今天Michael提前下班，在路上碰到李华。李华会学到两个常用语： to slack off和peon。
L: 嘿， Michael, 你今天怎么这么早就下班啦？
M: Well, this is the holiday season, so everyone at work is slacking off. No one minds if I leave early.
L: 你说是因为过节，早下班没人会介意，而且办公室里每个人都在slacking off? 那是做什么呀？
M: (Chuckles) I said everyone is “slacking off”. “To slack off” means just the opposite of “being busy”. “To slack off” means “to not work hard”.
L: 噢，to slack off的意思和“努力工作”刚好相反。我懂了，你是说，因为过节，所以同事们都比较放松– Everyone at work is slacking off. 可是，Michael, 你自作主张提前下班，是不是有一点太slack off了呢？
M: Oh, I certainly don’t worry about it, because I noticed even my boss is slacking off. He left even earlier than I did.
L: 你们公司老板比你走得还早，看来，他比你更加slack off。说得也是，马上就要新年了，连我也觉得挺懒散，什么事都不想做。
M: That’s Ok. You’re on vacation. You have very good reasons to be slacking off.
L: 虽然说是放假，可是我本来打算利用假期多读些英文书，我要是这么懒散，恐怕连一本书也读不完了。
M: I wish it were holiday all the time, so I could always slack off.
L: 什么？你想每天都放假，那你就可以老这么轻松的了？嘿，Michael，我们中文里常说：“一张一驰”。Slack off一段时间以后，你就应该努力工作啦！
M: Hmm. Maybe you are right. Sometimes after slacking off during a holiday or vacation, we do feel refreshed and ready to get back to work again.
L: 也是啊，适当放松一下，工作起来会更带劲儿。新年快到了，我确实应该slack off for a couple of days, 可是如果slack off的时间太长了，我心里就会觉得不安。
L: 哎，Michael, 你提早下班，万一公司有什么要紧事，你不担心同事会找你吗？
M: Oh, don’t worry about that. I am not that important, I’m just a peon where I work.
L: 你是什么？a peon? 那是什么呀？
M: I said I am a Peon. The word “peon” originally meant someone who did manual labor in order to pay off a debt. These days, though, people use “peon” to refer to an unimportant person at work who performs a simple task.
L: 噢，peon这个词原来是指“为了还债而做苦工的人”，现在呢，大家用peon这个词来指那些在公司里做简单工作，地位比较低的雇员。Oh, come on Michael, 你怎么能说自己在公司不重要呢？
M: No, I’m just a peon at my workplace. Anyone could do my job.
L: 嗯，要是谁都能做你的工作，那恐怕是一个peon了。中文系的李教授常常对我们说，你要不好好干，好多人都等着这个位子呢。看来，我才是一个真正的peon呢。
M: Well, maybe you are easy to replace. But that’s no reason for you to feel like a peon.
L: 你说得对，我不应该自己觉得我做的工作不重要，而且，想想看，我们大学校长或是你们公司老板恐怕当年也做过好一段时间的peon呢！
今天李华学到了两个常用语，一个是： to slack off, 意思是“松懈，懒散”。另一个是peon, 指“在工作单位做简单工作的人”，也就是所谓的“小土豆”。