李華和Larry 星期六早上坐船去釣魚。今天我們要學兩個常用語：try your
hand和getting the knack of something.

    LH： Larry，你說的一點沒錯，這里簡直太美了。

    LL： See？ I told you. There's no better way to relax after a tough
week than to come out to the lake ， rent a boat and try our hand at catching
some fish.

    LH：什么？你不是準備魚餌了嗎，為什么還要try MY hand ？用我的手做魚
餌？我不干。

    LL： No ， silly！ I don't mean "use your hand." I said "try your
hand." To try your hand at something means to give something a try that
might not necessarily be successful - like trying to catch fish.

    LH： Whew ！原來try your hand 是試試看的意思。

    LL： Right. Since we don't often go fishing ， we really don't know
how good we will be at catching fish. But that's OK. We can try our hand
at it anyway.

    LH：我明白了。那這樣，你在這兒慢慢釣魚試試看，我正好把這本書讀完。

    LL： But first， wouldn't you like to try your hand at it baiting
my hook ？ I bet you haven't put a live worm on a hook before ！

    LH： Eww！我最后一次去釣魚還是小時候跟爺爺，那會兒都是我爺爺幫我準
備魚餌。我最怕擺弄這些扭來扭去的蟲子了。

    LL： Ok ， fine. But you should really take this opportunity to try
your hand at some new experiences ！

    LH：只要你不讓我去擺弄那些蟲子，讓我嘗試什么都行！

    LL： Really ？ I've got an idea. Maybe you could try your hand at
massaging my neck and shoulder while I am waiting for the fish to bite.

    LH： Larry，我按摩雖然沒學過，可跆拳道卻略通一、二，要不要試試？

    LL：饒命啊……

    ******

    Larry 和李華在湖邊待了整整一天，李華開始覺得累了。

    LH： Larry，我累死了，咱們回去吧，上岸找點東西吃。

    LL： Give me just a few more minutes - I think I felt a nibble！

    LH：（Groans） Larry……一整天都沒釣到魚，每次我一提走，你就說好象
有魚上鉤了。

    LL： Aww， but Lihua， we're just starting to get the knack of it ！

    LH： Get the knack？什么是knack ？我怎么沒聽說過這種魚。

    LL： No ， When someone says they are getting the knack of something，
it means they are starting to become better at it. We've been fishing
all day without any luck， but I think we're getting the knack of it now.

    LH：哦，我明白了， getting the knack of something 意思就是有點入門
了。你是說咱倆釣魚有進步了，我怎么不覺得？

    LL： Of course we're making progress. You ， for example， are getting
better at dealing with our bait.

    LH：這倒是真了，我現(xiàn)在準備魚餌已經(jīng)是專家了，不過，這都要歸功于你。

    是你經(jīng)常讓狡猾的魚把魚餌叼走，我才有這么多鍛煉機會。

    LL： Fine. if you want to go back so bad， why don't you try your
hand at rowing？ I've been moving this boat around while you sit there
and relax the whole day.

    LH：你讓我把船劃回去？可我不會劃船啊，我只會原地打轉(zhuǎn)。

    LL： Just give it a try ， it's not that hard. I'm sure you'll get
the knack of it in no time.

    （Lihua starts trying to row the boat ）

    LH：哎，你當初干嘛把船劃到湖中心來嘛！

    LL： The guy at the dock told me all the best fishing is out over
on this side of the lake. I wanted to try my hand at catching the big
fish！

    LH：這船怎么就是不動��！I'll never get the knack of this. 我永遠也
學不會劃船。還是你來吧。

    LL： Oh ， alright. But I could have sworn I felt a fish nibbling
on my line！ Here ， take my rod. Try you hand at bringing a fish in.

    LH：沒問題，只要你往回劃，讓我干什么多行。啊，有魚上鉤了！

    LL： There you go ！ See， you're already getting the knack of it ！

    I told you I had a fish biting.

    LH：現(xiàn)在怎么辦？你快來幫我把魚拉上來啊！

    LL： It's OK！ You try your hand at reeling it in. Just stay calm ，
patient and slowly reel it in ……I think I see it - It's huge！

    LH：什么魚這么重？

    LL： Wow！ It's a huge， black……boot. （sign）

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是try your hand ，意思是嘗試做某件事。

    另一個是getting the knack of something，意思是入門了，開始掌握基本
要領(lǐng)了。