流行美語: pull something off ; strike out

今天Michael正在設法買票和李華一起去看世界職業棒球賽的決賽。李華學到了兩個習慣用語：to strike out 和to pull something off。

M: Well, Li Hua, I struck out again. It looks like my cousin won't have any world series tickets to sell to us after all.

L: 你說什麽？Struck out? 這跟買球票有什麽關係？

M: I said I struck out again. Struck out means that I failed after trying several times.

L: 噢，我想起來了！棒球賽裏就有strike out這個說法。如果一個擊球手三次擊球不中，他就strike out， 也就是“三振出局”。所以，strike out的意思是，一件事做了幾次也不成功。

M: That's right. Looks like you've got a good grasp of the rules of baseball. Why don't you try and use it in a sentence.

L: 嗯，讓我想想。對了，我一個朋友申請了幾個學校的研究院，可是沒有一所學校接受她。 (English) So, she completely struck out.

M: There you go. You know, even if your friend struck out this year, I hope she tries again. I remember the first year I applied to graduate school, I struck out too. But I learned from my mistakes, and eventually found a good school that accepted me.

L: 原來你和我朋友一樣也有申請研究院失敗的經曆，可是吸取教訓後你就成功了，希望我朋友也會如此。

M: Yeah, I was rather pleased to get into graduate school. Too bad I still strike out with the girls. None of the good ones want to go out with me.

L: 嘿嘿，別擔心，Michael, 你要求不要太高，一定會找到你喜歡的女孩的。你總不可能一直在這方麵strike out吧!

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L: 嘿 Michael, 你到底有沒有買到棒球決賽的球票啊？

M: No, to tell you the truth, Li Hua, I don't think I can pull it off. There simply are no tickets for sale.

L: 你說什麽？ Pull it off? 你還在想辦法，對不對?

M: I said I don't think I can pull it off. To pull something off - Pull. P U L L. Off. O F F, means to succeed at something very difficult, usually unexpectedly.

L: 噢，To pull something off就是出人意料地做成一件很困難的事情。哎，Michael, 你再舉個例子好不好？

M: Ok, most of our friends didn't think that Beijing would be allowed to host the 2008 Olympics, but in the end Beijing pulled it off! I was really surprised.

L: 對，很多人以為中國申辦奧運不會成功，但是中國試了幾次，終於成功， 也就是pulled it off。Michael, 憑你對中國的了解，你不應該感到驚訝才對嘛。

M: Yeah. I guess so. Anyway, as for the tickets, I don't think I can pull this off.

L: 為什麽買棒球賽的票那麽難啊？

M: The series has already started, the tickets were sold months ago, and the only people selling them on the Internet want at least $600 a ticket for game 7.

L: 電腦上買票還要六百美元一張？這也太過份了吧？哎，Michael, 反正我對棒球也沒興趣，你就不用給我買票了。

M: You know, Li Hua, I spent the whole afternoon calling people and trying to find tickets. I wish you had said something sooner.

L: 對不起，我知道你花了很多時間。可是，我沒想到你這麽沒能耐，試了半天還是struck out!

Michael和李華想買職業棒球賽的球票，可是沒有買到。李華學到了兩個習慣用語：to strike out和to pull something off。Strike out表示一件事做了幾次都沒有成功。To pull something off表示出人意料地做成了一件很困難的事情。