李华打电话给Larry ，提醒他说好了晚上一起看电影。今天我们要学两个常
用语： space cadet和 running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

    LL：（Pick up phone ） Hello？

    LH： Hi ， Larry.

    LL： How are you， Lihua？

    LH：我挺好。你别忘了，说好了一起看电影，还有半个小时开演。

    LL： Oh shoot. I'm so sorry Li Hua. It completely slipped my mind.
I feel like such a space cadet.

    LH： Space cadet？太空学员？太空学员常忘事儿吗？

    LL： Well not real space cadets ， but as a saying "space cadet" means
someone who is off in space ， or often forgets things that they need
to do.

    LH：噢，Space Cadet 原来是说心不在焉，爱忘事儿的人。那你绝对合格！
不然怎么会忘记约好跟我一起看电影呢。

    LL： I guess I just got caught up with this project for work. My space
cadet coworker forgot to save it earlier， so we are back to square one.

    LH：啊？你们的项目白做了，要从头开始？我以前写论文也出过忘记存盘的
事。I've acted like a space cadet before. 那你们要怎么办呢？

    LL： It hopefully won't be too big of a problem ， but because he
was a space cadet we will have to work a bit late tonight.

    LH：就算是这样，你也不能忘了陪我看电影的事儿啊？This is no excuse
for you being a space cadet ！

    LL： I know. I am sorry.

    LH：没关系，谁都有这种时候，我们教授星期一来上课，居然说把我们的作
文落在了地铁上。Talk about a space cadet！

    LL： I'll say ！ What did he do ？

    LH：最后他找到地铁总站才找到。

    LL： Wow， he is lucky that he was able to find them again.

    LH：可他还是很不好意思，所以给我们所有人一律加分。

    LL： That sounds like a pretty good trade off to me.

    LH：是不错。看来有个做"space cadet" 的教授，也不一定是坏事。言归正
传，电影到底还看不看？

    LL： Let's shoot for the 8：30 showing. I think I will have the work
done by then. Meet you at the theater ？

    LH：好，一言为定。

    ******

    Larry 和李华在电影院大厅里碰头。

    LH： Larry，你来得正好，电影马上就要开演了。

    LL： Yes， though I've been running around like a chicken with its
head cut off.

    LH： What ？你为什么要说自己象没头公鸡一样跑来呢？

    LL： Running around like a chicken with its head cut off means I have
been running around frantically all over the place.

    LH：噢，你是说自己忙得跑来跑去，中文里我们说，象没头的苍蝇一样，英
文里说象没头的鸡，真有意思。你忙什么？

    LL： It turned out that there was more to the project than I originally
thought ， but I really wanted to come see this movie. I had to rush and
wound up running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

    LH：那Larry ，你说鸡真的会砍掉脑袋还跑来跑去吗？

    LL： I am not sure Li Hua. But the point is that if they do run around，
it is chaotic. Similarly I was running all over the place at my office
to try and get this project done.

    LH：这倒让我想起我同学Carrie. 她星期天才知道星期一有项目展示，所以
一整天都忙得昏天暗地。She was running around like a chicken with her head
cut off ！

    LL： What do you mean ， Lihua？

    LH：她一直在自习室和图书馆之间跑来跑去，手忙脚乱的。

    LL： That certainly does sound right. After running around like a
chicken with its head cut off ， I feel pretty flustered too！ How did
Carrie's presentation turn out？

    LH：说实话，我还真不知道，整个过程，我都在开小差儿。

    LL： It sounds like you were a total space cadet. What about you，
have you ever had to run around like a chicken with its head cut off because
you left something to the last minute ？

    LH：我？怎么可能！我做事从来都是井井有条，绝不会临时抱佛脚。

    LL： Sure. Well let's get our tickets and watch this movie.

    今天李华学了两个常用语。一个是space cadet ，指心不在焉，爱忘事的人。
另一个是running around like a chicken with its head cut off ，意思是忙
得象没头的苍蝇一样。