李華幫Larry 收拾東西，準備搬家。今天我們要學兩個常用語：the last straw
和loose ends.

    LH： Larry，你怎么存了這么多垃圾！我看干脆都扔了，別搬走了。

    LL： Junk ？ Throw it away？ These are all precious ！ How could I
ever throw away my math book from third grade ， or my Halloween costume
from five years ago ？ I looked really great as Michael Jackson.

    LH：那好，三年級的數學作業本和五年前的鬼節服裝都收在這個箱子里面，
別忘了！不過我還是決定把你這幾個舊鞋盒和衣架扔掉，你要堅強，不要流淚。

    LL： Fine ， but if you go after my Star Trek dolls ， that will be
the last straw.

    LH： The last what？

    LL： The last straw. When a series of bad things happens to you ，
the last straw is the final bad thing that you cannot tolerate.

    LH：你是說，the last straw是說一系列不愉快的事情中最令人無法接受的。
所以，對你來說，star Trek dolls 是你最難以割舍的東西。

    LL： Exactly. Or， take this apartment for example. This year the
air conditioning broke， the bathroom flooded ， and some noisy neighbors
moved in next door. But the last straw was when I found a mouse in the
kitchen. That's when I decided to move.

    LH：我知道你最怕老鼠，所以空調失靈、廁所漏水、鄰居吵鬧都可能忍受，
但是老鼠的出現是“最后一根稻草”。我最受不了鄰居大吵大鬧了，你夜里怎么
能睡覺呢？

    LL： I didn't. It was bad enough when they played loud music during
the day ， but when they started playing it at 3 am ， that was the last
straw.

    LH：太過份了。對了，Larry ，你那些狐朋狗友不是要來幫你搬家嗎？

    LL： Yes， but they're not very dependable. It was bad enough when
they forgot about my birthday last week ， but if they don't bother to
show up and help move ， that will be the last straw.

    LH：你看吧，你當初就該聽我的，找個搬家公司。

    LL： I was thinking about it， but the price was quite expensive.
And when they told me that I would have to pay for the gas that the truck
used， that was the last straw.

    LH：幸虧我最近一直在健身，渾身是勁！走，我們去打掃廚房。別擔心，有
我在，老鼠一定不敢騷擾你。

    ******

    Larry 和李華在Larry 的新公寓樓里。

    LH： Larry，這箱書放哪？放在臥室嗎？

    LL： Sure. Is there anything left to bring in from the truck？

    LH：沒了，這是最后一個箱子。

    LL： Great. Thanks for your help， Lihua. I can probably tie up all
the loose ends by myself.

    LH： Tie the what ？

    LL： Loose ends. When you are about to finish doing a project ， but
there are still a few small things left to do ， you can call them the
"loose ends."

    LH：哦，loose ends就是中文里說的最后剩下的零星工作。比如說把鑰匙還
給原來的房東，把租的卡車還回去這些事情。

    LL： Exactly. Or， if I want to go on vacation， I have to make sure
I tie up all the loose ends at work before I go. Otherwise they could
become big problems while I'm gone.

    LH：說起渡假，你不是說準備夏天到海邊去玩嗎？

    LL： Yes， I'm almost finished. I have the hotel reservations and
airplane tickets. There's just a few loose ends I still have to take care
of， like finding my bathing suit and buying sun screen.

    LH：太好了，我也得把中文課的考卷改好，渡假的時候我可不愿意去擔心這
些loose ends.

    LL： Well after all this hard work moving we're both going to need
a vacation. I sure hope we get good weather. After all the problems with
my last apartment ， if we get to the beach and it's raining， that will
really be the last straw for me.

    LH：我幫你搬家，你還沒說怎么謝我呢！今天干脆別拆包了，你請我吃飯吧！

    LL： Wow， all that work for one meal ？ What a bargain ！ I'll go
get the car while you call for reservations. Have we forgotten any loose
ends？

    LH：別忘了帶錢包，今天可是你付帳！

    LL： Oh right. The only problem is that I packed it away in one of
these boxes and I'm not sure where it is. Do you mind paying？

    LH： Larry，你要是沒有我可怎么辦啊！

    今天李華學了兩個常用語。一個是the last straw，意思是最令人無法忍受
的事情。另一個是loose ends，意思是還沒有處理的零星事情。