Larry和李華在Larry的朋友Sam家開party。李華今天要學兩個常用語，party foul和split.

LL: Gosh, I am SO sorry, Li Hua! I just spilled some of my drink on you. What a party foul!

LH: 沒事的，Larry. 只不過是點兒汽水而已，一下就弄干凈了。不過，什么是party foul 啊？

LL: A party foul is when you do something really embarrassing at a party - like spill your drink on someone.

LH: 噢，foul 在體育比賽里是犯規的意思，那 party foul 就是指開派對的時候出丑嘍。

LL: Right, and nobody really likes to commit a party foul, but sometimes when you are having a lot of fun and there are a lot of people together in one place, it is easy to do something stupid.

LH: 發生 party foul 的時候，其他人會怎樣呢？

LL: Sometimes they stare or it gets very quiet - or other times some one might yell, "Party foul!" And everyone will laugh.

LH: 那可真夠丟人的。不過，灑點兒飲料不算什么，我見過更糟糕的party foul。

LL: Really? What is the worse party foul you've seen?

LH: 有一次我去參加朋友的婚禮。大家跳舞的時候，發生了我見過的超級party foul.

LL: Don't keep me in suspense, Li Hua! Tell me about this party foul. What happened?

LH: 有個客人踩在了新娘的婚紗上，把婚紗撕掉了一大塊。所有人都傻了，大廳里鴉雀無聲。

LL: Yikes! That really is a major party foul. What happened then?

LH: 新郎和新娘處理得很好，他們知道那個客人一定很難堪，所以馬上開了個玩笑，幫他解圍。

LL: I think the most embarrassing party foul I committed was the time I went to a party in a suit.

LH: 穿西裝去參加派對有什么不對嗎？

LL: Well, I received an invitation to a very fancy New Year's Eve party once from my boss. I didn't read the invitation very closely though.

LH: Uh-oh. 你犯了什么不可饒恕的 party foul 嗎？

LL: Well, when I showed up at the party and all the men were wearing tuxedos, I knew I had committed a party foul.

LH: 別人都穿正式的燕尾服，只有你一個人穿西裝，肯定特尷尬吧？哎，時間不早了，咱們是不是該走了？

******

LL: This has been a nice party, but you are right, Li Hua. We really should split.

LH: We need to split. Split 不是把東西劈成兩半的意思嗎？

LL: It is, but split S-P-L-I-T is also a slang term meaning to leave a place - and sometimes to leave a place quickly.

LH: 噢，原來是馬上離開的意思。我前天晚上看了一個老的西部片，有個匪徒殺人后就說他要 split town, 逃出城。

LL: That's a good example, Li Hua. That meant he had to get out of town quickly, before the police figured out he had committed the crime.

LH: 好吧，Larry, 我準備好了，Let's split! 我們走吧。

LL: That's a perfect use of "split", Li Hua! But before we split, we really should go find Sam and thank him for a fun evening.

LH: 對啊，不跟主人打招呼就走，別人會覺得我們沒禮貌的。

LL: You're right, Li Hua. Oh, there is Sam over there. I'm going to go over and tell him we are going to split.

LH: 等等，Larry. 你看，還有這么多人呢，我們不會走得太早了吧？

LL: No, I don't think it is too early for us to split. We've been here a couple of hours already. Plus, Sam will understand. He knows I have to work tomorrow - and that you have to teach classes.

LH: 那好，我在這兒等你。

(Party sounds and music)

LL: There. I told Sam we were going to split, and that we had a great time.

LH: Sam 沒有不高興吧？

LL: Oh, no. Not at all. In fact, he said he was glad we came and hoped we would come again the next time he had a party.

今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是party foul, 是在part上出丑的意思。另一個是split,是趕快走的意思。