Larry 和李華剛剛在餐館吃完飯。李華今天要學兩個常用語doggie bag和back
burner.

    LL： This is waaaay too much food for me to finish. I guess I'd better
ask for a doggie bag.

    LH：怎么啦，你不會是想吐吧。

    LL： Huh？ No ！ I said I am going to ask for a doggie bag. That's
a bag that you use to take home leftover food from a restaurant.

    LH：我知道了，就是中國人說的打包。你們叫"doggie bag"，是因為美國人
一般都把剩下的飯菜喂狗吧？可你沒有狗呀。

    LL： It's just a figure of speech. I 'm asking for a doggie bag because
I plan on eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

    LH：原來是你自己吃啊。美國人這種習慣真好。在中國，大家出去吃飯總要
點好多菜，根本吃不了，剩下的，有的就扔了。

    LL： The U.S. isn't so different. People originally used the phrase
"doggie bag" because they were embarrassed to admit they were saving food.

    LH：怪不得叫 "doggie bag" ，原來開始的時候美國人也不好意思承認自己
節(jié)儉，所以說是要喂狗。美國人真覺得這樣做丟人嗎？

    LL： Hmm……well， in the U.S. you wouldn't ask for a doggie bag at
a really nice restaurant， or on a formal occasion. But otherwise most
people would rather ask for a doggie bag than waste food.

    LH：所以說，在高級飯店和正式場合一般不打包，但除此之外，打包就很正
常了。中國現(xiàn)在也差不多，打包越來越普遍，不過我們用的是飯盒。

    LL： Yeah ， same here. But even though the food usually goes in a
box ， people still use the term "doggie bag".

    LH：美國人真把剩飯剩菜喂狗嗎？

    LL：（Chuckles） The food from doggie bags can make a dog fat ！

    LH：不光是狗，經常在外面吃，人也會變胖的。賬單來了。你得要 "doggie
bag"了。

    LL：（To the waiter ） Excuse me， could I get a doggie bag for this
please？

    ******

    LH： Larry，剛才說了半天 "doggie bag".我還真想養(yǎng)只小狗。

    LL： I know ， you've mentioned that before. But you'd better just
put that on the back burner for now.

    LH：把什么放在爐子上？你在說什么呀？

    LL： I said put it on the back burner. That means ， you should give
your idea of owning a dog low priority， and wait until it is more practical
or convenient.

    LH：你是說我養(yǎng)狗不現(xiàn)實，所以不要著急，應該暫時放一放。其實，我要是
真的養(yǎng)條狗也沒有什么不可以，就是要做出一些犧牲罷了。

    LL： Really ， you should just put it on the back burner. Taking care
of a pet requires money and time.

    LH：你說得也對，養(yǎng)狗又花時間，又費錢，確實應該等畢業(yè)有工作了再說。
我真恨不得馬上畢業(yè)。

    LL： I know ！ I have to put so many things on the back burner while
I'm in school …… I feel like I have no life ！

    LH： Larry，你都想干些什么呢？

    LL： Well ， for instance ， Jack and I were working together on an
online business ， but I am too busy with school to work on it often.
I had to put that on the back burner.

    LH：你和Jack要合作在網(wǎng)上做生意，真有兩下子呀！

    LL： It's on the back burner right now. You know， I was in a rock
band for a while， but I put that on the back burner as well.

    LH：（Laughs）搖滾樂隊？不會吧。Larry ，我聽過你唱歌，你不會真想當
搖滾歌星吧？（Cell Phone Rings）是你的電話。

    LL： Whoa ， it's Angie. I'll talk to you later ， Li Hua. I've got
to answer this. I'm going to ask Angie out this weekend.

    LH：誰？你不是要跟Cindy 約會嗎？怎么又變成Angie 了。你可不能腳踏兩
條船啊。

    LL： Cindy？ Well ， earlier this week， she left for study abroad
in Europe ， so I had to put her on the back burner.

    LH：（Groans） Whatever ， Larry！

    今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是Doggie bag，意思是在外面吃完飯打包
用的盒子。還有一個是back burner ，意思是暫時不考慮。