今天李華和Larry 在紐約市中央公園附近散步。路邊有許多小販在賣仿名牌
的手提包和圍巾等東西。今天李華會(huì)學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語：knock-off 和running on
empty.

    LL： Li Hua ， don't bother buying any of those. They're just cheap
knock-offs. LH：可是這個(gè)手提包真漂亮！你看，上面還有名牌古姿的標(biāo)記呢！
你說這些都是便宜的knock-offs. 是不是說它們都不是真貨？

    LL： Yeah. A "knock-off" is a fake， an imitation of the real thing.
LH：你瞧。我一猜就猜對(duì)了，knock-off 就是指假的，仿冒的東西。這些皮包當(dāng)
然不可能是真的啦！一個(gè)真的古姿皮包可是要上百美元呢！我根本就買不起！

    LL： Well ， if you can't afford the real thing ， why would you want
to buy a cheap knock-off？

    LH：買不起真貨的人才買假冒品嘛！有的假冒品做的非常好，你不仔細(xì)看還
分不出是真是假呢！你看，這個(gè)皮包還是很漂亮，而且也很實(shí)用呢！

    LL： Well ， it's your decision whether you want to buy a knock-off.
LH：我很喜歡這個(gè)皮包。不過我現(xiàn)在還不需要。算了吧！我想還是別買了。

    LL： Hey， look that vendor is selling knock-offs of famous paintings.
Some of them are pretty good. LH：真的耶！這些仿冒的藝術(shù)畫看起來和真品
一樣，模仿得真像！不知道是不是那個(gè)賣畫的人自己畫的。

    LL： It's possible. He might be an art student and practices his skill
by making knock-offs of famous masterpieces. LH ：在中國也有很多學(xué)藝術(shù)
專業(yè)的學(xué)生，他們會(huì)臨摹一些名畫，順便練習(xí)自己的繪畫技巧。所以你經(jīng)�？梢�
找到一些假的中國名畫呢。

    LL： I know. When I was in China， I bought several and brought them
back to my friends as gifts. LH ：你在中國買這樣的仿冒品帶回來送人啊？
不過很多美國人都不太懂中國的畫，說不定他們還以為你送給他們的是真品呢！

    LL： The important thing is not whether the paintings were knock-offs
but rather that they made my friends happy.

    ******

    LL： Wow， Li Hua. I'm really running on empty. Do you mind if we
go back home now？

    LH： Running-on-empty ？什么是“running on empty" ？你不舒服，想回
家了？

    LL： No ， "running on empty" means that I'm exhausted and I don't
have any energy. I feel like a car whose gas tank is empty. LH：噢，你
用汽車沒有油來比喻，我就知道了。Running on empty就是很累，一點(diǎn)勁兒都沒
有了�；蛟S我們可以找點(diǎn)東西吃。你可以補(bǔ)充一下體力。

    LL： That might help a little ， but I really need to go home and
get some rest. LH ：對(duì)了，你前兩天感冒剛好，所以才會(huì)覺得running on empty.
好吧，那我們就買點(diǎn)東西吃。休息一下，然后就回家。

    LL： That sounds like a good idea to me. When I'm running on empty，
food and sleep are always the best remedies. LH ：我也是呀！我一累，只
要吃飽睡足，馬上就能恢復(fù)體力。我們這兩天都?jí)蛎Φ摹Ｕ媸窃摵煤眯菹⒁幌隆?/p>

    LL： It's kind of difficult to enjoy the park when you're running
on empty. LH：沒錯(cuò)。人一累，再好玩的事都提不起勁來。

    LL： Hopefully， by tomorrow， I won't be running on empty anymore
and we can enjoy a nice walk in the park. LH：今天你回家好好睡一覺，多
吃點(diǎn)有營養(yǎng)的東西，我保證你明天就會(huì)有精神了。如果你還想來公園散步，我一
定奉陪！走吧！