李華陪Larry 去買車。今天我們要學兩個常用語：caught dead 和deal breaker.

    LL： Thanks for helping me shop for a car ， Lihua. It's always good
to have advice from someone you trust when making a big purchase.

    LH：別客氣。你昨天上網(wǎng)給我看了你要買的車，我就知道你需要有人給你出
謀劃策。

    LL： You didn't like the pictures ？ I think that bright purple pickup
truck would have been great ！

    LH：那輛皮卡是不錯，可你要開亮紫色的車，先得換個女朋友才行。

    LL： What do you mean ？ You wouldn't be caught dead riding in a purple
pickup truck？

    LH： Caught dead？我的意思是說那輛車顏色太丑，難道安全也有問題嗎？

    LL： Actually ， no. When you say you wouldn't be "caught dead" doing
something ， it means that you would never do it， because it would be
really embarrassing if someone saw you.

    LH：沒錯，我絕不會坐那么難看的車。I wouldn't be caught dead riding
in a purple pickup truck. 要是讓別人看見，那我可真是沒臉見人了。

    LL： Oh come on ……I do lots of things with you that normally I wouldn't
be caught dead doing for you.

    LH： Oh yeah？ Like what？

    LL： Well normally I wouldn't be caught dead singing in public， but
last weekend I agreed to go to the karaoke bar with you.

    LH：別裝了，我從來沒見有人唱Ricky Martin的歌唱得那么投入的。

    LL： Alright， maybe I enjoyed it a little bit. But don't tell anyone.
I wouldn't be caught dead doing that in front of my male friends.

    LH：言歸正傳，你不如買輛雙人自行車，咱倆可以一起騎？

    LL： Are you kidding？ Two-person bikes are so lame. I wouldn't be
caught dead riding one of those.

    LH：你什么時候變得這么沒情趣了！不想唱卡拉OK，不想騎自行車……you
know， normally I wouldn't be caught dead with such a boring guy. 我一
般情況下是絕不會跟這么乏味的男孩子交往的。

    LL： Are you kidding？ Nobody who has a purple pickup truck can be
considered boring.

    ******

    LH： Larry，你覺得這輛車怎么樣，又省油，又安全。

    LL： Yeah ， but just look at how boring it is. It's plain white，
and it's not a convertible.

    LH：買車可是件大事，你不能光看車的外表，還得考慮實用性。

    LL： Yeah ， but look. It doesn't even have a sunroof. I would still
buy it even though it's not bright purple ， but I'm afraid the sunroof
is a deal breaker.

    LH：什么是deal breaker？

    LL： A deal breaker is a critical condition that must be met in order
for you to do something.

    LH：你的意思是，不是敞篷車沒關(guān)系，不是亮紫色也沒關(guān)系，這些都可以湊
合，但是如果沒有天窗，那就絕對沒商量嘍？

    LL： That's right. Or say you were thinking of dating a guy. He might
be really nice， good looking and funny ， but if he lived with his parents，
that would probably be a deal breaker.

    LH：在中國，男朋友跟父母住在一起是很常見的。這我可以接受，但是如果
他開的是一輛亮紫色的汽車，那干脆免談。That would definitely be a deal
breaker.

    LL： Really ？ Well in my case， I'm afraid a poor taste in cars would
definitely be a deal breaker for me.

    LH：你生氣了？我是開玩笑的。雖然我不愿意坐紫顏色的車，但你自己開，
我還是沒意見的。

    LL： Well that's good. I need a car that can fully express my individuality.
I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these boring， ordinary cars.

    LH：你如果真的這么喜歡紫色的話，那就買，我支持你。

    LL： You know what Lihua， I think you're right.

    LH：不過你可想好了，一定要能負擔得起保修費用才行。

    LL： If it breaks down， I will just live in the back. That's how
much I love that purple truck.

    LH：好，那咱們可得講清楚，我的男朋友可以住在父母家，但絕不能睡在車
里。That is definitely a deal breaker ！

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是caught dead ，意思是打死也不愿意。另
一個是deal breaker，意思是不能通融的條件。