Larry 陪李華帶著她新領養(yǎng)的貓咪- 小雪球- 去看獸醫(yī)。兩人聊起了一位共
同的朋友。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：workaholic和nutty.

    LL： I'm really worried about Bob. He seems as though he has turned
into a real workaholic. LH：你很擔心Bob ，因為他成了workaholic. Workaholic，
那是什么意思？是不是Bob 生病了？

    LL： No ， Bob doesn't have a disease. He's a workaholic. A workaholic
is someone who works all of the time and never takes time for anything
else. LH：啊，我懂你的意思了。Workaholic是指一個人工作過度，從來不休息。
就是“工作狂”的意思嘛！Bob 天天加班，怪不得他看起來總是那么累。這樣對
身體很不好呢！

    LL： No ， it's not. Workaholics often get stress-relatedproblems
such as high blood pressureor ulcers. LH：就是，高血壓和潰瘍都是一些工
作過度的人常有的毛病。我爸爸就是個工作狂。我小的時候很少見到他，因為他
總是在辦公室里加班。結果在我10歲的時候，他得了潰瘍，醫(yī)生要他立刻減少工
作量。

    LL： That's a shame ， but it's actually pretty common. I've known
a few workaholics ， too. LH：現(xiàn)代人工作忙碌，變成工作狂是很常見的。哎，
Larry 也許我們應該和Bob 談談，讓他知道我們很擔心他。

    LL： I don't know how he'll respond to that. Maybe it would be better
if we just pressured him to hang out with us and relax more. LH ：這倒
是個好主意，讓他和我們一起出去玩，一定可以放松心情的！要不這樣吧！我們
可以邀請Bob 下星期到我家玩，順便看看我的小雪球！

    LL： I don't know if meeting your crazy cat is going to help prevent
Bob from becoming a workaholic， but at least it will get him out of the
office for a while. LH：嘿！我的小雪球才不瘋呢！她只不過是只小貓咪，愛
玩而已嘛！

    ******

    LL： Well ， did the vet officially diagnoseyour cat as being totally
nutty ？

    LH： Nutty？那是什么意思。你該不是在說我的小雪球有什么行為方面的問
題吧？

    LL： You could say that. Nutty means crazy. LH：所以nutty 就是瘋瘋
顛顛的意思。哎，我跟你說過了，小雪球不瘋。她只是比較好動。

    LL： Did the vet agree with you ？

    LH：當然嘍！獸醫(yī)還說，小雪球既不瘋，也沒有心理問題。她只是一只小貓，
所以特別需要別人注意她。獸醫(yī)還說我應該經(jīng)常陪小雪球玩。

    LL： Oh ， I see， she's so nutty because she has too much extra energy.
If we play with her and tire her out， she'll be calmer. LH ：沒錯，只
要我們多陪陪她，消耗她的體力，她就不會精力旺盛地動來動去。所以我打算用
繩子做一些小玩具，每天至少陪她玩15分鐘。

    LL： Hey， that actually sounds fun. Can I help ？

    LH：當然嘍！但是你得先答應我，不可以再叫她是個小瘋子，或是nutty 了。
這樣我才讓你和她玩。可以嗎？

    LL： All right， I won't make fun of your nutty cat anymore. LH ：
Larry ！你怎么又這么說她啊！

    LL： I'm just kidding. I think it's funny that you get so offended
when I call Snowball nutty. LH：我當然要生氣咯！小雪球是只很乖的小貓。
我真的很喜歡她。所以你不可以這樣嘲笑她。

    LL： Okay ， I won't. Let's take her home and play with her now. I'm
sure she doesn't want to stay here any longer.