't seen or read her play， so I have no
way of judging her work. Laura is a good playwright ， I don't understand
why her work tanked. LH ：嗯，沒有看過她的劇本是很難判斷。不過，Laura
確實是一個很好的劇作家。也許我們應(yīng)該去看看她寫的舞臺劇，說不定沒有這么
糟么。

    LL： Even if the play really is terrible， we could at least show
our support by going to see it. LH：你說的對，不管是好是壞，我們?nèi)タ淳?br /> 代表我們對Laura 的支持。好！我去問她在哪兒可以買票。Larry ，那你什么時
候有空去看呢？

    LL： Let's go this Friday. Originally ， I had planned to see a movie
this Friday ， but the movie I wanted to see tanked ， so I might as well
go and see Laura's play. LH ：怎么就那么巧呢？你要看的電影也失敗了。好，
就這么說定了。我去買票，星期五我們就去看Laura 的舞臺劇嘍！