Larry 在咖啡館里碰見了李華。他們會用到兩個常用語：take someone under
your wing 和take someone for a ride.

    （Sound of cafédoor opening - chimes ）

    Larry ： Hey， there you are， Lihua.

    LH：（Sounding tired） Oh ， hi Larry.

    Larry ： I haven't seen you since last weekend. What have you been
up to ？ Don't tell me you're having midterms already.

    LH：我連看書的時間都沒有！盡忙著照顧我表妹了。她從中國來美國上高中，
初來乍到，什么都不會，所以我這兩天一直在幫她安頓。

    Larry ： I'm sure it's a very tough transition for both of you. But，
it's so nice of you to take her under your wing.

    LH： "Take her under my wing" ？這是什么意思？

    Larry ： To take someone under your wing means to give them a great
deal of personal guidance and protection while they are learning something
of which you have experience.

    LH：我明白了， to take someone under your wing，就是指導、保護和照
料某人。我現在就是這樣像母雞帶小雞一樣照顧著我表妹呢！

    Larry ： It takes time to learn how to cope with living in a totally
new environment - it's only natural to need a little bit of help at first.
As a matter of fact ， I can remember a time not so long ago when I took
a certain confused girl from China under my own wing……

    LH：你說你也曾這樣幫助過一個女孩？你不是在說我吧？Larry ，雖然你給
了我很多幫助，但這和我給我表妹的幫助是不同的。我要是不在她身邊，她連出
門買吃的都不敢！

    Larry ： But Lihua， you couldn't buy groceries on your own either
when you first moved here. One time at the grocery store， your bill came
to $7.50 and you pulled out a dollar bill ， asking me if it was enough！

    LH： Haha ，這個我記得。剛到美國時，每次需要跟美國人打交道我都會非
常緊張，就算不說英語，還是覺得很恐怖。

    Larry ： Luckily， I was there to take you under my wing while you
got used to living in the United States - just like how you're taking
your cousin under your wing now ！

    LH：哈，看來我們都是好心人！最近我在幫我表妹找房子。她以前的房東欺
負她是新來的，把房租提高了兩倍！我表妹已經傻呼呼地交了一個月的錢！

    Larry ： Yeah ， you have to be really careful. It sounds like that
landlord was taking your cousin for a ride.

    LH： Taking her for a ride？開車帶她出去？那個房東可沒這么好心！

    Larry ： Um ， I mean "taking her for a ride" as in ， taking advantage
of her situation - playing a trick on her for his own benefit.

    LH：哦！原來to take someone for a ride還有欺負人，宰人的意思！

    Larry ： Yea， that's right. For example， when I went to New York
City， my cab driver noticed that I had never been to New York before ，
and so he took a longer route to my hotel in order to run up my bill.
This is a classic case of "taking someone for a ride."

    LH：啊？司機看你是第一次來紐約，就帶著你繞遠路，多收你的車費。這可
真差勁，欺負人！

    Larry ： Unfortunately， some people will take advantage of other
people like that.

    LH： Larry，咱們是愿意take others under our wings ，不遺余力地幫助
別人，可這個房東和那個出租司機卻會take people for a ride，占別人便宜。
所以這兩個說法的意思正好相反嘛！

    Larry ： Yea， you could think of it like that. So， it's a great
thing that you are taking your cousin under your wing ！ Otherwise， it
would be easy for people to take her for a ride.

    LH：好吧，為了防止她受欺負，我就繼續努力吧。

    Larry ： I'm sure your cousin is a smart girl. Before you know it ，
she'll be just as capable to live on her own in the United States as you
are - and you won't have to worry about people trying to take her for
a ride.

    LH：（嘆氣）不過，在她完全自立前，我可有的忙了，估計不能常和你見面
了！

    Larry ： That's OK. Taking someone under your wing is a quite a full-time
job ！

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是to take someone under your wing ，意
思是“照顧和幫助某人”。另一個是to take someone for a ride，意思是“占
人便宜，欺負人”。