Larry 陪李华带着她新领养的猫咪- 小雪球- 去看兽医。两人聊起了一位共
同的朋友。今天李华会学到两个常用语：workaholic和nutty.

    LL： I'm really worried about Bob. He seems as though he has turned
into a real workaholic. LH：你很担心Bob ，因为他成了workaholic. Workaholic，
那是什么意思？是不是Bob 生病了？

    LL： No ， Bob doesn't have a disease. He's a workaholic. A workaholic
is someone who works all of the time and never takes time for anything
else. LH：啊，我懂你的意思了。Workaholic是指一个人工作过度，从来不休息。
就是“工作狂”的意思嘛！Bob 天天加班，怪不得他看起来总是那么累。这样对
身体很不好呢！

    LL： No ， it's not. Workaholics often get stress-relatedproblems
such as high blood pressureor ulcers. LH：就是，高血压和溃疡都是一些工
作过度的人常有的毛病。我爸爸就是个工作狂。我小的时候很少见到他，因为他
总是在办公室里加班。结果在我10岁的时候，他得了溃疡，医生要他立刻减少工
作量。

    LL： That's a shame ， but it's actually pretty common. I've known
a few workaholics ， too. LH：现代人工作忙碌，变成工作狂是很常见的。哎，
Larry 也许我们应该和Bob 谈谈，让他知道我们很担心他。

    LL： I don't know how he'll respond to that. Maybe it would be better
if we just pressured him to hang out with us and relax more. LH ：这倒
是个好主意，让他和我们一起出去玩，一定可以放松心情的！要不这样吧！我们
可以邀请Bob 下星期到我家玩，顺便看看我的小雪球！

    LL： I don't know if meeting your crazy cat is going to help prevent
Bob from becoming a workaholic， but at least it will get him out of the
office for a while. LH：嘿！我的小雪球才不疯呢！她只不过是只小猫咪，爱
玩而已嘛！

    ******

    LL： Well ， did the vet officially diagnoseyour cat as being totally
nutty ？

    LH： Nutty？那是什么意思。你该不是在说我的小雪球有什么行为方面的问
题吧？

    LL： You could say that. Nutty means crazy. LH：所以nutty 就是疯疯
颠颠的意思。哎，我跟你说过了，小雪球不疯。她只是比较好动。

    LL： Did the vet agree with you ？

    LH：当然喽！兽医还说，小雪球既不疯，也没有心理问题。她只是一只小猫，
所以特别需要别人注意她。兽医还说我应该经常陪小雪球玩。

    LL： Oh ， I see， she's so nutty because she has too much extra energy.
If we play with her and tire her out， she'll be calmer. LH ：没错，只
要我们多陪陪她，消耗她的体力，她就不会精力旺盛地动来动去。所以我打算用
绳子做一些小玩具，每天至少陪她玩15分钟。

    LL： Hey， that actually sounds fun. Can I help ？

    LH：当然喽！但是你得先答应我，不可以再叫她是个小疯子，或是nutty 了。
这样我才让你和她玩。可以吗？

    LL： All right， I won't make fun of your nutty cat anymore. LH ：
Larry ！你怎么又这么说她啊！

    LL： I'm just kidding. I think it's funny that you get so offended
when I call Snowball nutty. LH：我当然要生气咯！小雪球是只很乖的小猫。
我真的很喜欢她。所以你不可以这样嘲笑她。

    LL： Okay ， I won't. Let's take her home and play with her now. I'm
sure she doesn't want to stay here any longer.