今天Michael和李華下了班以后就去逛街。他們邊走邊聊，李華會學到兩個常用語：to be canned和to kiss up to.

    M： Man， it was crazy at work today！

    L： 真的？你們辦公室今天發(fā)生什么事啦？

    M： My friend George was late again， so the boss canned him！

    L： 你的朋友George今天上班遲到，你們老板對他怎么了？對他大喊大叫嗎？

    M： No， it's much worse than that. The boss canned him. In other words， the boss fired him！

    L： 什么？你是說George被解雇了。所以To be canned就是被解雇的意思��？

    M： Yeah， here， "canned" is the past form of "to can，" which means "to put something in a can，" or slang for "to throw something in the trash can".

    L： 噢，這里canned就是把什么東西扔到垃圾桶�？蛇@跟解雇人有什么關(guān)系呢？

    M： Hehheh， when your boss "cans" you， he's getting rid of you. It is like he is throwing you in the trash can.

    L： 原來這是一種比喻啊。不過這種說法聽起來挺嚇人的。Michael， 你覺得George應該被解雇嗎？

    M： To tell the truth， George was not a very good employee. If I were the boss， I would have canned him too.

    L：哎呀，Michael，你這么說你的朋友未免太過份了吧！George又沒做壞事，為什么要解雇他�。�

    M： Well， George was often very late to work. This month， he came in late a least four times. The boss warned George many times before he finally canned him.

    L： 看來你一點也不同情George.要是我的朋友碰上這種倒霉事，我至少也會替他難過啊。

    M： Hmph. When George was late， it caused me and the other employees a lot of trouble. No one is really sad that he was canned.

    L： 也許你說得沒錯。如果每個人都象George這樣老遲到，那會給其他人造成多大的麻煩啊。

    M： Well， you are right and wrong. Because George was canned， we all have a lot more work to do right now.

    L： 對，希望你們公司會趕快雇一個人來接替George的工作。

    M： I'm sure they will.

    音樂間隙

    L： 哎，Michael，你有沒有擔心過自己有一天會被老板解雇呢？

    M： Me？ Not at all. I'm a good worker， and I kiss up to the boss all the time.

    L： 你說你工作表現(xiàn)很好，而且你還經(jīng)常親你的老板。哎呀，Michael， 你好惡心哦，你的老板不是男的嗎？

    M： No no no……I said I "kiss up to" my boss. To "kiss up to" someone is to try to be extra friendly to someone so they will treat you well.

    L： 那你到底是怎么樣“kiss up to”你的boss呢？

    M： Well， when I want to "kiss up to" the boss， I might bring him coffee， or help him clean the office. I also try to say nice things about him and his family， or tell him he just looks really cool.

    L： 噢，現(xiàn)在我懂了。你不用說的那么好聽，“kiss up to”無非就是拍什么人的馬屁嘛。哎呀， 真沒想到，你還是個馬屁精啊。你不怕同事看不起你啊？

    M： No， not at all. All of the employees kiss up to my boss. Actually， there's nothing wrong with that， because our boss is a really nice guy.

    L： 如果你的老板真象你說的那么好，或許討好他也沒什么錯。

    M： I Guess kissing up to someone can be useful， but not so that everyone hates you.

    L： 你說的沒錯，拍馬屁有時候是挺管用的，不過要是搞得人人都討厭你，那就太不值得了。

    M： Don't worry about me. I don't want the boss to do anything for me， I just don't want to be canned.

    L： 其實我才應該向你學幾招，去討好討好我的老板，也讓他對我另眼相看。

    今天李華學會了兩個常用語：to be canned和to kiss up to.To be canned在這里就是被解雇的意思，kiss up to是討好某人，拍馬屁的意思。