第4课：broke;lame
Michael和李华这两个大学生今天在纽约的百老汇逛马路。那里戏院很多。李华看到一个剧院在演歌舞剧《音乐之声》，于是她苦苦哀求Michael陪她去看。Michael 在学中文。他喜欢李华跟他讲中文，可以让他练习听力。他在今天的对话里会用到“broke”和“lame”这两个词。L：Michael，你看，这个剧院在演[音乐之声]！我一直想看这个歌舞剧。
M: I know, it's a popular show.
L：谁都喜欢《音乐之声》。Michael，今天晚上我们没有功课，我们去看，好吗？
M: Sorry, Li Hua, I'm broke. Maybe another time.
L：Broke? 你受伤啦？
M: No, no, no! I did not break anything. Here broke means to have no money.
L：噢，你没有摔断骨头，把我吓一跳。Broke在这里的意思是没有钱。上回我妈妈出了车祸，花了好多钱修车，她就没钱了。这也可以说……
M: Yes, your mom was broke!
L：我哥哥付了学费，还买了好多书，他现在也是没钱了。
M: Your brother is now broke! I know your sister spent all her money to buy a computer, so she is now broke too.
L：你怎么知道我姐姐买了一台电脑，把所有的钱都花完了？
M: You told me yourself, you just forgot!
L：我告诉过你？我真是忘了。可是我不信你没有钱，你不是刚开始给一个公司打工，前几天还发了工资吗？
M: Ok, ok, I'm not broke. We can go see the show.
L：我知道你有钱！太好了，太好了，谢谢你Michael。
L：这两个座位还挺好的。
M: Yea, pretty good. Li Hua, do you know why I didn't want to come to the show? Because I think musicals are lame.
L：Lame？Lame是什么意思呀？
M: When you say something is lame you mean that it is silly or it is uninteresting.
L：噢，说什么东西lame就是说没有意思，无聊。还有什么事情你 觉得是无聊的？
M: Saturday morning classes are lame!
L：你是说星期六早上上课是个馊主意？
M: Yes, having class on a weekend is lame because it's a silly idea.
L：对，我也同意，周末上课太没劲了！谁出的这个主意，是够傻的。
L：对了，Michael，上回你交不出家庭作业也找了个很牵强的借口，你当时是怎么对教授说的？
M: I told our professor that my dog ate my homework. Yes, I agree, that was a lame excuse.
L：对了，你对教授说你的狗把你的家庭作业给吃了。谁都不会相信你这种话。那你刚才不想来看歌舞剧，借口说没钱，那也是lame excuse？
M: Yes, it was an inadequate excuse because I do have money.
L：我知道你有钱，只是为了不想看歌舞剧而找个借口才说没钱的。
M: You can also say...
L：行了，行了，我懂了。别说话了，演出开始了。
M: Ok, but don't give me any lame excuses next time I want to do something!
L：下回不管你要干什么，我绝对不会用这种牵强的借口。
M: Seriously, after buying these tickets I really am broke!
L：买了这两张票，你真的没钱啦？得，下回我请客。
Michael 和李华在今天的对话里用了broke这个词，broke在这里的意思是没有钱了。他们还用了一个词：lame，意思是无聊，没有意思，或者是不合适的。