流行美語第四十三課
今天是週末，Michael和李華去打檯球。李華一邊玩一邊還學了兩個年輕人常用的詞：to rule和to blow money on something.
L: 哎呀，我不想玩了。我老是輸給你。這樣玩還有什麼意思啊。
M: Hey! You don't need to get angry just because I rule at the pool table!
L: 啊？ 你在檯球桌上做了什麼？你是不是耍了什麼花招，怕我生氣啊？
M: Absolutely not! I said that I rule the pool table. That means that I am the best at playing pool. I can defeat anyone. Rule, R-U-L-E.
L: 噢，我明白了，rule在這裡指的是你玩檯球玩得最棒，可以打敗任何人。對不對，Michael？
M: That's right! I am king of the pool table! I rule!
L: 嘿，你不要那麼得意好不好。你忘了,那天打乒乓球，你連連敗在我的手下。你呀，對乒乓球這種體育運動簡直是一竅不通。
M: Sport? Ping-pong is not a sport! It's a game! You might rule at that little game. But I rule at pool, a man's game!
L: 你在瞎說什麼啊。我不跟你爭了。你還是多給我解釋解釋rule這個詞吧。
M: Well, I can say "I rule the pool table"; that means that I dominate the game. Or I can say "I rule at" doing something. In either case it means the same thing: I am the best!
L: 好了，好了，就算你是最棒的吧。那rule還有什麼別的用法呢？
M: Sometimes we just say something or someone rules without adding any other words. For instance, I can say "Chinese food rules!" That means I think it is great.
L: 那如果我說：Michael Jordan rules!，是不是就表示我認為他是最棒的籃球運動員，對不對？
M: That's right. When we say a person rules, that means we think they are the best, or at least that they are impressive.
L: 哎，Michael，你看那邊有個人老往我們這邊看，沒準他是想和你比賽，怎麼樣，敢不敢跟他比？
M: Whatever, I rule the pool table, no matter who I play against!
******
L: Michael，你打得怎麼樣，輸了還是贏了？
M: Not so well. Say, Li Hua, can I borrow five dollars? I just blew my money on playing pool with them, and I need to put gas in the car so we can get home.
L: 你說你的錢怎麼了？你是不是在賭博啊？
M: No, I said I blew my money on pool. That means I spent all of my money very quickly. Blew is the past tense for blow.
L: 噢，“blow money on something”就是為了做某件事很快把口袋裏的錢花光了。
M: That's right. Like when we were at the mall the other day, and you blew a whole week's pay on shoes.
L: 我是花了一星期的工資買鞋，可你不覺得我買的鞋價廉物美，所以不能說我浪費啊。
M: Well, I guess sometimes it's ok to blow one's money on something useful.
L: 就是嘛。哎，我倒是想起了一個你亂花錢的例子，記不記得你大 學一年級的時候到賭城拉斯維加斯，blew all of your money on black jack。
M: Ha ha ha....yeah, what a wonderful memory. but, I'll never blow all of my money like that again. I am older and wiser now.
L: 得了吧，你年齡的確是越來越大，可腦筋並沒有越來越聰明。要不然你今天怎麼會玩檯球把錢都花光呢？
M: Those guys are good. They play quickly, and they both beat me several times. Also, we agreed that the loser had to pay for the pool table. So of course I blew all of my money very quickly.
今天Michael可是夠倒楣的，輸了球，還花光了錢。不過李華倒是收穫不小，她今天學到兩個很有用的詞。一個是：to rule，是很棒的意思。另一個是：to blow one's money on something，意思是把錢都浪費在了某樣東西上。
