今天是周末，Michael和李华去打台球。李华一边玩一边还学了两个年轻人常用的词：to rule和to blow money on something.
L: 哎呀，我不想玩了。我老是输给你。这样玩还有什么意思啊。
M: Hey! You don’t need to get angry just because I rule at the pool table!
L: 啊？ 你在台球桌上做了什么？你是不是耍了什么花招，怕我生气啊？
M: Absolutely not! I said that I rule the pool table. That means that I am the best at playing pool. I can defeat anyone. Rule, R-U-L-E.
L: 噢，我明白了，rule在这里指的是你玩台球玩得最棒，可以打败任何人。对不对，Michael？
M: That’s right! I am king of the pool table! I rule!
L: 嘿，你不要那么得意好不好。你忘了,那天打乒乓球，你连连败在我的手下。你呀，对乒乓球这种体育运动简直是一窍不通。
M: Sport? Ping-pong is not a sport! It’s a game! You might rule at that little game. But I rule at pool, a man’s game!
L: 你在瞎说什么啊。我不跟你争了。你还是多给我解释解释rule这个词吧。
M: Well, I can say “I rule the pool table”; that means that I dominate the game. Or I can say “I rule at” doing something. In either case it means the same thing: I am the best!
L: 好了，好了，就算你是最棒的吧。那rule还有什么别的用法呢？
M: Sometimes we just say something or someone rules without adding any other words. For instance, I can say “Chinese food rules!” That means I think it is great.
L: 那如果我说：Michael Jordan rules!，是不是就表示我认为他是最棒的篮球运动员，对不对？
M: That’s right. When we say a person rules, that means we think they are the best, or at least that they are impressive.
L: 哎，Michael，你看那边有个人老往我们这边看，没准他是想和你比赛，怎么样，敢不敢跟他比？
M: Whatever, I rule the pool table, no matter who I play against!
L: Michael，你打得怎么样，输了还是赢了？
M: Not so well. Say, Li Hua, can I borrow five dollars? I just blew my money on playing pool with them, and I need to put gas in the car so we can get home.
L: 你说你的钱怎么了？你是不是在赌博啊？
M: No, I said I blew my money on pool. That means I spent all of my money very quickly. Blew is the past tense for blow.
L: 噢，“blow money on something”就是为了做某件事很快把口袋里的钱花光了。
M: That’s right. Like when we were at the mall the other day, and you blew a whole week’s pay on shoes.
L: 我是花了一星期的工资买鞋，可你不觉得我买的鞋价廉物美，所以不能说我浪费啊。
M: Well, I guess sometimes it’s ok to blow one’s money on something useful.
L: 就是嘛。哎，我倒是想起了一个你乱花钱的例子，记不记得你大 学一年级的时候到赌城拉斯维加斯，blew all of your money on black jack。
M: Ha ha ha….yeah, what a wonderful memory. but, I’ll never blow all of my money like that again. I am older and wiser now.
L: 得了吧，你年龄的确是越来越大，可脑筋并没有越来越聪明。要不然你今天怎么会玩台球把钱都花光呢？
M: Those guys are good. They play quickly, and they both beat me several times. Also, we agreed that the loser had to pay for the pool table. So of course I blew all of my money very quickly.
今天Michael可是够倒霉的，输了球，还花光了钱。不过李华倒是收获不小，她今天学到两个很有用的词。一个是：to rule，是很棒的意思。另一个是：to blow one’s money on something，意思是把钱都浪费在了某样东西上。