今天Larry 和李華要到體育館去和幾個朋友打籃球。李華會學到兩個常用語
：stick to something和give something a shot.

    （Ambience sound in gym ）

    LL： Hey， Li Hua ， are you looking forward to today's game？

    LH：嗨，其實我的籃球打得不怎么樣。我倒想試試其他的運動。

    LL： You'll get better. You've only been playing basketball for a
few weeks. You have to stick to something if you want to become good at
it. LH：對，我才打了幾個星期的籃球！可是你怎么說要我stick to something.
Stick 不是黏的意思？這跟打籃球有什么關系��？

    LL： To "stick to something" means that you continue to do it and
don't give up. LH ：噢！我懂了，stick to something就是堅持不懈，繼續(xù)做
某件事。那不就像我們中文里說的“持之以恒”嘛！你的意思是，要是我想打好
籃球，就得不斷地練習咯！

    LL： That's right. You've stuck to practicing English for a long time，
and now your English is much better. Right？

    LH：你說的對，我學英文倒是盡量的多說，不斷地練習。對了，Larry ，那
stick to something除了運動，學語言，我還可以用在哪些地方呢？

    LL： Well ， a person can stick to a decision ， too. If I decide
to learn Chinese， and I stick to my decision ， that means I don't change
my mind or give up. LH：噢，如果一個人堅持自己的決定，也可以說stick to
one's decision. 那一個立場不堅定，經(jīng)常flip-flop 的人可就不能這么說咯！

    LL： That's right. Very good use of the term flip-flop， by the way.
LH：謝謝。不過有時候要堅持做一件事還真不容易。就好比打籃球，我已經(jīng)不知
道我是不是真的喜歡打籃球了。

    LL： Remember how hard English was at first ？ But you stuck to it
and now it's much easier， right？

    LH：好象是這樣。你覺得打籃球也會像學英文一樣，只要我堅持練習，就會
越來越容易嗎？

    LL： I do. You'll see. So ， have you decided to play in today's game
after all ？

    LH：好吧，我來試試看，也許就象你說的，多練習，我就能打好球！

    ******

    （Sound of dribbling basketball ）

    LH： Larry，那個籃球架子太遠了，我肯定投不進！

    LL： Come on， Li Hua ， give it a shot. It's okay if you miss.

    LH： Larry，我是在投球耶！你怎么叫我給它一槍？"Give it a shot"那是
什么意思��？

    LL： To give something a shot is to go ahead and try something， even
if you don't expect to be successful.

    LH：嗨，我還以為give it a shot是開槍呢！原來，give it a shot就是試
一試，不管會不會成功。好吧。那我就投嘍！可是我一定投不進啦！

    （Sound of basketball into the basket ）

    LL： Hey， look ， you made it！ That's three more points for our
team！ See， it never hurts to give something a shot. LH：哇！太棒了！
我居然投進了！對了，Larry ， give it a shot 我是不是還能用在其他什么地
方？

    LL： Just about anything. For instance， I'd like to give sailing
a shot， even though I've never sailed a boat before in my life. LH ：
你想學開船啊！我倒想試試開飛機呢！

    LL： Hey， slow down. We all know what your driving is like. I don't
think it's a good idea for you to fly a plane. LH ：嘿！我的開車技術有
什么不好？再說，剛才是你告訴我，不管結果如何，都應該去試一試的��！

    LL： Maybe if you stick to driving for a while and get better at it，
then you can give flying a shot. LH ：哎呀，其實我也是說說而已啦。我根
本就沒錢去上飛行課。不過如果有機會，我會去試試的！

    今天李華學到兩個常用語。一個是stick to something. 就是堅持不懈，繼
續(xù)做某件事。第二個常用語是give it a shot. 這是試一試的意思，哪怕你認為
不會成功，但也可以一試。