Larry跟李华一起在超市购物。今天我们要学两个常用语：check out和max out.
LH: OK. 让我看看购物清单。今天晚上开party的东西就差奶酪了。
LL: OK, wow! Check this out! What a great price!
LH: 你是说要买这种奶酪吗？
LL: No, I mean that I want you to check this out! And yeah, if you agree that it’s good, we should buy it!
LH: Check out在英语里，不就是交钱的意思吗？你越说我越糊涂了。
LL: Oh, my mistake. ‘Check out’ has a few different meanings, depending on the situation. For example, when I just said ‘check this out’ I mean – take a look at it.
LH: 哦，你是让我看看这种减价奶酪，那你说’Hey, take a look at this cheese’. 不就完了。
LL: It’s just our way of saying ‘look at’ or ‘inspect’ in American slang.
LH: 我明白了。可是美国超市里交钱的地方不是也叫checkout吗？你看，那边还挂了个大牌子，上面就写着 Checkout.
LL: Oh, I see why you’re confused. ‘Checkout’ is a noun – and you’re right – it means the area where you pay money for the things that you buy. And ‘to check out’ – in this case a verb, is when you return your key and leave a hotel room.
LH: 所以说，checkout连在一起，是名词，指交钱的地方.那如果分开，就是动词，指交钱的行为，在旅馆说to check out就是退房结帐。那现在，我们要check out the cheese prices，那是看看奶酪的价格，如果决定买，就去交钱go to the checkout to buy them.
LL: Exactly! And one more thing. We can also use ‘check out’ as a verb to describe the action when a male or female is looking at a person they are physically attracted to.
LH: 你是说，看到吸引人的异性多看几眼也叫check out? How come you never check ME out!
LL: Oh, trust me. I check you out, but I only do it when you’re not looking. Us men have a special talent for that, haha!
LH: 够了够了，你又贫嘴。我们还是赶紧买奶酪吧。
LL: Haha, ok. Wait. Check this out! And that! And…
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LH: 东西都买全了吗？奶酪、面包、葡萄酒、水果…..
LL: And this box of chocolate! Now we’re ready. Let’s go to the checkout.
LH: 我们今天用现金还是刷信用卡？
LL: Let’s go ahead and use cash. I actually maxed out my credit card the last time I used it.
LH: Maxed out? 是什么意思？
LL: It means I used up all the available credit on the card. I reached the maximum amount last month. So, in American slang, we just say ‘max out.’
LH: 怎么可能。你卡上的信用额度不是很高吗？怎么会max out用光了呢？
LL: I maxed out the card because I booked our vacation to Hawaii last month. Don’t worry. I intend to pay if off over the next few months.
LH: 难怪。原来去夏威夷渡假的开销你全都放在了信用卡上。那max out还能用在其他地方吗？
LL: Well, you can use it when you have reached or exceeded the maximum quantity of something that you are capable of. Some other things I can think of are vacation time and allowed overtime hours.
LH: 我明白了。公司一般对年假和加班都有限制，所以要说假用光了，就可以说max out.
LL: Exactly. So regarding our trip to Hawaii – I managed to max out my credit card AND my vacation time. Haha! It better be worth it!
LH: Larry, 我还听说如果把信用卡上的额度全都用光的话，对你的信用记录不好，是这样吗？
LL: Oh, it’s true. You have to be very careful with the amount of credit you have. But as long as you pay all of your bills, it’s ok. Constantly maxing out your credit card is not something you want to do, however.
LH: 你上个月把卡刷爆。这完全可以理解，一趟夏威夷，又是机票、又是渡假村，还要租车，一定很多钱。
LL: Yeah. It’s why I didn’t tell you, because I just thought it wasn’t a major issue. I’ll let you know next time, but I’m hoping that there won’t be a next time.
LH: OK. 我们去交钱吧！这巧克力还买吗？
LL: Perhaps I can put those back on the shelf. I need to watch my spending a little more.
今天李华学了两个常用语。一个是check out, 瞧一瞧。另一个是max out，意思是用到极限。