流行美語: beats me ; to be in a bind

李華今天在緊張地準備曆史課的考試。她在和Michael的談話中會學到兩個常用語：beats me和to be in a bind.

M: Hey, Li Hua. What are you doing?

L: 我在準備曆史課的考試。Michael, 你知道美國總統羅斯福和斯大林第一次見麵是在什麽時候？

M: Beats me. I don't know much about that period of history.

L: 哎喲，你不知道我也不會打你呀，你為什麽要說：Beats me? Beat不就是打人的意思嗎？

M: No, I don't mean you would beat me. The expression "beats me" means that I have no idea what the answer is.

L: 噢，在這裏，beat不是打人的意思。Beats me就是我不知道！

M: Right. If I ask you a question like how many miles away the sun is, you might say, "I don't know - beats me."

L: 這你倒是說對了，我還真不知道地球和太陽之間距離多少英裏。Beats me! 你知道尼加拉瓜的第五任總統是誰嗎？

M: Okay, that really beats me. You don't really need to know the answer to that question for your history test, do you?

L: 傻瓜，我當然不需要知道這個答案，我是在跟你開玩笑，我學的曆史是二次大戰期間的美國和歐洲，和尼加拉瓜根本就沒關係。

M: Okay. By the way, what time is your history exam?

L: 喲，beats me! 我把考試的日程忘在同學家裏了！

M: You left the schedule at your classmate's home? What's wrong with you?

L: Beats me! 我也不知道我怎麽會忘在他家裏的。不過，沒關係，我還有足夠時間來準備。

M: You had better go and check the exam time. If the exam is tomorrow, you're really going to be in trouble.

L: 行，行，行。我去查，要是明天就考試的話，那我可真是麻煩了。

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M: Hey, Li Hua, did you find someone to help you with that history question?

L: 沒有人知道羅斯福和斯大林第一次見麵是什麽時候。我也找不到這方麵的材料。而且，考試是星期二，不是星期三。我這下可真麻煩了。

M: Wow, it sounds like you're really in a bind.

L: 你說什麽？我在什麽東西裏？什麽是a bind?

M: To be in a bind -- B I N D -- means that you are in a very difficult situation. Your exam is tomorrow and you can't find the material you need to study. Therefore, you are in a bind.

L: 噢，to be in a bind就是處境很難。唉，我真是處境艱難。Michael，我這次考試可能要不及格了。你能不能幫我擺脫這個困境呢？也就是 to get out of this bind I'm in.

M: Of course, I'm always willing to help a friend out of a bind. You can study your notes, and I can look up any questions you have in your text book. Will that help?

L: 我複習我的筆記，然後你幫我查課文裏的問題。這是個好主意，這樣我可以省好多時間。Michael, 謝謝你，謝謝你。哎，還有什麽情況下我們可以用to be in a bind?

M: Well, if I have to pay my rent, but I don't have any money, then I'm in a bind.

L: 你付房租的時候到了，可是你又沒有錢，那可真是in a bind。我來舉個例子。要是我在找工作，有個公司要和我麵談，可是我早就和朋友約好那天要一塊兒吃飯，我可以說：I'm in a bind嗎？

M: Yes, you would be in a bind. But you're going to be in an even worse bind if we don't start studying for your exam soon.

L: 你說得對，要是我們再不動手開始準備考試的話，那我就會處境更困難了-- in an even worse bind。好吧，那趕快念書吧！I don't want to be in a bind anymore!

今天李華學到了一個用得非常普遍的說法：beats me, 意思是"不知道"。李華還學到了另一個常用語：to be in a bind, 意思是"處境困難"。

(ZT)