李华和Larry 一起到饭馆吃饭。店里人多，他们只好排队等位。今天我们要
学两个常用语：to kick oneself 和wiggle room.

    LH： Larry，真希望这家饭馆能快点上菜，我快饿晕了！

    L ： Yeah ， I'm pretty hungry too， and smelling all the delicious
food here is only making it worse.

    LH：咱们待会儿也别看菜单了，就跟服务员说，什么菜能上得最快，我们就
点什么。

    L ： Well ， I guess we could do that …… but if the food is really
bad ， you're going to be kicking yourself later.

    LH：你说我要kick myself ？踢我自己？别开玩笑了，我连抬腿的劲儿都没
有了，怎么还能踢自己。

    L ： Actually ， if you really regret something stupid that you did
earlier ， you can say that you are kicking yourself.

    LH：哦，原来to kick oneself 不是自己踢自己，而是为自己做的蠢事感到
后悔。你是说，要是我不看菜单瞎点，八成得后悔。

    L ： Right！ Here is another example. I spent $1，000 on a new computer，
but I was kicking myself a week later when it went on sale for half the
price.

    LH：那可不，刚买台电脑，没几天就降价50% ，这能不让人后悔么？早知道
就多等几天，可以省好多钱呢。好了，咱们还是赶快决定吃什么吧，辣鸡翅怎么
样？

    L ： I really love spicy food ， but it always makes my stomach hurt.
If I eat it ， I know I'm going to be kicking myself later.

    LH：那油炸奶酪？

    L ： Yeah ， those are really tasty too ， but they're so fattening！
I know I'm going to be kicking myself at the gym tomorrow.

    LH： Larry，你怎么这么多事！这家饭馆挺贵的，应该不会难吃。

    L ： Yeah ， I'm going to be kicking myself if we spend a lot of money
on dinner but the food isn't very good.

    LH：可是Larry ，我真的饿死了。那张桌子空出来了，我们可以进去了！

    L ： Great！ Let's go and sit down.

    ******

    LH：啊，真是酒足饭饱，我吃得太多了，撑死了。咱们干点什么消化消消食
儿吧。

    L ： Hmm…… do you want to go see a movie？ I think that the new
Tom Cruise action movie starts playing at 9 PM.

    LH：好啊，可是现在已经八点一刻了，咱们赶得及么？

    L ： Well ， the theater is only 15 minutes away， so we have some
wiggle room.

    LH： Wiggle room？那什么意思？

    L ： When you say that you have some wiggle room， that means that
you have some flexibility ， or room to spare.

    LH：噢，wiggle room 就是回旋余地。你是说电影院离得不远，我们还有一
些时间，应该可以赶上九点钟的电影。

    L ： Right！ Here is another example. My apartment lease ends next
week， but I have some wiggle room because my landlord said I could stay
an extra month if I need to.

    LH：我明白了。房东允许你再多住一个月，所以你就不必赶紧搬家，还有时
间可以慢慢找房子。对了，我听说Tom Cruise的这部新片里有好多电脑特技。

    L ： Yeah ， I read that the movie cost more than the movie studio
thought it would. By the end， there was no wiggle room in the budget.

    LH：啊？拍这个电影花钱太多，最后预算一分不剩都花啦？那这电影一定好
看！不过说实话，我还是想看爱情片，我们下周去好不好。

    L ： Well …… I probably can …… but I will have to check my schedule.

    LH：你怎么这么麻烦，到底去不去？

    L ： Well ， I just want to keep a little wiggle room in case an even
better action movie comes out next week ！

    LH：哼，你干什么都不把话说死，总要留点余地。随便，你不陪我就自己去。
好啦，咱们走吧，你说给多少小费啊？15% 还是20% ？

    L ： You know ， there is some wiggle room. Anything between 15 percent
and 20 percent will be fine.

    LH：好吧。对了，你想不想去隔壁的甜品店吃点冰激凌？

    L ： Even though we have some extra time， we probably shouldn't take
the risk. We're going to be kicking ourselves if eating ice cream makes
us late to the movie.

    LH：我肯定不后悔，冰淇淋比电影诱人多了。走，陪我去吃！

    今天李华学了两个常用语。一个是to kick oneself ，表示感到后悔。另一
个是wiggle room ，意思是灵活性，回旋余地。