李华正在为朋友的生日party 做准备，她生平第一次烤了一个蛋糕。今天李
华会学到两个常用语：from scratch和all set.

    LH： Larry，这是我烤的蛋糕，你尝尝。这可是我生平第一次烤蛋糕，不一
定会好吃！

    LL： Mmmm ！ This is delicious！ Did you make this from scratch or
did you use a cake mix？

    LH：你觉得好吃呀？太好了！哎，你刚才问我是不是make it from scratch？

    那是什么意思啊？我是照因特网上的一个食谱做的。

    LL： Then you did make it from scratch. To make something from scratch
is to make it yourself using all of the basic ingredients.

    LH：原来to make something from scratch就是自己用基本材料，从头做起。

    是呀，我用鸡蛋、面粉、牛奶和黄油做的。还有别的做蛋糕的方法？

    LL： A lot of people nowadays use a pre-packaged cake mix with all
the ingredients in it already ， so it's easier to make.

    LH：用事先调好的蛋糕粉那当然简单多了。那多没意思啊！自己把所有的材
料准备好，从头开始做，其实很好玩呢！

    LL： Well ， you should be proud of yourself. This cake is great！

    LH：谢谢，你说好吃我就放心了！对了，Larry ，你有没有自己烤过蛋糕？

    LL： No ， but I tried making chocolate chip cookies from scratch
once.

    LH：自己做巧克力饼干啊？好吃吗？

    LL： They were awful because I forgot to put oil in them. After that，
I decided that it was best if I didn't try to make things from scratch
anymore.

    LH：忘了放油！那饼干肯定会太硬。你一次没做成功就决定下回不做了！你
知道，做这种东西是试验好多次才行。

    LL： I know ， but I'm not that patient.

    LH：嗨，要做好就得要有耐心嘛！

    ******

    LL： All right， Li Hua. The cake is ready， the drinks are prepared，
and the decorations look great. I think we are all set. LH： We are all
set ？这是什么意思？蛋糕、饮料都准备好了，一切都布置好了。你的意思是一
切准备就绪了，是吗？

    LL： That's right. To be "all set" is to be ready for whatever it
is you're going to do. In this case ， we are all set to have a party.
LH：对，要举行party 的个方面似乎都准备好了。那我是不是可以说we're all
set to have fun at the party？

    LL： If you're ready to have fun， then of course you can say that.
Hey ， what about the music - is that all set ？

    LH：音乐啊？没问题！我把激光唱机和几片激光盘全放桌上了。So it's all
set.

    LL： Great！ Now， I'm all set to eat more of that cake you made.
It's really delicious LH：不行，你现在还不能吃这蛋糕，要等做生日的人吹
完蜡烛后才能吃的！

    LL： I know. I was just kidding. Hey， do you have a place for people
to put presents ？

    LH：放礼物的地方啊？早准备好了！我在进门的地方有张桌子。大家可以把
礼物和生日卡放在那儿……

    LL： Okay ， since everything is all set， we can relax until the
guests start arriving. LH ：我早就准备好在客人来以前先休息一下。筹办一
个生日party 可真是够累人的！

    LL： Preparing a party isn't that bad ； it's cleaning up afterwardsthat's
a lot of work. LH ： Party结束后，我想你一定会帮我收拾的。对不对？

    LL：Of course ！