李華打電話給Larry ，提醒他說(shuō)好了晚上一起看電影。今天我們要學(xué)兩個(gè)常
用語(yǔ)： space cadet和 running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

    LL：（Pick up phone ） Hello？

    LH： Hi ， Larry.

    LL： How are you， Lihua？

    LH：我挺好。你別忘了，說(shuō)好了一起看電影，還有半個(gè)小時(shí)開(kāi)演。

    LL： Oh shoot. I'm so sorry Li Hua. It completely slipped my mind.
I feel like such a space cadet.

    LH： Space cadet？太空學(xué)員？太空學(xué)員常忘事兒?jiǎn)幔?/p>

    LL： Well not real space cadets ， but as a saying "space cadet" means
someone who is off in space ， or often forgets things that they need
to do.

    LH：噢，Space Cadet 原來(lái)是說(shuō)心不在焉，愛(ài)忘事兒的人。那你絕對(duì)合格！
不然怎么會(huì)忘記約好跟我一起看電影呢。

    LL： I guess I just got caught up with this project for work. My space
cadet coworker forgot to save it earlier， so we are back to square one.

    LH：�。磕銈兊捻�(xiàng)目白做了，要從頭開(kāi)始？我以前寫(xiě)論文也出過(guò)忘記存盤(pán)的
事。I've acted like a space cadet before. 那你們要怎么辦呢？

    LL： It hopefully won't be too big of a problem ， but because he
was a space cadet we will have to work a bit late tonight.

    LH：就算是這樣，你也不能忘了陪我看電影的事兒��？This is no excuse
for you being a space cadet ！

    LL： I know. I am sorry.

    LH：沒(méi)關(guān)系，誰(shuí)都有這種時(shí)候，我們教授星期一來(lái)上課，居然說(shuō)把我們的作
文落在了地鐵上。Talk about a space cadet！

    LL： I'll say ！ What did he do ？

    LH：最后他找到地鐵總站才找到。

    LL： Wow， he is lucky that he was able to find them again.

    LH：可他還是很不好意思，所以給我們所有人一律加分。

    LL： That sounds like a pretty good trade off to me.

    LH：是不錯(cuò)�？磥�(lái)有個(gè)做"space cadet" 的教授，也不一定是壞事。言歸正
傳，電影到底還看不看？

    LL： Let's shoot for the 8：30 showing. I think I will have the work
done by then. Meet you at the theater ？

    LH：好，一言為定。

    ******

    Larry 和李華在電影院大廳里碰頭。

    LH： Larry，你來(lái)得正好，電影馬上就要開(kāi)演了。

    LL： Yes， though I've been running around like a chicken with its
head cut off.

    LH： What ？你為什么要說(shuō)自己象沒(méi)頭公雞一樣跑來(lái)呢？

    LL： Running around like a chicken with its head cut off means I have
been running around frantically all over the place.

    LH：噢，你是說(shuō)自己忙得跑來(lái)跑去，中文里我們說(shuō)，象沒(méi)頭的蒼蠅一樣，英
文里說(shuō)象沒(méi)頭的雞，真有意思。你忙什么？

    LL： It turned out that there was more to the project than I originally
thought ， but I really wanted to come see this movie. I had to rush and
wound up running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

    LH：那Larry ，你說(shuō)雞真的會(huì)砍掉腦袋還跑來(lái)跑去嗎？

    LL： I am not sure Li Hua. But the point is that if they do run around，
it is chaotic. Similarly I was running all over the place at my office
to try and get this project done.

    LH：這倒讓我想起我同學(xué)Carrie. 她星期天才知道星期一有項(xiàng)目展示，所以
一整天都忙得昏天暗地。She was running around like a chicken with her head
cut off ！

    LL： What do you mean ， Lihua？

    LH：她一直在自習(xí)室和圖書(shū)館之間跑來(lái)跑去，手忙腳亂的。

    LL： That certainly does sound right. After running around like a
chicken with its head cut off ， I feel pretty flustered too！ How did
Carrie's presentation turn out？

    LH：說(shuō)實(shí)話，我還真不知道，整個(gè)過(guò)程，我都在開(kāi)小差兒。

    LL： It sounds like you were a total space cadet. What about you，
have you ever had to run around like a chicken with its head cut off because
you left something to the last minute ？

    LH：我？怎么可能！我做事從來(lái)都是井井有條，絕不會(huì)臨時(shí)抱佛腳。

    LL： Sure. Well let's get our tickets and watch this movie.

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是space cadet ，指心不在焉，愛(ài)忘事的人。
另一個(gè)是running around like a chicken with its head cut off ，意思是忙
得象沒(méi)頭的蒼蠅一樣。