Larry 和李華一起坐地鐵回家。今天我們要學兩個常用語：get the ball rolling
和mull it over.

    LH： Larry，這兩天天氣真好，我看，過不了多久樹就要發芽了。我真巴不
得春天馬上就到。

    LL： Me too. I can't wait until we can walk outside comfortably and
not have to wear a jacket. Spring is my favorite time of the year. It's
a time for new beginnings ！

    LH：說起new beginning 新開端，我今天遇到Jeff了。他告訴我說，這個春
天他計劃多認識一些女孩子，找個固定的女朋友。

    LL： Good for Jeff. It's always nice to have a steady girlfriend.
So what is he doing to get the ball rolling ？ Has he made plans for the
weekend ？

    LH：他說星期五約好了跟朋友一起去看電影，星期六要和好久不見的大學同
學一起喝咖啡。

    LL： Well ， it sounds like Jeff has already gotten the ball rolling
with a new social agenda. Now what about his goal of getting a steady
girlfriend？

    LH： Larry，你剛才兩次說到get the ball rolling，是什么意思啊？我猜
肯定不能按字面理解為讓球滾起來吧？

    LL： Oh ， by get the ball rolling， I just mean what has Jeff done
to start or to initiate his plan. When you get the ball rolling ， you
do something which starts an activity.

    LH：噢，get the ball rolling就是開始做一件事情，開始把計劃付諸行動。

    LL： Exactly， Lihua. It's like in a sport the game usually doesn't
start until the ball starts rolling

    LH：我明白了。Jeff找女朋友的計劃，確實已經落實到了行動上。Jeff has
gotten the ball rolling.

    LL： Oh yeah， so tell me ， if you don't mind， how has he gotten
the ball rolling？

    LH：他已經加入了一個網上交友俱樂部，而且還問我認不認識什么合適的女
孩子，可以幫他介紹呢！

    ******

    Larry 問李華晚上要不要一起去看電影。李華說自己沒心情。李華有什么煩
心事呢？我們一起聽。

    LH：我前天接到一份聘書，就是我上個月申請的那份工作，那家公司希望雇
傭我，可我卻很猶豫，不知道是不是要接受。

    LL： So how long do you have to make your decision？

    LH：我跟人家說下星期一給他們答復。

    LL： Well that still gives you some time to mull it over.

    LH：你說mull it over是什么意思？

    LL： Mull it over just means to think about something or to consider
something deeply. Like for this decision about your job ， you still have
the whole weekend to mull it over before making the decision.

    LH：哦，你說的mull it over就是仔細考慮的意思。

    LL： Yeah ， a lot of people suggest that the best way to make a decision
is to mull it over. One expression often used is "Why don't you mull it
over and decide in the morning."

    LH：啊？建議別人睡一覺，仔細琢磨琢磨，早上再做決定。那這一夜還睡得
著嗎？我也在想啊，可是越想越拿不定主意。

    LL： It sounds like you're being really hard on yourself and taking
the decision really seriously. Maybe you should try and loosen up and
forget about it for a while.

    LH：好主意。我今天吃完飯就去打乒乓球，分散一下注意力。不過，Larry ，
一味逃避也不是法子；我遲早還是要做決定啊。

    LL： When you mull it over， it might help to go over the positives
of the new position and compare it with the positives of the job you have
now.

    LH：新工作不僅有福利，工資高，而且也比現在的工作更有意思，唯一不好
的地方是上班太遠，坐地鐵單程就要花一個小時。

    LL： Hmm…… Sounds like there are both positives and negatives to
the new job. I can see why you are having trouble deciding. But look at
it this way ， neither job is perfect and the decision isn't for life.

    LH：你說的一點沒錯，工作又不是一輩子的事，以后真覺得不適合還可以再
換。

    LL： So why don't you just forget about it tonight， and mull it over
during the weekend？

    LH：好，就聽你的，我們今天晚上什么都不想了，去看電影，周末再做決定。

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是get the ball rolling，意思是開始做一
件事情。另一個是mull it over意思是仔細考慮。