Michael和李華好幾天沒見了，今天剛好在校園里碰到，兩個人就聊起來了。李華會學到兩個常用語：to chip in和snail mail.

    L： 嗨，Michael，Bob明天開生日party， 你去嗎？

    M： Yes， I'm going with a few friends. We decided to chip in and buy him a leather jacket. He's been talking about buying a jacket for a long time.

    L： 你要和幾個朋友一起去參加 party，還要給他買一件皮夾克�？墒瞧�夾克很貴，你們是不是準備大家湊錢給他買？你剛才說chip in是不是就是這個意思呀？

    M： That's right. To chip in， means to each contribute money to buy something.

    L： 那就是我們中國人說的湊錢買東西。

    M： Usually you say "chip in" if each person in a group of people gives some money to buy someone a present.

    L： 要是每個人都出一些錢給誰買個禮物，人們一般就會說to chip in.

    M： To give you another example， my mother said her colleagues always chip in to buy gifts to celebrate someone's birthday or when someone has a new baby.

    L： 你媽媽的同事往往會湊錢買禮物給過生日的同事，或者給剛生孩子的同事。這跟上面你說的幾個朋友湊錢給Bob買皮夾克差不多。To chip in還可以用在其它什么場合嗎？

    M： You can also use "to chip in" if you are going out with a group of people for dinner or a drink.

    L： 噢，幾個朋友一起出去吃飯，喝酒，每個人出一些錢來付帳也可以說是chip in.

    M： Yes， the guys and I usually each chip in a few dollars when we go out for pizza on Friday nights.Last week， I paid 10 dollars， Bob chipped in $4， John gave $2. There is one guy who never chips in. He's cheap. It really makes me mad.

    L： 等等，上星期五你們幾個人出去吃比薩餅，你付了十美元，Bob出了四美元，John出了兩美元。還有一個小氣鬼，從來不出錢。他真好意思！Why don't you ditch him， 甩了他不得了！

    M： Oh， we've been friends for many years， and it's only a few bucks！

    L： 喲，既然朋友多年，也就幾塊錢的事，你不愿意甩了他，那你就別生氣�。�Michael， 你手里拿的是什么？好象是信吧！現(xiàn)在還有人寫信呀？

    M： I got two letters today from a couple of old friends！ I hardly ever get snail mail anymore.

    L： 你收到兩個老朋友給你的來信。你說什么？Snail mail， snail不就是蝸牛嗎？mail 就是信。 信和蝸牛又有什么關(guān)系呀？

    M： "Snail" is an animal known for its slow movement. "Snail mail" means real letters that you get in your mailbox.

    L： 噢，我知道了。蝸牛走的很慢，所以snail mail就是指通過郵局寄的信。以前怎么沒有聽說snail mail這個說法呢？

    M： Well， ever since e-mail became popular， people have used "snail mail" to talk about paper mail， because it is slower than e-mail.

    L： 對，郵局寄的信和電子郵件相比真是要慢多了。叫它“蝸牛信”倒也挺形象的。

    M： Yes， everyone is so busy nowadays， no one seems to have time to write snail mail anymore.

    L： 你說得一點不錯。大家都很忙，沒有多少人還會坐在那兒寫信。郵局里送來的郵件不是賬單，就是廣告。這些也能叫做snail mail 嗎？

    M： No， only a letter written to you by a friend or family member can really be called "snail mail".

    L： 噢，人們只有把親友寫的信叫做snail mail.說起寫信，我真是應該給我爸爸媽媽寫信了。

    M： I'm just too lazy to write snail mail. I think I'll go write some e-mails.

    L： 你的親友都在美國，都有電腦。我的父母在中國，他們還沒有電腦，所以，I have to write snail mails to them.我得走了，下回再聊吧！

    M： Okay， bye！

    李華今天學到兩個常用語，一個是：to chip in， 意思是湊錢買什么東西，或者是湊錢付大家一起吃飯的錢。另一個是：snail mai，這是指通過郵局寄的信。