Michael和李华好几天没见了，今天刚好在校园里碰到，两个人就聊起来了。李华会学到两个常用语：to chip in和snail mail.

    L： 嗨，Michael，Bob明天开生日party， 你去吗？

    M： Yes， I'm going with a few friends. We decided to chip in and buy him a leather jacket. He's been talking about buying a jacket for a long time.

    L： 你要和几个朋友一起去参加 party，还要给他买一件皮夹克。可是皮夹克很贵，你们是不是准备大家凑钱给他买？你刚才说chip in是不是就是这个意思呀？

    M： That's right. To chip in， means to each contribute money to buy something.

    L： 那就是我们中国人说的凑钱买东西。

    M： Usually you say "chip in" if each person in a group of people gives some money to buy someone a present.

    L： 要是每个人都出一些钱给谁买个礼物，人们一般就会说to chip in.

    M： To give you another example， my mother said her colleagues always chip in to buy gifts to celebrate someone's birthday or when someone has a new baby.

    L： 你妈妈的同事往往会凑钱买礼物给过生日的同事，或者给刚生孩子的同事。这跟上面你说的几个朋友凑钱给Bob买皮夹克差不多。To chip in还可以用在其它什么场合吗？

    M： You can also use "to chip in" if you are going out with a group of people for dinner or a drink.

    L： 噢，几个朋友一起出去吃饭，喝酒，每个人出一些钱来付帐也可以说是chip in.

    M： Yes， the guys and I usually each chip in a few dollars when we go out for pizza on Friday nights.Last week， I paid 10 dollars， Bob chipped in $4， John gave $2. There is one guy who never chips in. He's cheap. It really makes me mad.

    L： 等等，上星期五你们几个人出去吃比萨饼，你付了十美元，Bob出了四美元，John出了两美元。还有一个小气鬼，从来不出钱。他真好意思！Why don't you ditch him， 甩了他不得了！

    M： Oh， we've been friends for many years， and it's only a few bucks！

    L： 哟，既然朋友多年，也就几块钱的事，你不愿意甩了他，那你就别生气啊！Michael， 你手里拿的是什么？好象是信吧！现在还有人写信呀？

    M： I got two letters today from a couple of old friends！ I hardly ever get snail mail anymore.

    L： 你收到两个老朋友给你的来信。你说什么？Snail mail， snail不就是蜗牛吗？mail 就是信。 信和蜗牛又有什么关系呀？

    M： "Snail" is an animal known for its slow movement. "Snail mail" means real letters that you get in your mailbox.

    L： 噢，我知道了。蜗牛走的很慢，所以snail mail就是指通过邮局寄的信。以前怎么没有听说snail mail这个说法呢？

    M： Well， ever since e-mail became popular， people have used "snail mail" to talk about paper mail， because it is slower than e-mail.

    L： 对，邮局寄的信和电子邮件相比真是要慢多了。叫它“蜗牛信”倒也挺形象的。

    M： Yes， everyone is so busy nowadays， no one seems to have time to write snail mail anymore.

    L： 你说得一点不错。大家都很忙，没有多少人还会坐在那儿写信。邮局里送来的邮件不是账单，就是广告。这些也能叫做snail mail 吗？

    M： No， only a letter written to you by a friend or family member can really be called "snail mail".

    L： 噢，人们只有把亲友写的信叫做snail mail.说起写信，我真是应该给我爸爸妈妈写信了。

    M： I'm just too lazy to write snail mail. I think I'll go write some e-mails.

    L： 你的亲友都在美国，都有电脑。我的父母在中国，他们还没有电脑，所以，I have to write snail mails to them.我得走了，下回再聊吧！

    M： Okay， bye！

    李华今天学到两个常用语，一个是：to chip in， 意思是凑钱买什么东西，或者是凑钱付大家一起吃饭的钱。另一个是：snail mai，这是指通过邮局寄的信。