Larry 看見李華在修補她的書包，覺得有點奇怪。李華今天要學會兩個常用
語cut it和get on it.

    LL： Hey， Li Hua ， what are you doing with that tape？

    LH：（Sighs ）我不小心把書包扯了一個大洞。我要用膠布把它粘上。

    LL： With that tape ？ Li Hua ， this cheap clear tape isn't going
to cut it ， you need some duct tape.

    LH： The clear tape isn't going to cut it ？我不是要把書包切開呀！

    LL： I know ！ I said the clear tape won't cut it. Cut. If something
or someone can't "cut it" ， that means it's not good enough.

    LH：原來won't cut it的意思是不夠好，而不是把它切開。所以你是說這種
透明的膠條不結實，粘不住，你要用那種厚的膠布？

    LL： That's right. Remember that Chinese newspaper reading class I
was taking， it was too hard for me- my Chinese wasn't good enough. I
couldn't cut it in that class ， so I changed to another.

    LH：我當然記得咯！當時你才學了半年中文，看中國報刊是不行，所以跟不
上，只好放棄。

    LL： Yeah ， to be able to read Chinese newspaper ， I have to learn
more Chinese characters.

    LH：你說的對。 Larry你有沒有幫我修改申請書啊？

    LL： Yeah ， I looked at it. I don't think your application is going
to cut it ， though. You'll need to re-write some parts.

    LH：你認為憑我寫的申請書是拿不到獎學金的。哪怎么辦呢？你說吧，哪些
部分要重寫。

    LL： You need to be more specific about your future academic plans.
Simply promising to work hard isn't going to cut it with the review committee.

    LH：你說得有道理，我得應當更具體地講未來的學術計劃，而不是泛泛地說
要努力學習。我寫的恐怕是通不過審查委員會。

    LL：Call me when you finish rewriting.

    LH：I will， Larry.

    ******

    [Li Hua and Larry meet on campus several days later]

    LL： Hey， Li Hua ， haven't see you for a couple of days. Do you
have another draft of that application essay for me to check？

    LH：是啊，我們好幾天沒見了。我一直忙著上課，我的申請還沒寫好呢。

    LL： Well ， you'd better get on it ！ It's due next week ！

    LH：我得get on it ，那是什么意思？

    LL： I said ， you'd better get on it. To get on it means to take
care of something or start working on an important task.

    LH：噢， get on it就是動手處理某件重要的事情。沒錯，沒錯，我的確該
動手修改那申請書了。

    LL： That's right ！ You'd better get on it right away. By the way，
I'm going to be busy on Thursday， so you'd better have it ready by noon
tomorrow.

    LH：你星期四沒有時間，那就是說我非得在明天中午以前交給你。

    LL： Yes. If you can give it to me around noon tomorrow ， I'll get
on it right away and have the corrections ready by Thursday morning.

    LH：星期四上午你就能改完。那太好了。謝謝你。你知道嗎？我現在千頭萬
緒，忙得不可開交，我這個月的電話賬單還沒付呢。

    LL： Really ？ You'd better get on that ！ If you wait too long ，
they'll charge a big fee， and it might damage your credit score.

    LH：我知道，所以心里著急呢！過期不付要罰很多錢，而且還會影響我的信
譽。這我都知道。可是我事太多，我的汽車還沒有重新登記呢。

    LL： What ？ If the police notice that you are driving a car with
an out of date registration ， you'll get a big ticket， or worse ！ You'd
better get on that！

    LH：是啊，這件事一定得趕快辦。我可不想讓警察發現我的車沒登記，真要
罰錢，我可受不了。可是我就是不喜歡填表，要花很多時間。

    LL： That kind of thinking definitely won't cut it if you want to
go to graduate school. Filling out forms for grant proposals is one of
the main things that professors and graduate students do.

    LH：那也是，研究生要申請研究經費都要填表。看來我是得改變這種想法了。

    今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是won't cut it，意思是不行，不夠好。
還有一個是get on it ，意思是趕快處理。