李華和Larry 一起到飯館吃飯。店里人多，他們只好排隊等位。今天我們要
學兩個常用語：to kick oneself 和wiggle room.

    LH： Larry，真希望這家飯館能快點上菜，我快餓暈了！

    L ： Yeah ， I'm pretty hungry too， and smelling all the delicious
food here is only making it worse.

    LH：咱們待會兒也別看菜單了，就跟服務員說，什么菜能上得最快，我們就
點什么。

    L ： Well ， I guess we could do that …… but if the food is really
bad ， you're going to be kicking yourself later.

    LH：你說我要kick myself ？踢我自己？別開玩笑了，我連抬腿的勁兒都沒
有了，怎么還能踢自己。

    L ： Actually ， if you really regret something stupid that you did
earlier ， you can say that you are kicking yourself.

    LH：哦，原來to kick oneself 不是自己踢自己，而是為自己做的蠢事感到
后悔。你是說，要是我不看菜單瞎點，八成得后悔。

    L ： Right！ Here is another example. I spent $1，000 on a new computer，
but I was kicking myself a week later when it went on sale for half the
price.

    LH：那可不，剛買臺電腦，沒幾天就降價50% ，這能不讓人后悔么？早知道
就多等幾天，可以省好多錢呢。好了，咱們還是趕快決定吃什么吧，辣雞翅怎么
樣？

    L ： I really love spicy food ， but it always makes my stomach hurt.
If I eat it ， I know I'm going to be kicking myself later.

    LH：那油炸奶酪？

    L ： Yeah ， those are really tasty too ， but they're so fattening！
I know I'm going to be kicking myself at the gym tomorrow.

    LH： Larry，你怎么這么多事！這家飯館挺貴的，應該不會難吃。

    L ： Yeah ， I'm going to be kicking myself if we spend a lot of money
on dinner but the food isn't very good.

    LH：可是Larry ，我真的餓死了。那張桌子空出來了，我們可以進去了！

    L ： Great！ Let's go and sit down.

    ******

    LH：啊，真是酒足飯飽，我吃得太多了，撐死了。咱們干點什么消化消消食
兒吧。

    L ： Hmm…… do you want to go see a movie？ I think that the new
Tom Cruise action movie starts playing at 9 PM.

    LH：好啊，可是現在已經八點一刻了，咱們趕得及么？

    L ： Well ， the theater is only 15 minutes away， so we have some
wiggle room.

    LH： Wiggle room？那什么意思？

    L ： When you say that you have some wiggle room， that means that
you have some flexibility ， or room to spare.

    LH：噢，wiggle room 就是回旋余地。你是說電影院離得不遠，我們還有一
些時間，應該可以趕上九點鐘的電影。

    L ： Right！ Here is another example. My apartment lease ends next
week， but I have some wiggle room because my landlord said I could stay
an extra month if I need to.

    LH：我明白了。房東允許你再多住一個月，所以你就不必趕緊搬家，還有時
間可以慢慢找房子。對了，我聽說Tom Cruise的這部新片里有好多電腦特技。

    L ： Yeah ， I read that the movie cost more than the movie studio
thought it would. By the end， there was no wiggle room in the budget.

    LH：啊？拍這個電影花錢太多，最后預算一分不剩都花啦？那這電影一定好
看！不過說實話，我還是想看愛情片，我們下周去好不好。

    L ： Well …… I probably can …… but I will have to check my schedule.

    LH：你怎么這么麻煩，到底去不去？

    L ： Well ， I just want to keep a little wiggle room in case an even
better action movie comes out next week ！

    LH：哼，你干什么都不把話說死，總要留點余地。隨便，你不陪我就自己去。
好啦，咱們走吧，你說給多少小費啊？15% 還是20% ？

    L ： You know ， there is some wiggle room. Anything between 15 percent
and 20 percent will be fine.

    LH：好吧。對了，你想不想去隔壁的甜品店吃點冰激凌？

    L ： Even though we have some extra time， we probably shouldn't take
the risk. We're going to be kicking ourselves if eating ice cream makes
us late to the movie.

    LH：我肯定不后悔，冰淇淋比電影誘人多了。走，陪我去吃！

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是to kick oneself ，表示感到后悔。另一
個是wiggle room ，意思是靈活性，回旋余地。