李华到Larry 家借书，正好赶上Larry 的朋友Dave打电话来 .她今天要学两
个常用语， fed up 和off the hook.

    LL： That was just Dave on the phone， Li Hua. He is really fed up
right now.

    LH： Dave 给你打电话，就是告诉你他吃多了吗？

    LL： No ， Li Hua. To be fed up is to run out of patience in a difficult
situation and to become angry.

    LH：噢，fed up不是指吃多了，而是说受够了。

    LL： That's right. Dave has been having a bad day ， and he has good
reason to be fed up.

    LH：他遇到什么倒霉事了吗？

    LL： Well ， Dave's car broke down on his way to work today ， and
he called a tow truck to come and get him. He's fed up， because he has
been waiting for over an hour for the tow truck to arrive.

    LH：拖车一个多小时还没到。换成我，也会fed up.

    LL： And Dave is also fed up with his car. This is the third time
in the last month that his car has broken down.

    LH：一个月坏三次。那可真得换车了，难怪他说自己受够了。他给你打电话
就是抱怨这些吗？

    LL： He was hoping that if the tow truck didn't come in the next few
minutes I might be able to give him a ride to work. He doesn't want his
boss to get too fed up with him.

    LH：噢，原来是求你送他去上班。一而再，再而三地因为车子抛锚而上班迟
到，确实会引起老板的怀疑。

    LL： I don't think Dave's boss is completely fed up with him YET，
but Dave doesn't want to take any chances.

    LH：那当然了。他好不容易才找到这份工作，因为这个被炒鱿鱼，太不值得
了。

    LL： Yeah. Personally ， I'm a little fed up with Dave right now，
too.

    LH： Dave 有什么让你受不了的呢？

    LL： Well ， every time Dave's car breaks down， he calls me to ask
for a ride. I'm getting a little fed up with having to rearrange my schedule
to keep helping Dave out.

    LH：确实有点儿烦。不过，他是你的朋友，大家应该互相帮助嘛！

    LL： You are right， Li Hua. I shouldn't get fed up with Dave.（Phone
rings ） It's Dave on the phone.

    ******

    LH： Dave 打电话说什么？

    LL： He told me the tow truck finally arrived. It looks like I'm off
the hook！

    LH： Off the hook ？这种说法跟钓鱼有关吧？

    LL： Yes， it does， Li Hua. You know when you go fishing for fun ，
how you put a hook on the end of your line？

    LH：当然了，我还记得上次跟你老爸一起去钓鱼，鱼线最后面有一个钩子，
在上面挂上鱼饵。

    LL： And when a worm is off the hook， it is free. Just like I am
now. I am off the hook， because I don't need to drive Dave to work after
all.

    LH：所以，off the hook就是脱身的意思。你不用再开车送Dave去上班了，
所以你说自己是off the hook.

    LL： That's right. Say， speaking of obligations， don't you have
a Chinese class you should be teaching right now？

    LH： Oh ， No. I am off the hook today， Larry. 今天学校放假，所以
我不用去教中文课了！

    LL： I forgot that today is a holiday. Unfortunately， I am NOT off
the hook today. I need to go into work this afternoon to finish up a project
I am working on.

    LH：那你就是on the hook 喽？

    LL： Well ， we don't really say someone is "on the hook" in English
when we mean they have something they need to do.

    LH：所以说不用再去做一件事情是off the hook，但是反过来，必须去做一
件事情，则不能说on the hook.

    LL： You've got it， Li Hua. Say， how about going to a movie tonight？
Do you still have to write your paper for Professor Jones ， or are you
off the hook？

    LH：唉，I'm not off the hook. 我今天晚上必须得写完那篇论文。我可不
希望让琼斯教授 fed up with me.

    今天李华学到了两个常用语。一个是fed up，意思是不耐烦，受够了。另一
个是off the hook，是脱身，摆脱责任的意思。