Larry 在告诉李华这个星期他办公室发生的一场争论。今天李华会学到两个
常用语：to have a beef with someone 和hit pay dirt.

    LL： The boss still wants to fire Jim because they had a beef over
the last sales report. LH ：老板要开除Jim ，因为他们有什么？A beef？你
是说他们为了一些牛肉在吵架？

    LL： No （laughing）， not beef as in the beef that you eat. To have
a beef with someone means to have a disagreement. The boss and Jim had
a disagreement over the sales report. LH：噢，哈哈，原来have a beef with
someone 就是和某人有争执。这和我们吃的牛肉一点关系也没有。你老板为什么
会和Jim 吵架呢？

    LL： Well ， the boss felt that Jim had done a really bad job of preparing
the report and Jim felt that the boss did not give him enough time to
do the report properly. LH：噢，老板觉得Jim 写的报告太差，而Jim 觉得老
板没给他足够的时间，所以两人就这么吵起来啦？Jim had a beef with the boss.
我说得对吗？

    LL： Yep. Now ， the boss is making everyone else miserable because
of his beef with Jim. LH：他是和Jim 闹不开心，这跟其他人有什么关系呢？

    LL： He's just been in a really bad mood and he's being tough on everyone.
It's not fair. His beef is with Jim ， not the rest of the people in the
office. LH：他不高兴就对办公室里每个人都特别厉害。这是很不公平。他是跟
Jim 吵架，又不是和全办公室吵架。

    LL： Exactly. I'm worried that the situation will go too far and there
will be major problems in our office. LH：你怕情况发展下去办公室会出大
问题呀？你们为什么不让Jim 向老板道个歉。这不就完了吗？

    LL： I don't think he'll do that. LH：他不会道歉？啊呀，你劝劝他嘛。

    关键在他身上，道了欠紧张气氛就化解了，对大家都有好处。

    LL： It's worth a try. Maybe Jim will be willing to sacrificehis own
interests and resolve his beef with the boss.

    ******

    LL： Hey， Li Hua ， you really hit pay dirt with that suggestion
you made. Jim apologized to the boss and everybody is happy now. LH ：
Jim 和你们老板道歉啦？那太好了！不过，Larry ，你说hit pay dirt是什么意
思，我听不懂耶！

    LL： To hit pay dirt means that you found something that turned out
to be profitable or beneficial. LH： To hit pay dirt就是发现了很有好处
的东西。所以你刚才的意思是我的建议非常有用。不过，这三个词hit ， pay，
dirt合在一起挺怪的。这说法是从哪里来的？

    LL： When miners would dig for gold ， they would say that they had
hit pay dirt when they found dirt that contained gold. LH ：噢，原来是
采金矿的工人在挖到含黄金的矿石时，他们就会说hit pay dirt，这样一解释，
我就懂了。

    LL： They sometimes say "strike pay dirt". Anyway ， LI Hua ， I also
hit pay dirt today. LH：你今天也挖到宝啦？怎么说？

    LL： I got a job offer for after I graduate. LH ：你已经找到毕业后
的工作啦！那太好了！是哪家公司要雇你呢？

    LL： Actually ， the office I'm working in offered me the job. LH
：真的？就是你现在打工的这家公司？不过你真的想在那儿工作吗？

    LL： At first ， I wasn't that interested ， but when they told me
what my salary would be ， I realized that I'd really hit pay dirt.16
：18 2009-7-8 LH：哇，太棒了，你很快就能把你的破车卖了，买一辆高级车，
a nice set of wheels. 我们一块儿出去庆祝庆祝吧！

    今天李华学到两个常用语。第一个是have a beef with someone，就是和某
人争吵，关系紧张的意思。另一个常用语hit pay dirt，也可以说strike pay dirt，
就是指发现了有价值的东西。