李華剛剛看了她最喜歡的電影演員喬治。克魯尼演的新片Up in the Air.今
天我們要學(xué)兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：up in the air 和 full of hot air.

    LL： Hey Li Hua ， I heard you went to see that new movie Up in the
Air. How'd you like it？

    LH：好看極了，情節(jié)特別曲折，讓你始終猜不到結(jié)局。

    LL： Maybe that's why it's called Up in the Air ？

    LH：你說(shuō)為什么叫up in the air ？我原來(lái)以為，就是因?yàn)殡娪袄镏v的故事
跟坐飛機(jī)有關(guān)，在天上飛來(lái)飛去，所以叫up in the air 的。

    LL： Well ， that's one reason it's called Up in the Air. But the
phrase "up in the air" also has another meaning.

    LH：真的嗎？快告訴我，up in the air 還有什么其它意思。

    LL： Well ， people use the expression "it's up in the air" all the
time， and they are not talking about people flying.

    LH：不是在天上飛？那讓我想想，說(shuō)什么事情it's up in the air在空中懸
著，是指一件事情懸而未決嗎？

    LL： Right！ Like last Sunday ， my friend Greg was watching the Super
Bowl and I asked him who was going to win ， and he said， "I don't know
yet. It's still 'up in the air.'"

    LH：是啊，這屆超級(jí)杯比賽太激烈了，難怪Greg說(shuō)it's still up in the air.
鹿死誰(shuí)手，還很難說(shuō)。

    LL： Exactly. Greg was using "up in the air" to mean that the game
was still undecided and it wasn't clear who was going to win.

    LH：我明白了。像上星期我烤蛋糕烤到一半，你問(wèn)我怎么樣了，我因?yàn)槭堑?br /> 一次做，不知道烤出來(lái)會(huì)不會(huì)好吃，就可以說(shuō)I don't know， it's up in the
air.

    LL： You got it. You can say it's up in the air because you don't
know whether the cake will taste good or not. This is how "up in the air"
is used most of the time. It's used to show when something is still undecided.

    LH：怎么樣，Larry ，今天晚上有什么計(jì)劃嗎？

    LL： I don't know. It's still up in the air.

    ******

    MC： Larry取信回來(lái)，Li Hua正坐在沙發(fā)上看電視。

    LL： Hey Li Hua ， what are you watching？

    LH：電視上正轉(zhuǎn)播一個(gè)關(guān)于西部野火防范問(wèn)題的聽(tīng)證會(huì)。這個(gè)國(guó)會(huì)議員還真
能說(shuō)，已經(jīng)足足講了十幾分鐘了。

    LL： Oh ， I know this congressman. He's full of hot air.

    LH： Full of hot air？那是什么意思？

    LL： I mean he's talking a lot without saying anything of value or
meaning.

    LH：哦，我明白了，說(shuō)一個(gè)人full of hot air ，就是說(shuō)這個(gè)人只會(huì)夸夸其
談，但是言之無(wú)物。

    LL： Yup. "Full of hot air" is also used to describe someone who is
exaggerating， talking only to hear their own voice ， or talking about
something they don't really understand.

    LH：哦，就是說(shuō)大話，說(shuō)空話，甚至對(duì)自己并不熟悉的事情也能滔滔不絕的
意思。如果這么說(shuō)，這個(gè)國(guó)會(huì)議員還真是full of hot air.

    LL： Politicians in particular are often accused of being "full of
hot air". They often talk just for the sake of talking.

    LH：那Larry ，有沒(méi)有人說(shuō)你也是full of hot air 呢？

    LL： I don't go on and on about subjects that I don't know a lot about，
so no. But if you want， I can pretend to be "full of hot air".

    LH：真的嗎，你能裝出夸夸其談的樣子？那我可一定得看看。

    LL： First tell me what topic you want me to be "full of hot air"
on.

    LH：選題？這容易，就說(shuō)眼下的經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢(shì)吧！

    LL： OK. Piece of cake！ Unemployment is too high and it needs to
be fixed but we need to increase consumption and lower interest rates.
At the same time， exports are soaring and that's creating inflationary
issues that are spilling over into the futures markets and affecting the
bull market on Wall Street. We also need to worry about the CPI and the
real estate market……

    LH： WOW！你還真是full of hot air ！說(shuō)了一大堆的經(jīng)濟(jì)術(shù)語(yǔ)，我完全沒(méi)
有聽(tīng)懂。

    LL： Yeah. That's called being "full of hot air".

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是up in the air ，意思是尚無(wú)定論，懸而
未決。另一個(gè)是full of hot air ，意思是夸夸其談。