Larry 準(zhǔn)備跟李華一起出去吃飯。今天我們要學(xué)兩個(gè)常用語：at my wit's
end 和give somebody a piece of your mind.

    LH： Larry，你最好快點(diǎn)。我們預(yù)約的時(shí)間是七點(diǎn)半，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)七點(diǎn)一刻了。

    如果再不走的話，肯定要遲到了。

    LL： I know ， but I can't find my wallet ！ Oh ， and I forgot that
I have to feed my neighbor's dog tonight！

    LH：你今天這是怎么了，錢包找不到，又忘記幫鄰居喂狗，這樣下去，以后
鞋帶也要?jiǎng)e人給你系了！

    LL： No ， I just had a really busy and stressful day today. I'm telling
you ， I'm really at my wit's end.

    LH： The end of what？我知道你今天很忙，可也不至于語無倫次啊。

    LL： I said I'm at my wit's end. When you are at your wit's end ，
it means that you are completely overwhelmed with problems， or you are
experiencing a lot of stress.

    LH：哦，我知道了，at my wit's end 意思就是因?yàn)閴毫μ�大，事情太多�?br /> 而毫無頭緒，不知所措。Larry ，你別急，深呼吸……再來一次，吃飯晚幾分鐘
不要緊。你剛說，要幫鄰居喂狗，她又出差了嗎？

    LL： Tonight she's going to the hospital to visit her sick father.
On top of that， she just lost her job and her boyfriend broke up with
her. She's really at her wit's end， so I'm trying to help out.

    LH：怎么這么可憐。爸爸生病住院不說、同時(shí)又被炒魷魚，還跟男朋友分手。

    難怪她會(huì)at her wit's end. 跟她比，你這點(diǎn)困難簡(jiǎn)直就是小巫見大巫。

    LL： It's not just that I'm missing my wallet. I'm also at my wit's
end at work. My boss has given me five new projects to do next week ，
and I haven't even finished the old ones yet.

    LH：��？老板分配給你五個(gè)新項(xiàng)目，難怪你會(huì)一臉官司。我也一樣，每次周
末去看我父母，他們都沒完沒了地叮囑我，該穿什么衣服，如何待人接物，趕緊
換個(gè)更好的男朋友。一天下來，I feel like I'm at my wit's end.

    LL： Wait ， what is that last thing that they tell you ？

    LH： Huh？……沒什么重要的。告訴你個(gè)訣竅，每次我事情多得忙不過來的
時(shí)候，我就會(huì)列個(gè)單子，把所有要干的事情都寫下來。

    LL： That's a good idea ， but I have a better one. Since I can't
find my wallet I'll just let you pay for dinner ， and we can just bring
back some leftovers to feed to my neighbor's dog. OK？

    LH： Hmm……也就是說，如果我花錢把你和鄰居家的狗喂飽，你的問題就迎
刃而解了，you won't be at your wit's end anymore？聽起來好象不太劃算。

    不過算了，請(qǐng)客就請(qǐng)客，我都快餓瘋了。

    ******

    Larry 和李華在餐館里。

    LH：怎么這么久還不上菜？我們都點(diǎn)了一個(gè)小時(shí)了。餓死我了。

    LL： Me too. If it doesn't come soon， I'm going to find the manager
and give him a piece of my mind.

    LH： Give him a piece of what ？向經(jīng)理投訴我支持，給他東西就不必了
吧。

    LL： Actually ， when you give someone a piece of your mind ， it
means that you tell them how angry you are at them.

    LH：原來你是說，給餐館經(jīng)理a piece of your mind意思就是讓他知道我們
對(duì)他們的服務(wù)有多么的不滿意。

    LL： Exactly. And if after this long wait the food is really bad，
I just might go back into the kitchen and give the cook a piece of my
mind too.

    LH： Wow， Larry，看來你真是需要好好休息一下了。來，深呼吸，再吃塊
面包。

    LL： You're right Lihua. I would love to go on vacation ， but my
boss just gave me a lot of work to do ， remember ？ I'd like to give
her a piece of my mind， but I don't want to get fired.

    LH：你可千萬不能跟老板發(fā)火。萬一被炒了魷魚，You would really be at
your wit's end.

    LL： Well at least then I could take a vacation.

    LH：菜怎么還不來！都是因?yàn)槟阏f喜歡在這家餐館的兒童菜單上畫畫，我們
才會(huì)到這兒來。幸好我現(xiàn)在心情還不錯(cuò)，否則，I might give you a piece of
my mind.

    LL： Lihua， I would rather wrestle a tiger than face your anger.

    LH：你是說我比熊還兇嗎？

    LL： Haha …… Look ， the waiter is coming over with our food.

    今天李華學(xué)了兩個(gè)常用語。一個(gè)是at my wit's end ，意思是束手無策，黔
驢技窮。另一個(gè)是give somebody a piece of your mind，意思是直言不諱地指
責(zé)別人。