M: Now that we have eaten, let's walk to the White House. It's not too far from here.
L: 到白宮去？太好了，除了照片外，我還沒有看到過真的白宮呢！
M: Watch out Li Hua! Get back!
L: 喲！ 我的天哪！我的天哪！真嚇?biāo)牢伊?！我以為這下我可完了！
M: Oh, my god! Are you okay? Geez, that was really a close call.
L: Michael, 我都差一點(diǎn)被車撞了， 而你還在說什么close call，這跟打電話根本沒有關(guān)系！
M: No, that's not what I meant by close call. I meant that the car nearly hit you.
L: 對啊，那車差一點(diǎn)就撞上我了，這就是 close call？
M: Actually, Li Hua, close call means that you narrowly avoided danger. Something bad could have happened to you, but you narrowly avoided a bad situation.
L: 原來close call就是說，差一點(diǎn)發(fā)生倒霉的事，我算是逃避了這倒霉事。我可以說，今天我差一點(diǎn)沒被汽車撞了。對不對？
M: Yeah, that's right.
L: 那close call是不是一定用在跟生命危險有關(guān)的場合呢？
M: Not really. Let me give you another example. The paper you and I turned in this week was almost late. That was also a close call.
L: 對，那個教授讓我們在星期二前把學(xué)術(shù)報告交給他，我們是星期一晚上去交的，差一點(diǎn)就過了限期，這也可以說是close call。 下回我可再也不敢這么做了。
M: Here we are! The White House!
L: 太好了！ 白宮到了, 那我們趕快走把。
今天 Michael 和李華在對話中用的一個常用語是ticked off， 意思是為了什么事情生氣； 另一個是close call，意思 是差一點(diǎn)沒發(fā)生倒霉的事，或是差一點(diǎn)完不成該做的事。
