Larry 和李華在海灘享受溫暖的陽光。不過李華有點(diǎn)心事，因為她的朋友Joe
向她借了錢，卻一直沒還。今天李華會學(xué)到兩個常用語：deadbeat和cool it.

    （Ambience sound on the beach ）

    LL： Li Hua ， relax and enjoy the day. Joe isn't a deadbeat. He'll
pay you back as soon as he can. LH：我也希望Joe 會還我錢。你說Joe 不是
一個deadbeat，那是什么意思��？

    LL： A deadbeat is someone who does not pay his/her debts or fulfill
his/her obligations. Joe is not a deadbeat. He always pays people back.
LH： A deadbeat 就是一個故意賴帳的人。你說Joe 不是那樣的人，可要是他一
直不還我錢，那我該怎么跟他提這件事，又不傷他的自尊心呢？這事真麻煩！

    LL： You're right ； money is an awkward subject. I usually just avoid
lending people money altogether. That way I don't have to worry about
deadbeats. LH ：唉，我也不喜歡借錢給別人，可我是真的想幫他忙。

    LL： Yeah ， I know what you mean. Just be careful who you help in
the future： there are a lot of deadbeats out there. LH ：我知道，下回
我再要借錢給別人，一定會格外小心，因為借錢不還的人還是有的。對了，Larry
，我還聽過別人說deadbeat dads. 那是什么意思�。�

    LL： Well ， after a divorce， a man is supposed to send money to
his ex-wife to help her support their children. A man who doesn't send
money is a "deadbeat dad." LH ：噢，我懂了，A deadbeat dad就是離婚后不
肯負(fù)擔(dān)孩子撫養(yǎng)費(fèi)的父親。

    LL： Exactly. I know a guy whose father was a deadbeat dad. The poor
guy's mother had to work three jobs to support her children. LH ：這個
媽媽要做三份工來撫養(yǎng)她的孩子，就是因為爸爸不肯撫養(yǎng)孩子。難道法律都不懲
罰這些不負(fù)責(zé)任的父親嗎？

    LL： Well ， the courts can tell a deadbeat dad that he needs to pay
child support ， but that doesn't mean that he actually will. LH：什么！

    法庭告訴他們要付錢，他們不付也沒事呀？唉，真是糟糕！

    ******

    LL： Wow！ Those kids over there are really loud. I wish they'd cool
it. LH：那些孩子是挺吵的。你要他們怎么著，cool it ？什么意思呀？

    LL： I wish they would "cool it" means calm down. It can also mean
to stop what one is doing. LH ：噢，cool it 就是安靜下來，或者停止做某
件事的意思。你的意思是要這些孩子別再吵了。

    LL： Exactly. I wonder where their parents are？ I'm surprised that
their parents haven't told them to cool it yet. LH：就是啊，那些孩子在
那里鬼吼鬼叫好一會兒了。他們的爸媽到底聽見了沒？怎么不好好管教自己的孩
子呢？

    LL： It's hard to enjoy the day with such noisy kids around. I'm considering
going over there myself and telling them to "cool it." LH ：��？你想自
己過去叫那些孩子安靜一點(diǎn)？我不知道這樣做好不好呢。

    LL： Why not？ Their parents obviously aren't going to do it and those
kids are ruining the day for a lot of people. LH： Larry，也許你該冷靜
一點(diǎn)，cool it ，別跟那些孩子一般見識了。不然，我們可以搬到遠(yuǎn)一點(diǎn)的地方
坐。

    LL： Yeah ， that's probably a good idea. LH：來吧，我們把東西收一
收，搬到海灘的另一邊去好了。

    LL： Okay ， let's go.

    今天李華學(xué)到兩個常用語。第一個是deadbeat，是指借錢不還，故意賴帳的
人。另一個常用語是cool it ，是指安靜下來，或停止做某件事。