Larry 跟李華約好，下班后一起在餐館吃飯，李華先到了一步。今天我們要
學兩個常用語：have a full plate 和 to kill time.

    LH：（遠遠地）Hey ， Larry！我在這兒呢！

    LL： Hi Lihua. Phew ！ It's so good to finally sit down and relax.

    LH：你怎么累成這副樣子？沒不舒服吧？

    LL： I'm just a bit tired ……I've got quite a full plate at work
right now ； it's been a very stressful couple of weeks.

    LH： A full plate ？什么？你在辦公室已經吃了滿滿一盤子飯菜？不是說
好跟我一起吃飯的嗎？

    LL： Oh ， I don't mean a real plate of food， Li Hua ， it's just
a figure of speech. Saying you have a full plate at work means that you
are very busy ， it doesn't actually have anything to do with food.

    LH：哦，我明白了，說自己 have a full plate意思就是在有限的時間里有
許許多多的事情要做。

    LL： That's right. That's exactly how I would describe my situation
at the office right now.

    LH：那我期末考試前沒日沒夜地復習功課，也可以說 I had a full plate ？

    LL： Yes， that would be a perfect example. Everyone feels like they
have a lot on their plate when finals come around. Or ， last fall when
my friend Steve was working two part-time jobs while going to school -
I could say he really had a full plate back then.

    LH：好，我明白了，說了這么半天 a full plate ，我肚子已經咕咕叫了。

    服務員來了，你想好點什么了嗎？

    LL： You bet I am ！ I've had such a full plate at work ， I didn't
even have time to eat lunch today ！

    LH：什么？你居然忙得連午飯都沒顧得上吃，早知道這樣，我們應該去吃自
助餐才對！

    ******

    Larry 和李華吃完晚飯，Larry 一副酒足飯飽、心滿意足的樣子。

    LL：（Sounding satisfied） Ah ！ That was a superb bacon-cheeseburger.
Now if only I didn't have to worry about going back to work tomorrow morning.

    LH：不想去上班？你開什么玩笑？我敢擔保，象你這種閑不住的人，如果沒
工作，整天待在家里，一定會無聊得發瘋。

    LL： Lihua， You don't know how lazy I can be. Killing time is one
of the things I do best.

    LH： Killing time ？什么是kill time ？

    LL： Killing time is just another way of saying "wasting time." Of
course I wouldn't actually kill anything！

    LH：哦，killing time就是中文里說的打發時間。

    LL： That's right. And I am an expert at killing time.

    LH：這一點我可以作證。你每天把大把的時間都用來打電子游戲，浪費時間
的能力確實已經達到了“專家”的水平。

    LL： Very funny ……So I like to kill time with my Playstation on
the weekends， there's nothing wrong with that. And besides ， I'm not
the only one who knows how to kill time. I always see you playing those
online games with your friends.

    LH：這倒是真的，上網玩游戲確實是消磨時間的好辦法，可以讓我放松。Well，
I guess I am good at killing time too.

    LL： Now if I didn't have such a full plate at work ， we could have
more time to kill together.

    LH：（哈哈），要不這樣吧，你明天下班來圖書館陪我看書，我準備考試，
你消磨時間。

    LL： Well ……I think I'd rather go shoe shopping before staring at
the walls in some library.

    LH： Shoe shopping？對啊，好主意，我們去逛鞋店。

    LL： Uhh……Let's just say I'd much rather kill some time at home
rather than spending a few hours at the library or the shoe store.

    LH：想反悔，沒那么容易，既然你主動提醒我，那就一定要陪我去逛街。

    LL：（Reluctantly ） OK. Can I at least listen to my mp3 player while
you try on the shoes. Listening to music is a very relaxing way to kill
time.

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是have a full plate ，意思是在有限的時
間里有好多事情要做。另一個是to kill time，意思是打發時間，消磨時光。