Larry 剛剛給自己的公寓貼了新的墻紙，可是他覺得效果很不理想。李華今
天會學到兩個常用語：diddlysquat 和rub it in.

    LL： Today， Li Hua ， I discovered that I don't know diddlysquat
about putting up wallpaper.

    LH：什么？ diddlysquat？聽你的意思，你好象是說你對貼墻紙什么也不懂，
是嗎？

    LL： That's right. I don't know diddlysquat means I don't know anything.

    LH：噢，Don't know diddlysquat就是什么也不懂，一竅不通。

    LL：Right. When I was wallpapering my apartment ， I didn't get the
pieces perfectly straight before I put them on， and now the pattern doesn't
line up.

    LH：我也對貼墻紙一竅不通。不過，貼之前好象總得把墻紙弄直了。否則，
墻紙的花樣怎么對得起來呢！

    LL： Yeah ， but it is harder to do than you might think. I really
needed to read instructions in a how-to book before I started ， but I
didn't do diddlysquat to prepare.

    LH：原來你什么準備都沒有做就開始貼墻紙呀！美國有很多關于如何裝修房
屋的書，你什么沒看就動手啦？你膽子也夠大的。得了，你來幫我點忙，分散一
下注意力，心情就會好一些。好嗎？

    LL： Sure ， how can I help ？

    LH：我昨天買了一個新的電腦硬盤，可我在這方面什么也不懂，I don't know
diddlysquat about computer. 你來幫我裝一下，好嗎？

    LL： You are just like my mom ， Li Hua. She doesn't know diddlysquat
about computers either─but I am happy to help out. When should I come
by？

    LH： Larry，你能幫我裝上，那太好了。午飯以后可以過來嗎？

    LL： OK ， I'll do that. But maybe you can come help me remove the
wallpaper I put up.

    LH：幫你撕墻紙，I don't know diddlysquat about that ！讓我看看再說
吧。

    ******

    LH： Oh ， Larry，這墻紙還真是沒對齊。

    LL： Yeah ， I know. Please don't rub it in.

    LH：不要抹進去？我們不是要把墻紙撕下來嗎？

    LL： No ， no. By "rub it in" ， I didn't mean rub the wallpaper into
the wall. I meant that I already know the wallpaper doesn't line up ，
so you don't need to tell me again and make me feel worse.

    LH：我明白了， rub it in的意思是在傷口上抹鹽，令人更難堪。墻紙沒貼
好，你已經(jīng)很難過了，我又提起這件事，就是rub it in - 讓你更難受，對嗎？

    LL： Yeah ， especially when it is something you are not happy about.
"Rubbing it in" just makes a person feel worse.

    LH： Rub it in，只會讓人更難過，所以我們的朋友Rick撞車之后，你并沒
有對他說， "你怎么這么不小心" ，因為你不想讓他更難堪。

    LL： Right， I didn't want Rick to feel even worse about his car.

    LH：上個星期考試，我考得好，你考得不好，我說，" 你本來就該好好復習
嘛".這又是 rubbing it in，往傷口上抹鹽，對不對？

    LL： Exactly.

    LH：可是我只是想對朋友提出忠告，并沒有抹鹽的意思。

    LL： I know you didn't mean to rub it in， Li Hua. Well ， let's go
see what we can do about your hard drive.

    LH： Great. 好吧，去看看我的電腦吧。

    LL： You are really lucky that we are friends ！ I mean ， you don't
know diddlysquat about computers. You'd never be able to install the hard
drive without me.

    LH：我知道我對電腦一竅不通，你就別往傷口上抹鹽了。You don't have to
rub it in ！

    今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是don't know diddlysquat about something，
意思是對某件事一無所知，一竅不通。李華學到的另一個常用語是 rub it in，
意思是在某個人的傷口上抹鹽，令人更加難過。