李華剛下課，走出課堂就碰上Larry.李華在和Larry 談話中會學到兩個常用語：to go off on someone 和what's the deal.

    （School building lobby SFX）

    LH： Hey， Larry. 你剛下課��？對了，我剛好要問你，今天你有沒有見到Dave？

    LL： Dave？ No， I haven't seen him anywhere since professor Jones went off on him yesterday morning.

    LH： Jones教授對Dave怎么啦？你說他went off on Dave？ 那是什么意思呢？

    LL： To go off on someone means to suddenly get very angry at someone. "To go off " can mean "to explode"- for instance， something like a bomb or a gun can go off.

    LH： 噢，to go off on someone就是突然對某人大發(fā)脾氣，就好像炸彈爆炸，槍支開火那樣。那Jones教授為什么突然對Dave大發(fā)脾氣呢？

    LL： Dave asked Professor Jones if he could turn in a paper a few days late， and Professor Jones just went off on him.

    LH： Dave怎么經(jīng)常要求晚幾天交報告吶？唉，也難怪Jones教授要go off on him對他發(fā)脾氣了。Larry，你再給我舉幾個go off on someone的例子吧！

    LL： Hmm， let me think. I remember when I was in Beijing I tried to pay a taxi driver， and he went off on me for several minutes. I had no idea why he was so angry. It turned out， what I gave him was a counterfeit note.

    LH： 你給出租車司機假鈔票，那他當然要對你大發(fā)脾氣咯！

    LL： Li Hua， have you ever gone off on someone here in the U.S.？

    LH： 我啊，我英文還不是很好，輕易不敢和人吵架。我只有對我過去那個同屋發(fā)了好幾次脾氣，因為她實在太臟，而且還想偷偷搬出去，就是為了想賴掉一個月的房租呢！

    LL： She tried to cheat you out of a month's rent？ If my roommate did that， I wouldn't just go off on him， I'd take him to court！

    ******

    LL： So anyway， what's the deal with Professor Jones lately？ He always seems to be in a bad mood. LH： What's the deal？ 你在說什么啊？deal不是交易的意思嗎？你是問我，Jones教授在和什么人作交易？

    LL： No， no， Li Hua. When I ask "what's the deal"， I mean "what is the situation？" I was asking why he is in a bad mood. LH： 噢，我知道了，what's the deal就是我們中文里常說的“怎么回事”。你剛才是問我，Jones教授心情不好到底是怎么回事。我聽說，他對今年沒能升上正教授的職位好像挺失望的。

    LL： Really？ What's the deal with that？ He's been in this department for years！

    LH： 就是��！ Jones教授在我們系上教書也有好多年了，不給他提升，究竟是怎么回事，誰也不知道。

    LL： That seems to be unfair. Well， Li Hua， what's the deal tomorrow night？ Is everyone still planning to go together to that concert？

    LH： 明天晚上是這樣，我和另外三個同學會去聽演唱會，可是我的車出問題了，現(xiàn)在還在修車廠呢。Larry，我們能搭你的車去嗎？

    LL： Well， here's the deal： I've got class until six thirty tomorrow， and the concert is at eight. It's probably best if you meet me here at school， since I might not have enough time to pick you all up. LH： 哼，你明天6點半才下課，而演唱會8點就開始。對，要你去接我們恐怕是來不及。那就照你說的吧，我們到學校來等你！噢，對了， Ed明天不想去，他和Jill剛分手，不想和Jill見面。

    LL： Really？ What's the deal with those two？ I thought they were really happy together， but I heard that Jill went off on Ed the other night. LH： 他們倆到底是怎么回事？誰知道！大家都以為他們在一起很高興。Jill 那天晚上對Ed大發(fā)脾氣是因為Ed沒跟她商量就決定明年到國外去念書。

    LL： Oh well. That's too bad. Anyway， the deal tomorrow is you and your friends will meet me here at school， and we'll all leave together. OK？

    LH： 沒問題，那就明天晚上在校園見了！

    今天李華學到兩個常用語。一個是：to go off on someone， 意思是突然對某人大發(fā)脾氣。另一個常用語是： the deal with something， 這是指情況如何，怎么回事。