今天Larry 和李華要到體育館去和幾個(gè)朋友打籃球。李華會(huì)學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)
：stick to something和give something a shot.

    （Ambience sound in gym ）

    LL： Hey， Li Hua ， are you looking forward to today's game？

    LH：嗨，其實(shí)我的籃球打得不怎么樣。我倒想試試其他的運(yùn)動(dòng)。

    LL： You'll get better. You've only been playing basketball for a
few weeks. You have to stick to something if you want to become good at
it. LH：對(duì)，我才打了幾個(gè)星期的籃球！可是你怎么說要我stick to something.
Stick 不是黏的意思？這跟打籃球有什么關(guān)系啊？

    LL： To "stick to something" means that you continue to do it and
don't give up. LH ：噢！我懂了，stick to something就是堅(jiān)持不懈，繼續(xù)做
某件事。那不就像我們中文里說的“持之以恒”嘛！你的意思是，要是我想打好
籃球，就得不斷地練習(xí)咯！

    LL： That's right. You've stuck to practicing English for a long time，
and now your English is much better. Right？

    LH：你說的對(duì)，我學(xué)英文倒是盡量的多說，不斷地練習(xí)。對(duì)了，Larry ，那
stick to something除了運(yùn)動(dòng)，學(xué)語(yǔ)言，我還可以用在哪些地方呢？

    LL： Well ， a person can stick to a decision ， too. If I decide
to learn Chinese， and I stick to my decision ， that means I don't change
my mind or give up. LH：噢，如果一個(gè)人堅(jiān)持自己的決定，也可以說stick to
one's decision. 那一個(gè)立場(chǎng)不堅(jiān)定，經(jīng)常flip-flop 的人可就不能這么說咯！

    LL： That's right. Very good use of the term flip-flop， by the way.
LH：謝謝。不過有時(shí)候要堅(jiān)持做一件事還真不容易。就好比打籃球，我已經(jīng)不知
道我是不是真的喜歡打籃球了。

    LL： Remember how hard English was at first ？ But you stuck to it
and now it's much easier， right？

    LH：好象是這樣。你覺得打籃球也會(huì)像學(xué)英文一樣，只要我堅(jiān)持練習(xí)，就會(huì)
越來越容易嗎？

    LL： I do. You'll see. So ， have you decided to play in today's game
after all ？

    LH：好吧，我來試試看，也許就象你說的，多練習(xí)，我就能打好球！

    ******

    （Sound of dribbling basketball ）

    LH： Larry，那個(gè)籃球架子太遠(yuǎn)了，我肯定投不進(jìn)！

    LL： Come on， Li Hua ， give it a shot. It's okay if you miss.

    LH： Larry，我是在投球耶！你怎么叫我給它一槍？"Give it a shot"那是
什么意思啊？

    LL： To give something a shot is to go ahead and try something， even
if you don't expect to be successful.

    LH：嗨，我還以為give it a shot是開槍呢！原來，give it a shot就是試
一試，不管會(huì)不會(huì)成功。好吧。那我就投嘍！可是我一定投不進(jìn)啦！

    （Sound of basketball into the basket ）

    LL： Hey， look ， you made it！ That's three more points for our
team！ See， it never hurts to give something a shot. LH：哇！太棒了！
我居然投進(jìn)了！對(duì)了，Larry ， give it a shot 我是不是還能用在其他什么地
方？

    LL： Just about anything. For instance， I'd like to give sailing
a shot， even though I've never sailed a boat before in my life. LH ：
你想學(xué)開船啊！我倒想試試開飛機(jī)呢！

    LL： Hey， slow down. We all know what your driving is like. I don't
think it's a good idea for you to fly a plane. LH ：嘿！我的開車技術(shù)有
什么不好？再說，剛才是你告訴我，不管結(jié)果如何，都應(yīng)該去試一試的啊！

    LL： Maybe if you stick to driving for a while and get better at it，
then you can give flying a shot. LH ：哎呀，其實(shí)我也是說說而已啦。我根
本就沒錢去上飛行課。不過如果有機(jī)會(huì)，我會(huì)去試試的！

    今天李華學(xué)到兩個(gè)常用語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是stick to something. 就是堅(jiān)持不懈，繼
續(xù)做某件事。第二個(gè)常用語(yǔ)是give it a shot. 這是試一試的意思，哪怕你認(rèn)為
不會(huì)成功，但也可以一試。