Larry 和李華今天在公園玩飛盤時看到一個人隨地丟垃圾。今天李華會學到
兩個常用語：tattletale和pushover.

    LH： Larry，你看，那個人隨地丟垃圾。我們是不是該去告訴站在那邊的警
察？

    LL： I don't know ， Li Hua. I don't really like to be a tattletale.
Maybe we should just go and pick up the garbage ourselves.

    LH：我們為什么要幫他撿他的垃圾？他應該知道這樣是很沒有公德心的。你
說你不想當個tattletale. 那是什么意思？是不是說我們向警察報告是不對的？

    LL： A tattletale is someone who runs to tell the person in charge
whenever someone else does something wrong. Usually ， children call each
other tattletales.

    LH：噢，tattletale原來就是愛告狀的人。要是一個小孩說粗話，他姐姐聽
到了就跑去告訴媽媽。這個小姐姐就算是tattletale嘍？

    LL： Exactly. In general， no one likes a tattletale because it seems
as though that person is just trying to get attention.

    LH：對，沒有人喜歡愛告狀的人。他們就是想顯得自己比別人好而已。舉個
例子來說，如果我考試做弊，你去告訴教授。這樣你就是個tattletale，對嗎？

    LL： Right. You certainly wouldn't be right for cheating on the test，
but I wouldn't be a very good friend， either.

    LH：我當然不會在考試的時候做弊。嗨，那個扔垃圾的家伙已經走了。

    LL： Yeah ， let's go and put the garbage in the trashcan. It's not
right to leave that on the ground.

    LH：對，把垃圾扔在地上實在不好。我們去把垃圾揀起來扔在垃圾桶里吧。
Larry ，你真是個有公德心的人。不過，我很好奇，你小時候有沒有告過誰的狀
呀？

    LL： No ， but my little sister was an awful tattletale. Every time
I did anything she didn't like， she would run and tell our mother.

    LH：真有意思，你的小妹妹老愛到你媽那兒去告你的狀。你肯定很頑皮。

    LL：Not really. She's just a tattletale.

    ******

    LH：嘿， Larry，我倒想聽聽，你妹妹經常到你媽媽那里告你的狀，你都怎
么反應啊？

    LL： I would act really sorry and my mom would forgive me immediately.
My mom is a pushover， so she rarely punished me.

    LH：你好耍賴噢！故意裝出很抱歉的樣子，讓你媽媽很快原諒你。哎，對了，
什么是pushover？

    LL： A pushover is someone who is easy to convince. It also refers
to someone who gives in easily.

    LH：噢，知道了，pushover就是指很容易相信別人，經常讓步的人。就像你，
假裝認錯，你媽就不會處罰你，事情就過去了。對不對？

    LL： Right. Some people are pushovers because they are really nice
and just want to make everyone happy.

    LH：對，這種人，pushovers ，一般心地善良，總想讓大家都高興。我看的
出來你就是這種人。

    LL： Me ？ A pushover ？ You've got to be kidding ！

    LH：我才不是開玩笑呢！我記得有一次，我們一起去看電影，你想看的電影
和我想看的完全不一樣，結果我們還是看了我想看的那部電影！

    LL： Hey， that's just being a good friend. I don't know if you should
call me a pushover for that.

    LH：（Laugh ）好啦！Larry ，我說你是pushover完全沒有惡意噢！Pushover
是不是有負面的意思？

    LL： Not necessarily. People are usually pushovers when they're with
people whom they care about.

    LH：沒錯，讓步一般都是為自己喜歡的人讓步的。