VOA流行美語 Unit 170:high maintenance和dating 101

Larry在告訴李華關於他們的一個同學最近和女朋友鬧彆扭的事。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：high maintenance和dating 101。

LL: You know, Li Hua, I feel bad for Tom. His girlfriend is so high maintenance.

LH: 什麼？High maintenance不就是指一些需要精心維護的機器嗎？

LL: Exactly. And in this case, Rachel is very complicated, and Tom needs to put a lot of efforts into maintaining his relationship with her.

LH: 嗨，把high maintenance這個說法用在人的身上！不過也有道理，要是一個人需要high maintenance，那不就是很難伺候嘛！我和Rachel不熟，但是她看起來好象是個很好的人啊！爲什麼你認爲她很難伺候呢？

LL: Well, she gets upset if Tom doesn't call her every day. If he takes her out to eat, it has to be to a very expensive restaurant or she'll complain. It is hard for Tom to keep her happy.

LH: 真沒想到她那麼難伺候。不每天給她打電話，不去高級餐館就要生氣。聽起來倒是和我的朋友美玲很像。美玲也是個需要high maintenance的人。

LL: Yeah, Meiling is a high maintenance friend. I know she doesn't like it when you spend time with me and not her.

LH: 就是。她經常抱怨我花太多時間和你一起。我得經常向她解釋我是在跟你學英語，還得跟她道歉。對了，Larry，你覺得我會不會像他們一樣很難伺候？

LL: Of course not, Li Hua, you are a very relaxed and easy-going person. In fact, as friends go, you are pretty low maintenance.

LH: Low maintenance，你是說，和我交朋友，你不需要爲了避免我生氣而費盡心思。那就好。我可不想變成朋友心目中很難搞的人呢。

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LL: Well, Li Hua, I just talked to Tom. Rachel just broke up with him. It is back to Dating 101 for Tom.

LH: Tom和Rachel分手啦？！你說Tom需要上約會101的課？我怎麼沒聽說學校有開這門課呢？

LL: Of course the university doesn't offer such a class! But it does offer History 101, English 101, and Chinese 101. These are all basic classes.

LH: 噢，像歷史101，英語101都是指一些基本課程，所以dating 101就是指學習有關約會的一切，就好像他到學校裏修一門基礎課學習怎樣約會。

LL: Right. And Tom isn't the only one who needs to take Dating 101. I haven't had a date in a long time.

LH: 嘿！Larry，說到約會，你還記得我很喜歡的那個男孩，上星期我和他出去一次。我們去一家氣氛不錯的餐廳，可是他的話實在不多。

LL: Sounds like he needs to enroll in Conversation 101. He should at least be able to keep a conversation going through dinner.

LH: 沒錯，看來他的確需要修一門對話101的課程。不過他人是真的很好，就是非常害羞。

LL: Then maybe what he needs is Confidence-Building 101, instead.

LH: Larry，你真有意思，居然說他該上一門建立自信的基礎課，Confidence-Building101！

LL: And as for you Li Hua, you could use a little Relaxation 101. You are always so worried about your grades.

LH: 沒錯，我是很擔心學習成績，所以你建議我修一門學會放鬆的基礎課，Relaxation 101。你呀！我看你應該修一門有關整理家務的101課，看你的房間亂得那樣。

LL: Well, as you probably guessed, I failed Housekeeping 101. Dating 101 is a lot more fun.

今天李華學到兩個常用語。一個是high maintenance。這是形容一個人需要別人小心謹慎來對待，否則就會不高興，也就是很難伺候的意思。另一個常用語是dating101。這是指有關約會的最基本知識。