流行美語:hang in there ; to be stressed out

今天Larry到Li Hua的宿舍去串門，Li Hua會學到兩個常用語：hang in there和to be stressed out。

LL: Li Hua, you look exhausted. Is everything OK?

LH: 哎喲， Larry, 我得在星期五以前趕出兩篇論文，星期五還有一門課要大考，你說我能不累嗎？I AM exhausted!

LL: Hang in there, Li Hua! After Friday it will be all over, and then you can relax.

LH: Hang in there? 那是什麽意思呀？

LL: Hang in there. Hang in there just means "to keep enduring" or "to persist through a difficult situation."

LH: 噢，hang in there的意思就是，在困難的情況下再忍一忍，或者堅持下去。HHang in there - Hmm...這個說法很有意思。不過hang這個詞本意不是"懸掛"嗎？

LL: That's right, but "hang in there" can also mean "to stay the same" or "to not give up".

LH: 噢，我明白了，hang in there就是要"堅持下去，不要放棄"的意思。

LL: Exactly! Remember last semester when you had two tests and a term paper due the same week, you hung in there and even managed to get good grades. When things get tough, you just have to hang in there.

LH: 我當然記得上學期的那個禮拜。一個星期裏，我有兩門課要考試，還要交一篇學期論文。我當時咬緊牙關堅持學習，結果還得了好分數。所以你說，這就是hang in there的意思吧？

LL: You're right! Let me give you another example. If someone is having an emergency and calls the 9-1-1 emergency hotline, the operator might say, "Hang in there, an ambulance will be there in a few minutes".

LH: 噢，你說要是遇到緊急情況打911電話，接線員可能會說，Hang in there! 也就是說："別著急，堅持一下，救護車馬上就到"的意思。

LL: So, just hang in there, Li Hua. You'll finish the papers before Friday and get good grades for the test too!

******

LH: 嗨，Larry, 我剛考試考完。現在好了， 我可以輕鬆一下了。

LL: Well, I'm glad to see you so happy now that your test is over and those papers are done. You were really stressed out last week!

LH: 就是啊，我現在好高興。可是，你說我上星期怎麽了？Stressed out?

LL: I said you were "stressed out". Stressed out means that you were under so much stress and pressure that you barely made it.

LH: 噢，stressed out意思就是"壓力太大，幾乎承受不了"。Hmm, 這話一點沒錯，我上個星期還真是有點頂不住了。Larry, 你倒是好像不太容易stressed out.

LL: That's because I know that to be stressed out usually makes things worse. I find that I do better on a test when I'm not stressed out about it.

LH: Hmm, 我也有這種感覺，你越是感到壓力大，越會壞事。在這種情況下，考試都是考不好的。

LL: Last week, you appeared a little bit impatient, but I understand it's because you were really stressed out about your papers. So I encouraged you to HANG IN THERE.

LH: 我上星期顯得很煩躁呀！喲，我自己還沒有察覺呢。Larry, 我要是對你顯得不耐煩， 對不起喲！下次再遇到壓力很大的情況，也就是我stressed out的時候，我一定會記住，要堅持下去，要hang in there.

LL: Oh, don't worry about it. The last thing I want is for you to stress out about making me upset. By the way, did you call Michael last night?

LH: 對，我打了。他說他還不太習慣那兒的生活，我讓他hang in there! Try not to be stressed out. 他還讓我向你問好呢！

LL: That's nice!

今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是hang in there, 表示"堅持下去，不放棄"。另一個是to be stressed out, 意思是"壓力太大"。

(ZT)