Larry 和李華剛剛忙完手頭的工作。他們一起去吃冰激凌。李華今天要學(xué)兩
個(gè)常用語：my treat和ginormous. LL ： Well ， Li Hua ， you just finished
a big paper ， and I just finished an important projectat work. Let's
go for ice cream and celebrate. It'll be my treat.

    LH：冰激凌是your treat？可我也要吃啊，應(yīng)該是our treat 才對(duì)吧。

    LL： Well ， the ice cream will certainly be for both of us - and
it will be a treat for both of us ， but when I said it was "my treat"
I meant that I would pay for the ice cream.

    LH：哦，原來是你要請(qǐng)客�。�

    LL： That's right ， to TREAT someone means to pay for someone's food
or entertainmentas a form of a gift.

    LH：那太好了。謝謝你請(qǐng)我去吃冰激凌。

    LL： It is my pleasure， Li Hua.

    LH：為了表示感謝，這個(gè)周末我請(qǐng)你去中國餐館吃飯。My treat. LL： That's
very considerate， Li Hua. But you don't really have to treat me to dinner
just because I treated you to ice cream.

    LH：我可不是因?yàn)槟阏?qǐng)我吃冰激凌才請(qǐng)你去吃飯的，我請(qǐng)你吃飯是因?yàn)樵蹅z
是好朋友嘛！

    LL： In that case ， I'll be happy to go for Chinese food this weekend
- especially if it is your treat.

    LH：我有個(gè)問題，Larry ，在美國，如果有人提出請(qǐng)你吃飯，你還用爭(zhēng)著付
錢嗎？

    LL： Generally， you can try to protest a little， but the most polite
thing to do is to let the other person treat you and allow his or her
to feel generous.

    LH：在中國的時(shí)候，我有個(gè)叔叔，人特別大方，經(jīng)常請(qǐng)朋友和家里人出去吃
飯。

    LL： It is wonderful to have generous relatives. When I was growing
up， my grandmother would always treat us to the circus - or sometimes
a movie.

    LH：看馬戲？哎（嘆氣）——小時(shí)候真好！我爸爸也經(jīng)常帶我去看木偶劇。

    LL： Yeah. My Dad would always treat us to ice cream at a shop just
like this one. Say， why don't you go ahead and order your ice cream，
Li Hua.

    LH：我要一個(gè)巧克力、香草和草莓的冰激凌蛋筒。

    ******

    LL： That is the most ginormousice cream cone I have ever seen， Li
Hua. LH ： Ginormous？你是想說enormous吧？

    LL： Well ， actually ， Li Hua. You are right. I do mean that your
ice cream cone is enormous. But ginormous is a slang word formed from
two other words ： gigantic and enormous. LH：哦，gigantic前面的音和enormous
后面的音連在一起，就變成了ginormous ，也就是特別、特別、特別大的意思嘍？

    LL： Yes. Something that is ginormous is both gigantic and enormous.
It is something that is really， really ， really big. LH ：我餓極了，
現(xiàn)在正需要一個(gè)ginormous 的冰激凌，因?yàn)槲矣幸粋�(gè)ginormous 的胃口。

    LL： You just want to be careful that you don't eat too many sweets
，Li Hua. You don't want to end up with a ginormous cavity ！

    LH：吃甜的長(zhǎng)個(gè)大蟲牙我倒不擔(dān)心，我擔(dān)心的是我的腰圍。

    LL： Hey， here comes my hot fudgesundae. Wow ！ It is ginormous，
too. Maybe we should have split one ice cream between the two of us. LH
：吃完這兩個(gè)特大號(hào)的冰激凌，恐怕我們就得趕緊節(jié)食了。

    LL： You aren't kidding. I think this ice cream must contain a ginormous
amount of fat and calories. LH：嗨，管它呢，先吃了再說。

    LL： That sound's good……Oh， watch out， Li Hua ！ Your ice cream
cone is melting and starting to tip ！ If it falls on the floor ， it'll
make a ginormous mess. LH ：還好你提醒我，總算沒掉下來。不過我還是得趕
快去拿一大疊餐巾紙來，先準(zhǔn)備著。

    LL： That's a good idea. I could use a napkin ， too. I think I have
a ginormous chocolate moustache from my sundae. LH：巧克力胡子？Ha， ha
……你的巧克力冰激凌確實(shí)沾了一嘴�？旖o你，餐巾紙。

    今天李華學(xué)到了兩個(gè)常用語。一個(gè)是 my treat ，是我請(qǐng)客的意思。另一個(gè)
是ginormous ，是巨大無比的意思。