Larry 和李華一起去購物。Larry 準(zhǔn)備去參加朋友的婚禮，可是原來的西裝
太舊了，所以需要買一套新西裝。李華今天要學(xué)兩個常用語hand-me-down和hands
down.

    LL： Hey Li Hua ， I need your help with something. I want to go to
the mall and buy a new suit to wear for my friend Jack's wedding.

    LH：要我?guī)湍阗徫�？這可是我的專長。你想買什么牌子的西裝？是Ralph Lauren，
Calvin Klein，還是Dolce & Gabbana ？

    LL： Wo ！ Wo ！ Don't overwhelm me already. Any department store
will do. All I need to do is find something to replace this old hand-me-down
suit that I always wear.

    LH：什么？你這套舊西裝是什么質(zhì)地的？Hand-me-down？我怎么沒聽說過這
種西裝布料呀？

    LL： No. Hand-me-down is an expression. It refers to something that
is given to you because someone else does not want it any more. My father
gave me the suit that I wear now because he could not wear it any longer.

    LH：噢，我明白了，hand-me-down是說從別人那兒撿來的舊東西，是別人不
要的東西。你現(xiàn)在這套西裝原來是你老爸穿不了給你的，怪不得看起來不太合身，
而且還有些舊舊的。要這么說的話，我的鞋也是hand-me-down.

    LL： What ？ Your wingtip dress shoes ？

    LH：就是啊，這雙鞋其實是我的好朋友Jane不要了給我的。她還告訴我說，
她的另外兩個朋友Sarah 和Lily也都穿過這雙鞋。

    LL： Wow！ Now that's a hand-me-down. How have those shoes lasted
so long ？

    LH：這種鞋之所以結(jié)實，是因為鞋底可以換新的，我已經(jīng)換過兩次了。對了，
你老爸有沒有給你什么hand-me-down的鞋，讓你穿著去參加Jack的婚禮��？

    LL： No ， unfortunately， my big feet won't fit into his hand-me-down
shoes.

    LH：你的腳確實不小。那就走吧，大腳，我們買東西去。

    ******

    [Li Hua and Larry arrived at store]

    LH： Larry，你有三種選擇，這種黑色或是棕色的單排扣兩件套西裝，還有
就是這件灰色的雙排扣西裝，你更喜歡哪個？

    LL： I think the gray double-breasted suit is better looking than
any of the others ， hands down. And it makes me look pretty sophisticated.

    LH：這件灰西裝看上去確實不錯，穿在你身上也挺精神的，但是你剛才說的
hands down是什么意思呀？

    LL： Oh. hands down is an expression that means that something is
easily better than something else ； that a comparison or competition
between two things is uncontested.

    LH：噢，我明白了。你是說這件灰色西裝比其它的都強得多，根本沒有好比
較的。你說的不錯，那套棕色的好像有點兒容易皺，黑色的看起來又太一般了。
這件灰色的樣子確實不錯。

    LL： Yeah ， and it costs half as much as the others. You know Li
Hua ， I would never have found this suit at such a good price without
your help. Hands down ， you are a much better shopper than I am.

    LH：而且價錢也不貴，算是讓你趕上了。你也知道，我這人就是喜歡逛街。
下次你要買什么東西，可以再找我。我們倆兒也算是各有所長，誰都知道，要打
籃球，我絕不是你的對手，可是，hands down，毫無疑問。

    LL： Yeah you're right about that. Let's go to the check-out counter
and pay for this suit so I can finally get rid of my old hand-me-down
suit.

    今天李華學(xué)到了兩個常用語。一個是hand-me-down，意思是別人用過的舊東
西。還有一個是hands down，意思是毫無疑問。