Larry 和李华正在为他们的朋友Laura 担心。他们两人都觉得Laura 好像有
什么心事。今天李华会学到两个常用语：clamup和to tank.

    LL： Laura has been acting really strange lately， but every time
I try to ask her what's bothering her ， she just clams up. LH：我也注
意到了，Laura 最近是有点怪怪的。我也问过她怎么回事，她就是不肯说……对
了，Larry ，你刚才说clam up ，那是什么意思啊？

    LL： To clam up is to become silent and refuse to talk about something.
LH： To clam up 就是闭紧了嘴巴，不肯把心里的事告诉别人。可是Larry ，clam
不是一种蛤蜊吗？这跟说不说话有什么关系？

    LL： Yes， in fact， that's where the expression comes from. Clams
can close their shells very tightly. If a person refuses to talk， his
lips are closed just like a clam's shell. LH：噢，对了。一个人嘴巴闭得
紧紧的时候，就好像蛤蜊闭上壳，怎么也不打开。这个说法太形象了！

    LH： The problem is that Laura has clammed up about whatever is bothering
her ， which means that we have no way of helping her out. LH ：那倒也
是。她要不说，我们又怎么能帮她。也许我们应该让她一个人静一静，等她想说
的时候自然会告诉我们到底是怎么回事。

    LL： That's probably the only thing we can do. LH ：其实我爸爸也是
一样。心里如果有事，从来不肯说。有的时候把我妈急的一直生气。

    LL： A lot of people clam up when something is bothering them. I tend
to clam up when I'm really nervous. LH：我也是耶！我只要一紧张，就不说
话了。每个人不一样，我妹妹一生气就可以几天不说话。别人也不知道她在生什
么气。

    LL： That's like my mother. She could clam up for days when she is
angry with my father. LH：你妈妈跟你爸爸生气几天不说话。那你爸爸怎么办
哪？

    LL：Whenever my mother clams up ， he clams up too.

    ******

    LL： I found out what was bothering Laura. She was upset because the
last play she wrote tanked. Everyone criticized it. LH：大家都批评她最
近写的剧本。为什么？你说她写的那个剧本tanked，那是什么意思？Tank，不就
是打仗用的坦克吗？

    LL： No ， this has nothing to do with the tank used in war. This
"tank" is a verb. When something "tanks" that means that it is a complete
failure. LH ：噢，这个tank和军用坦克毫无关系。这里说的tank是个动词。意
思是完全失败。所有的剧评家都批评Laura 的舞台剧。那真是太惨了。可怜的Laura！

    LL： Yeah ， no wonder she clammed up. I wouldn't want to talk about
it if one of my projects tanked ， either. LH ：就是啊，自己的成果被别
人这样批评，心情一定不好受。对了，Larry ，为什么大家不喜欢Laura 的剧本
呢？

    LL： I have no idea. I haven't seen or read her play， so I have no
way of judging her work. Laura is a good playwright ， I don't understand
why her work tanked. LH ：嗯，没有看过她的剧本是很难判断。不过，Laura
确实是一个很好的剧作家。也许我们应该去看看她写的舞台剧，说不定没有这么
糟么。

    LL： Even if the play really is terrible， we could at least show
our support by going to see it. LH：你说的对，不管是好是坏，我们去看就
代表我们对Laura 的支持。好！我去问她在哪儿可以买票。Larry ，那你什么时
候有空去看呢？

    LL： Let's go this Friday. Originally ， I had planned to see a movie
this Friday ， but the movie I wanted to see tanked ， so I might as well
go and see Laura's play. LH ：怎么就那么巧呢？你要看的电影也失败了。好，
就这么说定了。我去买票，星期五我们就去看Laura 的舞台剧喽！