李華和Larry 星期六早上一起去吃午飯。今天我們要學兩個常用語：get a
leg up on 和 crush.

    LH： Larry，一星期沒見，你最近是不是特別忙？

    LL： Hi Li Hua. It has been a busy week.

    LH：下星期是不是就沒事了？你陪我去看Disney On Ice 冰上迪斯尼怎么樣？

    LL： Unfortunately I think next week might be even busier. We are
bidding against our top competitor for a huge advertising contract， so
everybody is going to have to work especially hard to win it.

    LH：那家公司不是特別厲害嗎？不過沒關系，我相信，你們公司一定能贏。

    LL： Yes， although they have a lot of talent ， I think we'll be
able to get a leg up on the competition.

    LH： A leg up 一條腿在上？這是什么意思？

    LL： Haha ……A leg up on the competition means that we have an advantage
over them.

    LH：噢，a leg up就是具有優勢。

    LL： Yes exactly. Because we have got a leg up on our competitors ，
I'm pretty confident that we'll be able to win the contract.

    LH：這份合同是做什么的？

    LL： It's a contract to advertise soda.

    LH：你為什么覺得自己have a leg up on the competition比對手有優勢呢？

    LL： Although the other company has worked with them in the past，
their last ad campaign was not so successful. We on the other hand have
been very successful with similar products， so I think we have got a
leg up on them.

    LH：那太好了。

    LL： It is VERY good， especially because if we win this contract ，
we might all be able to get a bonus this year.

    LH：拿到合同就發獎金？那你們還不得使出吃奶的勁兒來。

    LL： What's new with you Li Hua ？

    LH：好消息，我們排球隊剛剛殺進小組前四名，下一場比賽是這星期五晚上。
你一定要來。雖然對手很厲害，可我們還是有優勢。We have a leg up on them.

    LL： Why do you say that Li Hua ？

    LH：雖然他們球員的個人技術都不錯，但整體配合不如我們有默契。

    LH： That's great. What time is the game？

    LL：星期五晚上七點一刻。

    ******

    星期五晚上，Larry 來看李華比賽。

    （Whistle Sound ）

    LL： Congratulations！

    LH： Hooray ！ We won ！

    LL： Won？ You crushed them ！

    LH： Eh ？ crushed them ？那是什么意思？

    LL： Crushed them ， it means you beat them severely.

    LH：你是說我們狠狠地打敗了他們。太夸張了，比分還是挺接近的。

    LL： I don't know ， Li Hua ， your team was clearly on top. I'd say
you crushed them.

    LH：你別忘了，剛開始的時候，她們可是一路領先，I thought they would
really crush us.

    LL： Well it certainly seems like you were able to come back from
behind then for the victory.

    LH：是啊，她們耐力不夠，比賽一開始勁頭十足，可沒多久主力隊員就累得
不行了。

    LL： I guess that is when you were really able to start crushing them.

    LH：是啊，我們今天超水平發揮。

    LL： It was a really good game to watch. You were on fire out there.

    LH：我的表現只能說一般，還是大家的功勞。對了，你最近忙嗎？

    LL： Have I ever！ You remember that account I told you about ？ The
ad campaign that we were competing for？

    LH：當然記得，結果怎么樣，合同拿到手了嗎？

    LL： We got the contract！ We crushed our competitors and now we'll
be in charge of this huge new account.

    LH：太棒了，I'm glad to hear that you crushed them.

    LL： We were able to show our past successes， and our rates were
much lower than their old company. We really crushed them.

    LH：這個合同由誰來負責呢？

    LL： Well the boss is still trying to decide who to put in charge
of the project， but I am hoping it will be me.

    LH：那你是不是會忙上加忙呢？

    LL： It will mean a bit more responsibility ， but no real change
in the hours.

    LH：我們得好好慶祝一下。去吃飯？

    LL： Sounds good to me！

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是get a leg up on ，意思是占據優勢。另
一個是crush ，意思是徹底打敗。