Larry 在學(xué)校的電腦室里見(jiàn)到了李華。李華今天要學(xué)會(huì)兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)ASAP和crank
out.

    LL： Hey Li Hua ！ What are you working on？ A paper？

    LH：不是，我在寫(xiě)申請(qǐng)威廉森中國(guó)歷史獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金的申請(qǐng)書(shū)。

    LL： What ？ But that's due tomorrow！ You'd better finish that ASAP.
LH：我知道明天是申請(qǐng)的最后期限，所以我在趕吶。ASAP，那是什么意思��？

    LL： ASAP means "as soon as possible". You need to finish that application
as soon as possible ！

    LH：噢，原來(lái)ASAP就是盡快 - as soon as possible的縮寫(xiě)。 Larry，那你
為什么不說(shuō)as soon as possible 而是說(shuō)ASAP呢？

    LL： Well ， people say "as soon as possible" ， but if you are in
a hurry ， it's easier to just say ASAP. LH ：匆忙的時(shí)候說(shuō)ASAP，這能節(jié)
省多少時(shí)間呢，頂多半秒鐘吧。

    LL： Well ， it also sounds more forceful. For instance ， if your
boss tells you， "Li Hua， I need you to get this done ASAP ！" you know
that he is in a hurry ！

    LH：那倒是。ASAP聽(tīng)起來(lái)比較干脆，比較有力。

    LL： Or if your mechanic tells you that you car is leaking oil， and
that you need to have it fixed ASAP ， you'd better take his word for
it. LH：你別舉這種讓我倒霉的例子。不過(guò)，要是我的車(chē)漏油了，我當(dāng)然得盡快
修理。I need to have it fixed ASAP.

    LL： Wait ， Li Hua ， you promised me yesterday that you would proofread
my Chinese composition. Have you done that yet？ I need to hand it in
ASAP！

    LH：天啊，昨天我答應(yīng)幫你修改中文作文，我怎么把這件事給忘了呢？真的
好對(duì)不起。那你今天下午交還來(lái)得及嗎？

    LL： I need to go to work ASAP， so I need to hand this in before
I go. LH：（Sighs ）如果你一定要在上班之前把作業(yè)交上去，那我現(xiàn)在就幫你
看吧。

    LL： Thank you so much， Li Hua. You're such a good friend.

    ******

    （Larry returns to the computer lab later in the day. ）

    LL： Hey Li Hua ！ I am back from work. Are you still working on that
statement ？

    LH：是啊，我還在寫(xiě)申請(qǐng)。哎，Larry ，寫(xiě)申請(qǐng)有什么竅門(mén)嗎？你怎么每次
都寫(xiě)得那么快呢？

    LL： Oh ， I don't know. I guess because I have written so many of
them， now it's easy for me to crank them out. LH ： Crank them out ？
這是什么意思呀？

    LL： To crank something out means to produce something quickly and
mechanically， without much thought. LH ：嗯，To crank something out就
是不需要太多思考，很機(jī)戒地做成某種事。

    LL： Well ， when I was an undergraduate， I would just crank out
essays and term papers， no problem. Of course， it's not that easy these
days. LH：我聽(tīng)說(shuō)了，你讀本科的時(shí)候是寫(xiě)作高手，論文和學(xué)期作文都難不倒你。
現(xiàn)在當(dāng)研究生就不一樣了；你要作大量研究才能有根有據(jù)地寫(xiě)。

    LL： Exactly. So， did you ever just crank out essays when you were
a student in China？

    LH：當(dāng)然了，我在中國(guó)讀中學(xué)的時(shí)候，半個(gè)小時(shí)就能crank out 兩頁(yè)的政論
文章。Larry ， to crank out 這個(gè)短語(yǔ)還能用在別的地方嗎？

    LL： Sure ， for instance ， at McDonald's， they crank out hundreds
of hamburgers every day. LH ：麥當(dāng)勞每天制作成千上萬(wàn)個(gè)的漢堡包。這一點(diǎn)
也不錯(cuò)。

    LL： And Hollywood cranks out stupid action movies every other week.
LH：我從來(lái)不看好萊塢制作的那種武打片，所以我就不太清楚了。

    LL： Anyway ， I have another piece of homework for Chinese class
that I need you to look at ASAP. Can you help me？

    LH：沒(méi)問(wèn)題，我可以幫你看中文作業(yè)，不過(guò)你得幫我修改一下我寫(xiě)的申請(qǐng)書(shū)。
I need to drop it in the mail ASAP.

    LL： Ok ， no problem. Show me what you've written so far.

    今天李華學(xué)到了兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是ASAP，意思是盡快。還有一個(gè)是crank
out ，意思是不需多加思考地，機(jī)械地制作某種東西。