李华和Larry 在学生中心的咖啡馆里休息。今天李华会学到两个常用语：cop
out 和to get worked up.

    LL： Hey Li Hua. Some friends and I are planning to go camping and
hiking next month. Do you want to come along？

    LH：嗯……去露营啊？嗯，下个月我可能会很忙耶！噢！对！那个周末我已
经答应帮我邻居照顾他的狗。

    LL： What ？ I didn't even tell you when we're going！ Sounds like
a cop-out to me ！

    LH：对，你还没有告诉我是哪个周末。不过，A cop ？ cop不是警察吗？我
不去露营和警察有什么关系？

    LL： No ， no ， I don't mean "cop" as in "police officer". A cop
out ， is a weak excuse for not doing something. LH ：噢，原来cop out
是想推脱做某件事，但是理由又很牵强。哎呀，好啦！我招了，我是不喜欢露营！
要走那么多路，又会被虫咬，还得睡睡袋，而且我还听说美国有很多熊呢！

    LL： Bears？ Don't tell me you won't go just because you're afraid
of bears. That's an even stupider cop out. LH ：好啦好啦！跟熊没有关系，
我就是懒惰！不喜欢露营嘛！

    LL： That's what I thought. Well， it's better to be honest than to
cop out. So do you understand what "cop out" means now？

    LH：嗯，我想我大概懂cop out 的意思了！给你举个例子吧！我的朋友Jeanna
老是说她想学中文，可是当我主动提出要教她时，她又总是说没时间。这就是cop
out 喽！

    LL： Yeah ， that sounds like a cop out to me. Most people just aren't
willing to put the time and effort into really learning another language.
LH：说到学外语，Larry ，我记得不久前，你也叫我教你读中文报纸，怎么样？
你明天有时间吗？

    LL： I， um …… I think I'm busy tomorrow. The plumber is coming
to my house sometime in the afternoon ， so I have to wait for him， and
……

    LH：得了吧！什么等工人来修水管？谁会相信这种借口。你这才是真正的cop
out ！

    ******

    LH：（Growls）嗨！这些学中文的学生，我真不想教了！怎么考试考得这么
糟！我看啊，这学期他们一个也别想拿A ！

    LL： Calm down， Li Hua. Don't get so worked up over it.

    LH：你要我别work up ？你是说我不必那么努力，那什么意思呀？

    LL： No ， I don't mean you have to work harder. I mean ， you shouldn't
get worked up. To get worked up means to get angry or excited.

    LH：噢，don't get worked up 是别生气的意思！不生气？你看看他们写的
中文有难看，而且还老是写错别字。

    LL： Let me see those. Hmm…… Wow， this isn't bad at all. I can
tell they're a lot better than they were a few weeks ago. Don't get so
worked up over a few small mistakes ！

    LH：你觉得他们比几个星期前进步多了？我看看……嗯，也许你说的对，也
许我对他们要求太高了。

    LL： That's right. I can tell most of these students want to learn
Chinese. If you always get worked up when they make mistakes， you won't
notice when they improve.

    LH： Larry，你说的对，大多数学生都是真的想学，我不应该看到他们的错
误就生气，应该多多鼓励他们。

    （Sound of distant argument ）

    LH：嘿！Jack和Ben 两个人在那儿那么生气吵什么啊？

    LL： Oh ， nothing. It's election year， and those two are always
getting worked up over politics.

    LH：噢，我知道美国人在竞选总统方面意见不一致，但是没有想到有些人会
争的面红耳赤。

    LL： Yeah ， sometimes when you get worked up about something ， it
shows that you really care about it. Just like you with your students ！

    LH：那倒是，关心某件事才会激动，就像我很在乎我学生的成绩。说到学习，
Larry 你准备好上中文课了吗？

    LL： Um …… well …… OK. No more cop outs. Let's get started.

    今天李华学到两个常用语。一个是cop out ，意思是用牵强的借口来逃避做
某件事。另一个常用语是to get worked up，就是为某件事生气。