Larry 和李華在商量下星期三有沒(méi)有時(shí)間去聽爵士音樂(lè)。今天李華會(huì)學(xué)到兩
個(gè)常用語(yǔ)：to play something by ear和strapped.

    LH： Larry，我看到一張爵士音樂(lè)會(huì)的海報(bào)。我很想去。怎么樣，你下星期
三有沒(méi)有空去聽呢？

    LL： I don't know. I have several papers due next week and I'm not
sure if I'll have time. Let's play it by ear， okay ？

    LH：哇，你下星期得交好幾份報(bào)告啊？那肯定沒(méi)有空了。哎，你剛才說(shuō)： Let's
play it by ear. 你想玩什么啊？玩耳朵？

    LL： No ！ "To play something by ear" is to wait and see if something
is possible and to be flexible rather than set any firm plans.

    LH：噢，play something by ear 就是想做一件事，可是又不能確定是否可
能，只好到時(shí)候看情況再說(shuō)，就像中文里說(shuō)的“看情況而定”！

    LL： Right. I just can't make any definiteplans right now ， so I
prefer to play it by ear.

    LH：所以你剛才的意思是，你要再等等看能不能及時(shí)寫完報(bào)告，然后才能確
定能不能去音樂(lè)會(huì)！對(duì)了，你不是答應(yīng)我下星期六去博物館嗎？你還能去嗎？

    LL： Oh ， I forgot that I promised to go with you. Can we play that
by ear， too？

    LH：你怎么把答應(yīng)我的事都給忘了！我特別想去那個(gè)博物館！你不能去也得
早告訴我嗎！

    LL： Just because I want to play it by ear doesn't mean that we definitely
won't go. It just means that I'm not certain.

    LH： Larry，下回你要約我上那兒去，我也學(xué)你說(shuō)：Let's play it by ear，
到時(shí)候再說(shuō)！

    LL： That's not fair， Li Hua. It's not my fault that I can't make
any definite plans because I have so much work to do.

    LH：好啦，說(shuō)真的，這也不是你的錯(cuò)。那我們也只好看情況再說(shuō)了！

    LL： All right， I'll call you the day before the concert to let you
know if we should get tickets ， okay ？

    LH：到音樂(lè)會(huì)前一天再告訴我，那還買得到票呀！ Let's play it by ear ！

    ******

    LL： Hey， Li Hua ， I can't go to the concert with you. I'm sorry，
but I'm really strapped for time. LH：噢，Larry ，你不能去聽音樂(lè)會(huì)。沒(méi)
關(guān)系。我聽說(shuō)票子早賣完了。你剛才說(shuō)：strapped for time ，那是什么意思啊？

    LL： Oh ， to be "strapped" for time or money means that you don't
have enough of it. LH ：噢，我懂了。Strapped for something就是缺少什么
東西。你因?yàn)橛泻芏鄨?bào)告要完成，所以沒(méi)有時(shí)間去聽音樂(lè)會(huì)了。You're strapped
for time. 對(duì)嗎？

    LL： Exactly. I still have 20 pages to write by Friday. LH：星期五
以前還有20頁(yè)的報(bào)告要寫，那很多耶！那星期六還去博物館嗎？

    LL： Yes！I should be finished with everything by Friday， so I won't
be strapped for time this weekend. LH ：你真的能在星期五以前把報(bào)告都寫
完吶！那你這個(gè)周末就有時(shí)間陪我去看博物館了。You'll not be strapped for
time this weekend ， right？

    LL： Yes， I promise to go with you. LH ：那太好了！我很高興這個(gè)星
期六我們能一塊兒出去，因?yàn)橄聜�(gè)周末我就要忙了，I will be strapped for time
next weekend！

    LL： Why？ Do you have a paper due？

    LH：就是啊。下個(gè)周末，我得寫完一篇英文課的報(bào)告，所以肯定不能出去了。

    LL： Let me know if you need any help with that. Listen ， I'm sorry，
but I'm too strapped for time to talk any more right now. I'll talk to
you after Friday， okay ？

    LH：沒(méi)問(wèn)題。等你星期五寫完報(bào)告再打電話給我吧。