Larry 和李華剛剛忙完手頭的工作。他們一起去吃冰激凌。李華今天要學兩
個常用語：my treat和ginormous. LL ： Well ， Li Hua ， you just finished
a big paper ， and I just finished an important projectat work. Let's
go for ice cream and celebrate. It'll be my treat.

    LH：冰激凌是your treat？可我也要吃啊，應(yīng)該是our treat 才對吧。

    LL： Well ， the ice cream will certainly be for both of us - and
it will be a treat for both of us ， but when I said it was "my treat"
I meant that I would pay for the ice cream.

    LH：哦，原來是你要請客�。�

    LL： That's right ， to TREAT someone means to pay for someone's food
or entertainmentas a form of a gift.

    LH：那太好了。謝謝你請我去吃冰激凌。

    LL： It is my pleasure， Li Hua.

    LH：為了表示感謝，這個周末我請你去中國餐館吃飯。My treat. LL： That's
very considerate， Li Hua. But you don't really have to treat me to dinner
just because I treated you to ice cream.

    LH：我可不是因為你請我吃冰激凌才請你去吃飯的，我請你吃飯是因為咱倆
是好朋友嘛！

    LL： In that case ， I'll be happy to go for Chinese food this weekend
- especially if it is your treat.

    LH：我有個問題，Larry ，在美國，如果有人提出請你吃飯，你還用爭著付
錢嗎？

    LL： Generally， you can try to protest a little， but the most polite
thing to do is to let the other person treat you and allow his or her
to feel generous.

    LH：在中國的時候，我有個叔叔，人特別大方，經(jīng)常請朋友和家里人出去吃
飯。

    LL： It is wonderful to have generous relatives. When I was growing
up， my grandmother would always treat us to the circus - or sometimes
a movie.

    LH：看馬戲？哎（嘆氣）——小時候真好！我爸爸也經(jīng)常帶我去看木偶劇。

    LL： Yeah. My Dad would always treat us to ice cream at a shop just
like this one. Say， why don't you go ahead and order your ice cream，
Li Hua.

    LH：我要一個巧克力、香草和草莓的冰激凌蛋筒。

    ******

    LL： That is the most ginormousice cream cone I have ever seen， Li
Hua. LH ： Ginormous？你是想說enormous吧？

    LL： Well ， actually ， Li Hua. You are right. I do mean that your
ice cream cone is enormous. But ginormous is a slang word formed from
two other words ： gigantic and enormous. LH：哦，gigantic前面的音和enormous
后面的音連在一起，就變成了ginormous ，也就是特別、特別、特別大的意思嘍？

    LL： Yes. Something that is ginormous is both gigantic and enormous.
It is something that is really， really ， really big. LH ：我餓極了，
現(xiàn)在正需要一個ginormous 的冰激凌，因為我有一個ginormous 的胃口。

    LL： You just want to be careful that you don't eat too many sweets
，Li Hua. You don't want to end up with a ginormous cavity ！

    LH：吃甜的長個大蟲牙我倒不擔心，我擔心的是我的腰圍。

    LL： Hey， here comes my hot fudgesundae. Wow ！ It is ginormous，
too. Maybe we should have split one ice cream between the two of us. LH
：吃完這兩個特大號的冰激凌，恐怕我們就得趕緊節(jié)食了。

    LL： You aren't kidding. I think this ice cream must contain a ginormous
amount of fat and calories. LH：嗨，管它呢，先吃了再說。

    LL： That sound's good……Oh， watch out， Li Hua ！ Your ice cream
cone is melting and starting to tip ！ If it falls on the floor ， it'll
make a ginormous mess. LH ：還好你提醒我，總算沒掉下來。不過我還是得趕
快去拿一大疊餐巾紙來，先準備著。

    LL： That's a good idea. I could use a napkin ， too. I think I have
a ginormous chocolate moustache from my sundae. LH：巧克力胡子？Ha， ha
……你的巧克力冰激凌確實沾了一嘴�？旖o你，餐巾紙。

    今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是 my treat ，是我請客的意思。另一個
是ginormous ，是巨大無比的意思。