Larry 下班后跟李華一起吃晚飯。今天我們要學(xué)兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：hothead 和 even
keel.

    LH： Larry，今天上班忙嗎？

    LL： Well ， to be honest Li Hua， it was a bit stressful. One of
our ad campaigns was not successful and my boss had a total meltdown.
He is such a hothead.

    LH： A hothead？你是說(shuō)老板性情急躁，動(dòng)不動(dòng)就發(fā)脾氣嗎？

    LL： Yes， exactly， a hothead means someone who gets very angry very
quickly. When something makes a hothead mad ， you absolutely do not want
to be around him.

    LH：沒(méi)錯(cuò)，急脾氣的人要是生氣了，最好是離他們遠(yuǎn)點(diǎn)，否則一不小心就成
了出氣筒。

    LL： That is exactly right， a hothead can really be dangerous sometimes，
though often they'll just throw a tantrum and be done with it.

    LH：他們倒是出氣了，可旁邊的人卻要跟著倒霉。快說(shuō)說(shuō)，你們老板當(dāng)時(shí)什
么反應(yīng)？

    LL： Well ， when he heard that the campaign was not successful ，
he blamed ME. He was such a hothead ， he slammed down his coffee mug
and broke it.

    LH：那咖啡還不灑得到處都是？

    LL： It got all over his shirt. This got him even angrier.

    LH：太可怕了。我有個(gè)同學(xué)，就是典型的hothead.

    LL： In what way， Li Hua ？

    LH：比方說(shuō)吧，前不久他的一篇作文，教授只給了C ，他氣得臉紅脖子粗，
竟然把課本一下子扔到地上。He is such a hothead.

    LL： Wow， what did your professor do ？

    LH：教授當(dāng)時(shí)已經(jīng)走了，可教室里還有很多人，大家都沒(méi)想到他的脾氣如此
暴躁。對(duì)了，剛才說(shuō)到一半，那你們老板是什么時(shí)候消的氣呢？

    LL： He didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the day. He just stormed
off to his office. Because he was such a hothead， no one dared to knock
on his door.

    LH：可想而知，辦公室里的氣氛肯定一天都好不了。

    LL： Well ， the afternoon actually turned out alright.

    LH： Oh ？ And why was that ？

    LL： Once he stormed off， the boss was out of everyone's hair for
the rest of the day. It was pretty relaxing from there on out.

    ******

    LH： Larry，廣告沒(méi)做好，你那些同事是不是也特別氣餒？

    LL： No one was happy ， of course， but I would say that everybody
managed to keep an even keel.

    LH： An even what ？

    LL： Even keel. It means to stay calm or keep your cool ， like a
boat on calm water.

    LH：我明白了，even keel 就是情緒穩(wěn)定。老板發(fā)那么大的火，換成我，肯
定沒(méi)法保持even keel.

    LL： I'll admit I was pretty nervous when my boss became such a hothead，
but I was able to maintain an even keel.

    LH：還好你沒(méi)有過(guò)于激動(dòng)，在這種情況下，是很容易說(shuō)錯(cuò)話的。

    LL： Exactly， I find that when I'm at work ， the best policy is
to always try to keep an even keel. That way I can speak clearly and be
focused on what I have to do.

    LH：我覺(jué)得，你們老板真應(yīng)該去上Anger Management控制情緒的課。

    LL： That's right. He was such a hothead.

    LH：你發(fā)現(xiàn)沒(méi)有，身邊有個(gè)脾氣急躁的人，自己也容易受影響。

    LL： That's true， Li Hua ， sometimes being around someone who is
worked up can get you feeling pretty tense as well.

    LH：反過(guò)來(lái)說(shuō)，周?chē)�人都保持�?zhèn)靜，發(fā)脾氣的人也容易冷靜下來(lái)。

    LL： Yes. It was good that only my boss lost his cool and everyone
else kept an even keel. It would have been a very stressful afternoon
otherwise.

    LH：一點(diǎn)沒(méi)錯(cuò)。

    LL： What about you ， Li Hua ？ When your classmate became such a
hothead ， were you able to keep an even keel ？

    LH：我跟本沒(méi)想到that guy was such a hot head. 嚇得我趕快收拾東西開(kāi)
遛。不過(guò)說(shuō)實(shí)話，作文得低分，是挺讓人沮喪的。

    LL： I thought you always did well on papers.

    LH：我上個(gè)月宏觀經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的作文就得了C+.

    LL： You seem to have recovered from the shock though.

    LH： Yes， now I am keeping a pretty even keel.

    LL： That's good. I don't want to have to deal with a hothead.

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是 hothead，意思是脾氣急躁的人。另一個(gè)
是even keel ，意思是情緒平靜。