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2024.09.18 05:39
第九部 第九課: play hooky , put one's foot down
- 今天李華到 Larry 家來借一本書，碰巧 Larry 的媽媽打電話來．什麼事呢？你聽了他們的對話就知道了．今天李華會學到兩個常用語： play hooky 和 put one's foot down。
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- Larry，怎麼啦？你看起來很不高興哎。
- Oh, it's just that my little sister is giving my mom a lot of trouble. She played hooky from school two days in a row last week.
- 你妹妹給你媽惹麻煩了啊，你說她上星期在學校連續兩天 played hooky? 那是一種遊戲嗎？為什麼你媽媽會生氣啊？
- No, it's not a game. To play hooky is to skip school or work when you have no excuse for doing so.
- 哦～， play hooky 就是逃學、曠課的意思啊．那很嚴重哎！我要是逃學，我媽媽一定會非常非常生氣！
- Every kid plays hooky once in a while, but playing hooky as often as my little sister does is a serious problem. It's affecting her grades.
- 對，偶爾曠課還可以，如果像你妹妹這樣常常逃課，成績當然會受影響囉！那你媽媽打算怎麼做啊？
- She'll forbid my sister from watching TV, talking on the phone, or going out with her friends for at least a month.
- 哇！至少一個月不能看電視、不許和朋友通電話，也不可以和朋友出去．這樣的處罰啊是夠厲害的，不過，也許她能得到教訓，以後不再逃學囉。
- I hope so. Hey, you really never played hooky when you were a kid?
- 嗯～，有那麼幾次我不想上學，就裝病待在家裡．這樣也算 play hooky 嗎？
- Of course, that counts! Actually, I think every kid has used that trick to play hooky at least once.
- 對，假裝生病啊是孩子們想逃學時最常用的藉口了．我記得我是因為有的同學老是取笑我，所以我不想上學。
- Unfortunately, I think that's probably a very common reason for playing hooky from school.
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- Larry，剛才是誰打電話來啊？
- That was my sister. My mom really put her foot down this time. She's not allowed to watch TV or see her friends for two months. She's really upset.
- 你媽媽罰你妹妹兩個月不准看電視，也不准和朋友出去玩，那是夠厲害的喔．可是， Larry，你剛才說 "put her foot down" 是什麼意思啊？
- Oh, to put one's foot down means to take a really firm stance on something and enforce it.
- Put one's foot down 就是採取堅定的立場，嚴厲執行．你媽媽是不是也曾經對你這麼嚴格啊？
- I was generally a good kid, but she did put her foot down once that I can remember. She thought one of my friends was a bad influence, so she didn't allow me to hang out with him.
- 那是可以理解，中國人常說「近朱者赤，近墨者黑」，你媽媽是怕你交了壞朋友，所以才不讓你跟他交往啊。
- Well, haven't you ever had to put your foot down with anyone?
- 你還記得我那討厭的同屋嗎？在她開始偷我的東西之後啊，我就對她不客氣了。
- Yeah, I remember that. I think you probably should have put your foot down before then, but you were too nice.
- 是，我可能啊早就不該遷就她了．不過，我總覺得不太好意思，不太敢和別人發生衝突。
- You've got to learn to put your foot down when it's necessary, otherwise people will take advantage of you.
- 沒錯，必要的時候啊就得學會對別人硬一些，有些人啊就是會欺軟怕硬。
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- 今天李華學到了兩個常用語，第一個是： play hooky，是「逃學」或者是「曠課」；另外一個常用語是： put one's foot down，意思是「很堅定、採取嚴厲手段」。
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