laurance--You look happy today!
soony--I am happy.I just heard I passed my physics exam
laurance--Congratulations!I’m glad somebody’s happy.
soony--Why?What’s the matter?
laurance--Oh,I’m just worried,I guess I have to take a history exam next week.

注解：
1）I am happy：注意重音在am上，以示強調(diào)。
2）physics：物理學。
3）I’m glad somebody’s happy:somebody重讀，顯示說話者本人心里有些憂慮。
4）What’s the matter=What’s troubling you
5）I’m worried:此句中worried是過去分詞作表語，不是被動語態(tài)。

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DIALOG 22
LEARNING A LANGUAGE

laurance--I give up!I simply can’t learn French!
soony--Why do you say that?I think you’re making a lot of progress.
laurance--No,I’m not.I try and try and I still can’t speak it very well.
soony--Learning any language takes a lot of effort.But don’t give up.Why don’t we practice those dialogs together?
laurance--Good idea.That just might help.

注解：
1）give up=stop trying,不再做努力。與 keep up trying 是一對反義詞組。
2）make progress：是固定搭配。意思是取得進步/進展
3）take a lot of effort:take在這里有“需要”“花費”的意思。

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DIALOG 23
BORROWING A BOOK

laurance--Whose is this?
soony--It’s mine.Why do you ask?
laurance--Could I borrow it?I’ve been wanting to read it.
soony--Be my guest,but I warn you.It’s not as good as they say.
laurance--What’s the matter with it?
soony--Well,for one thing the plot is highly imporbable and for another,the characters seem more like paper dolls than people.
laurance--That’s strange.Usually that author does a good job of charcterization.I’ve read three of his books and thought they were all well done.
soony--I’ve been a fan of his for a long time too,but he really flubbed on this one!
laurance--What did the reviews say?
soony--They were mixed-some good,some bad.My review,bad!

注解
1）Be y guest.（口語）=You are welcome.
2）warn：告誡；預先通知
3）What’s the matter with it?=What’s wrong with it?
4）for one thing：舉例說。這個短語通常用來舉例某種原因。
5）improbable：不可能的。
6）dolls：玩偶；玩具娃娃
7）flub：搞糟了