大家都知道Michael這個美國學生正在學中文。他和中國學生李華約好每個星期至少在一起活動一次。今天他們決定到一個公園去滑冰。李華會學到兩個常用語：loser 和to bug.

    L： 今天的天氣真好呀！正是運動的好天氣。我已經好久都沒有滑冰 了。

    M： You're a very good skater. I just keep falling down.

    L： 學滑冰總是會摔跤的。多練習練習就好了。

    M： I know， but I feel like such a loser. I keep getting passed by little kids. They laugh at me.

    L： 小孩肯定比我們滑得快，別怕他們笑話你。你剛才說你覺得自己 是什么？ Loser？ 滑冰又不是比賽，怎么會輸掉呢？

    M： I said I feel like a loser， it means that I feel like a failure. It doesn't mean I lost a game.

    L： 你是說loser就是一個人做某件事總是做不好。嗯， 我們在中文里常說：“我怎么老學不好，真是個笨蛋”。這跟loser的意思差不多吧？不過，Michael，我肯定你在滑冰方面不是個笨蛋，你只要多練習就行了。

    M： Thanks for the encouragement， Li Hua. But I've always been kind of a loser at sports. Growing up， I was always picked last for the baseball and soccer teams.

    L： 原來你在體育方面從小就不行。不過，Michael， 在其他方面你一點也不笨。

    M： What do you mean， Li Hua？

    L： 這還不明白嗎？女孩子都很喜歡你呀，你還有其他好多朋友呀。

    M： You're right， I do have a lot of friends. But if they could see how many times I fell down today， I'm sure they would not want be friends with such a loser.

    L： 得了吧，Michael，要說笨蛋，那天晚上我們見到的那個人才是呢。 他自以為挺帥，老是想去和女孩子搭訕，可是，誰都知道他是個 沒出息的人，誰都不要和他交朋友。Michael，我們能叫這種人loser嗎？

    M： Yeah， very good， Li Hua. That guy really is a loser. He never studies at all. I think he's in college just to party.

    L： 他從來不念書呀？Michael，你還滑不滑？

    M： I guess so……Just wait up for me， in case I fall down again. Okay， let's go！

    （滑完冰以后）

    L： Michael，運動一下真舒服。

    M： Yeah， you had been bugging me about going skating for so long， I guess it was about time that I came along with you.

    L： 什么是bugging ？ Bug不是小蟲子嗎？

    M： No， bugging means to bother or annoy someone about something. I didn't mean it in a serious way， I was just kidding.

    L： 噢，to bug就是為了某件事去麻煩別人，讓人討厭。 Michael， 你 再舉一個例子好嗎？

    M： Sure. You can say that something is bugging you， such as an assignment that you haven't been able to finish or a problem that you cannot solve. You could also……

    L： 等等，讓我先弄清楚你說的。你是說，我沒能完成的功課， 或者解決不了的問題都可以用to bug這個動詞。那就是說："This assignment is bugging me"，或者是：“This problem is bugging me"，對 不對？

    M： Yes， you can also say that a habit someone has really bugs you.

    L： 我知道，象Mary，她老是打斷我說話，讓我很煩，很討厭。

    M： You could say "It really bugs me when Mary interrupts me in the middle of a sentence." I can also say it really bugs me when you try to tell me what to do.

    L： 嗨，我告訴你該怎么做是為了你好。老實說，it bugs me that you never listen to me.

    M： It seems that you've learned how to use "loser" and "to bug". Let's go home.

    李華今天學了一個名詞“loser"，指一個人老是不會做某件事；她還學了一個動詞”to bug"，意思是為了一件事老是去麻煩別人，讓人討厭。