李華正在開(kāi)車(chē)和Michael一起去學(xué)校。今天李華會(huì)學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：to be on crack和to get the hang of something.

    L： 喲，我的天啊，我車(chē)后面的一個(gè)輪胎爆了！Michael， 一個(gè)輪胎爆了還能開(kāi)一段路，對(duì)不對(duì)？

    M： Li Hua�。� Are you on crack？ You can't drive with a flat tire， you'll ruin your car， and probably get in a wreck！

    L： 哎喲，我也不想弄壞我的車(chē)，也不想出車(chē)禍。不過(guò)，你剛才問(wèn)我Are you on crack？這是什么意思�。� crack這不是一種毒品嗎？on crack不就是吸毒嗎？

    M： Yes， "crack" —— as in "crack cocaine". "To be on crack" means to be high on cocaine. Of course， when I say， "Are you on crack？" I really mean —— "Are you crazy"？

    L： 等等，這得弄清楚。你的意思是，to be on crack可以指吸毒，但是你剛才對(duì)我說(shuō)的不是這個(gè)意思。你是說(shuō)：我要在一個(gè)輪胎破了的情況下繼續(xù)開(kāi)車(chē)，簡(jiǎn)直是瘋啦！哎，你可得解釋清楚了，我從來(lái)不吸毒的！

    M： Calm down， Li Hua. People use this phrase all the time. I was just alarmed that you would try to drive your car with a flat tire. You'd have to be on crack to do something crazy like that.

    L： 噢，我懂了，你的意思是：我準(zhǔn)是吸了毒才會(huì)想干這種傻事 —— 輪胎破了還想繼續(xù)開(kāi)車(chē)。Michael， 我們把輪胎換了吧�，F(xiàn)在還來(lái)得及。

    （sound of trunk opening， tools rattling， sound of car jack， etc.）

    L： 說(shuō)到發(fā)瘋，我認(rèn)為George Wilkins才真是瘋了呢。我聽(tīng)說(shuō)他要到阿富汗一個(gè)村莊去給他的論文做實(shí)地調(diào)查。

    M： He's going to be traveling in Afghanistan！ Is he on crack？ Can you imagine how dangerous that place must be right now？

    L： 我也覺(jué)得真是太危險(xiǎn)了。不過(guò)他想要當(dāng)國(guó)際水平的人類(lèi)學(xué)家。那他就得做出犧牲啦！

    M： Yeah， well that Ph.D. won't be much good to him if he gets shot. I still think anyone who chooses to go to Afghanistan right now is on crack…… it's just crazy！

    L： 就是，要在阿富汗給打死的話，什么博士學(xué)位都沒(méi)用了。行了，輪胎裝好了，我們快走吧！

    （sound of trunk closing）

    L： （Horn honking） 噢，應(yīng)該讓他先走。我開(kāi)車(chē)的技術(shù)實(shí)在太差了。老是犯這種錯(cuò)誤。

    M： Don't worry Li Hua， you're not a terrible driver！ You haven't been driving for very long. You'll get the hang of it， eventually.

    L： 你說(shuō)我最后會(huì)什么？Get the hang of it？

    M： I said you will "get the hang of it". "To get the hang of something" means to become proficient at something through practice.

    L： 噢，to-get-the-hang-of-it就是多練習(xí)，多實(shí)踐，一些事情就會(huì)做得更好。這不就是中文里說(shuō)的“熟能生巧”嗎？但愿你說(shuō)得對(duì)，我多開(kāi)車(chē)，技術(shù)就會(huì)改進(jìn)嘍！

    M： I know I'm right！ Remember when you first started school， you had trouble with your writing assignments？ I think you've gotten the hang of writing English essays now， right？

    L： 就是哎，我剛來(lái)美國(guó)的時(shí)候不會(huì)寫(xiě)學(xué)術(shù)報(bào)告�，F(xiàn)在是好多了。

    M： You've been living in the U.S. for some time now. You must have gotten the hang of a lot of new skills？

    L： 嗯，我在美國(guó)已經(jīng)三年了，是學(xué)到不少東西。

    M： And you've gotten the hang of teaching， haven't you？ Your students seem to like you.

    L： 對(duì)呀，我在教中文方面也比較熟悉了。I've got the hang of teaching Chinese， 對(duì)不對(duì)？

    M： Absolutely！

    今天李華學(xué)到了兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是：to be on crack， 這可以指“吸毒”，但是也可以指：“你瘋啦！”。李華學(xué)到的另外一個(gè)常用語(yǔ)是：to get a hang of something， 意思是通過(guò)練習(xí)，熟能生巧。