李华刚下课，走出课堂就碰上Larry。李华在和Larry 谈话中会学到两个常用语：to go off on someone和what’s the deal.
LH: Hey, Larry. 你刚下课啊？对了，我刚好要问你，今天你有没有见到Dave？
LL: Dave? No, I haven’t seen him anywhere since professor Jones went off on him yesterday morning.
LH: Jones教授对Dave怎么啦？你说他went off on Dave? 那是什么意思呢？
LL: To go off on someone means to suddenly get very angry at someone. “To go off ” can mean “to explode”- for instance, something like a bomb or a gun can go off.
LH: 噢，to go off on someone就是突然对某人大发脾气，就好像炸弹爆炸，枪支开火那样。那Jones教授为什么突然对Dave大发脾气呢？
LL: Dave asked Professor Jones if he could turn in a paper a few days late, and Professor Jones just went off on him.
LH: Dave 怎么经常要求晚几天交报告呐？唉，也难怪Jones教授要go off on him对他发脾气了。Larry，你再给我举几个go off on someone的例子吧！
LL: Hmm, let me think. I remember when I was in Beijing I tried to pay a taxi driver, and he went off on me for several minutes. I had no idea why he was so angry. It turned out, what I gave him was a counterfeit note.
LH: 你给出租车司机假钞票，那他当然要对你大发脾气咯！
LL: Li Hua, have you ever gone off on someone here in the U.S.?
LH: 我啊，我英文还不是很好，轻易不敢和人吵架。我只有对我过去那个同屋发了好几次脾气，因为她实在太脏，而且还想偷偷搬出去，就是为了想赖掉一个月的房租呢！
LL: She tried to cheat you out of a month’s rent? If my roommate did that, I wouldn’t just go off on him, I’d take him to court!
LL: So anyway, what’s the deal with Professor Jones lately? He always seems to be in a bad mood.
LH: What’s the deal? 你在说什么啊？deal不是交易的意思吗？你是问我，Jones教授在和什么人作交易？
LL: No, no, Li Hua. When I ask “what’s the deal”, I mean “what is the situation?” I was asking why he is in a bad mood.
LH: 噢，我知道了，what’s the deal就是我们中文里常说的“怎么回事”。你刚才是问我，Jones教授心情不好到底是怎么回事。我听说，他对今年没能升上正教授的职位好像挺失望的。
LL: Really? What’s the deal with that? He’s been in this department for years!
LH: 就是啊! Jones教授在我们系上教书也有好多年了，不给他提升，究竟是怎么回事，谁也不知道。
LL: That seems to be unfair. Well, Li Hua, what’s the deal tomorrow night? Is everyone still planning to go together to that concert?
LH: 明天晚上是这样，我和另外三个同学会去听演唱会，可是我的车出问题了，现在还在修车厂呢。Larry，我们能搭你的车去吗？
LL: Well, here’s the deal: I’ve got class until six thirty tomorrow, and the concert is at eight. It’s probably best if you meet me here at school, since I might not have enough time to pick you all up.
LH: 哼，你明天6点半才下课，而演唱会8点就开始。对，要你去接我们恐怕是来不及。那就照你说的吧，我们到学校来等你！噢，对了, Ed明天不想去，他和Jill刚分手，不想和Jill见面。
LL: Really? What’s the deal with those two? I thought they were really happy together, but I heard that Jill went off on Ed the other night.
LH: 他们俩到底是怎么回事？谁知道！大家都以为他们在一起很高兴。Jill 那天晚上对Ed大发脾气是因为Ed没跟她商量就决定明年到国外去念书。
LL: Oh well. That’s too bad. Anyway, the deal tomorrow is you and your friends will meet me here at school, and we’ll all leave together. OK?
LH: 没问题，那就明天晚上在校园见了！
今天李华学到两个常用语。一个是：to go off on someone, 意思是突然对某人大发脾气。另一个常用语是: the deal with something, 这是指情况如何，怎么回事。