李華打電話給Larry ，提醒他說好了晚上一起看電影。今天我們要學兩個常
用語： space cadet和 running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

    LL：（Pick up phone ） Hello？

    LH： Hi ， Larry.

    LL： How are you， Lihua？

    LH：我挺好。你別忘了，說好了一起看電影，還有半個小時開演。

    LL： Oh shoot. I'm so sorry Li Hua. It completely slipped my mind.
I feel like such a space cadet.

    LH： Space cadet？太空學員？太空學員常忘事兒嗎？

    LL： Well not real space cadets ， but as a saying "space cadet" means
someone who is off in space ， or often forgets things that they need
to do.

    LH：噢，Space Cadet 原來是說心不在焉，愛忘事兒的人。那你絕對合格！
不然怎么會忘記約好跟我一起看電影呢。

    LL： I guess I just got caught up with this project for work. My space
cadet coworker forgot to save it earlier， so we are back to square one.

    LH：啊？你們的項目白做了，要從頭開始？我以前寫論文也出過忘記存盤的
事。I've acted like a space cadet before. 那你們要怎么辦呢？

    LL： It hopefully won't be too big of a problem ， but because he
was a space cadet we will have to work a bit late tonight.

    LH：就算是這樣，你也不能忘了陪我看電影的事兒啊？This is no excuse
for you being a space cadet ！

    LL： I know. I am sorry.

    LH：沒關系，誰都有這種時候，我們教授星期一來上課，居然說把我們的作
文落在了地鐵上。Talk about a space cadet！

    LL： I'll say ！ What did he do ？

    LH：最后他找到地鐵總站才找到。

    LL： Wow， he is lucky that he was able to find them again.

    LH：可他還是很不好意思，所以給我們所有人一律加分。

    LL： That sounds like a pretty good trade off to me.

    LH：是不錯。看來有個做"space cadet" 的教授，也不一定是壞事。言歸正
傳，電影到底還看不看？

    LL： Let's shoot for the 8：30 showing. I think I will have the work
done by then. Meet you at the theater ？

    LH：好，一言為定。

    ******

    Larry 和李華在電影院大廳里碰頭。

    LH： Larry，你來得正好，電影馬上就要開演了。

    LL： Yes， though I've been running around like a chicken with its
head cut off.

    LH： What ？你為什么要說自己象沒頭公雞一樣跑來呢？

    LL： Running around like a chicken with its head cut off means I have
been running around frantically all over the place.

    LH：噢，你是說自己忙得跑來跑去，中文里我們說，象沒頭的蒼蠅一樣，英
文里說象沒頭的雞，真有意思。你忙什么？

    LL： It turned out that there was more to the project than I originally
thought ， but I really wanted to come see this movie. I had to rush and
wound up running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

    LH：那Larry ，你說雞真的會砍掉腦袋還跑來跑去嗎？

    LL： I am not sure Li Hua. But the point is that if they do run around，
it is chaotic. Similarly I was running all over the place at my office
to try and get this project done.

    LH：這倒讓我想起我同學Carrie. 她星期天才知道星期一有項目展示，所以
一整天都忙得昏天暗地。She was running around like a chicken with her head
cut off ！

    LL： What do you mean ， Lihua？

    LH：她一直在自習室和圖書館之間跑來跑去，手忙腳亂的。

    LL： That certainly does sound right. After running around like a
chicken with its head cut off ， I feel pretty flustered too！ How did
Carrie's presentation turn out？

    LH：說實話，我還真不知道，整個過程，我都在開小差兒。

    LL： It sounds like you were a total space cadet. What about you，
have you ever had to run around like a chicken with its head cut off because
you left something to the last minute ？

    LH：我？怎么可能！我做事從來都是井井有條，絕不會臨時抱佛腳。

    LL： Sure. Well let's get our tickets and watch this movie.

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是space cadet ，指心不在焉，愛忘事的人。
另一個是running around like a chicken with its head cut off ，意思是忙
得象沒頭的蒼蠅一樣。