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　　Larry在咖啡馆里碰见了李华。他们会用到两个常用语：take someone under your wing和take someone for a ride。

　　Larry: Hey, there you are, Lihua。

　　LH: (Sounding tired) Oh, hi Larry。

　　Larry: I haven't seen you since last weekend. What have you been up to? Don't tell me you're having midterms already。

　　LH: 我连看书的时间都没有!尽忙着照顾我表妹了。她从中国来美国上高中，初来乍到，什么都不会，所以我这两天一直在帮她安顿。

　　Larry: I'm sure it's a very tough transition for both of you. But, it's so nice of you to take her under your wing。

　　LH: "Take her under my wing"? 这是什么意思?

　　Larry: To take someone under your wing means to give them a great deal of personal guidance and protection while they are learning something of which you have experience。

　　LH: 我明白了，to take someone under your wing就是指导、保护和照料某人。我现在就是这样像母鸡带小鸡一样照顾着我表妹呢!

　　Larry: It takes time to learn how to cope with living in a totally new environment - it's only natural to need a little bit of help at first. As a matter of fact, I can remember a time not so long ago when I took a certain confused girl from China under my own wing.。.

　　LH: 你说你也曾这样帮助过一个女孩?你不是在说我吧?Larry, 虽然你给了我很多帮助，但这和我给我表妹的帮助是不同的。我要是不在她身边，她连出门买吃的都不敢!

　　Larry: But Lihua, you couldn't buy groceries on your own either when you first moved here. One time at the grocery store, your bill came to $7.50 and you pulled out a dollar bill, asking me if it was enough!

　　LH: Haha，这个我记得。刚到美国时，每次需要跟美国人打交道我都会非常紧张，就算不说英语，还是觉得很恐怖。

　　Larry: Luckily, I was there to take you under my wing while you got used to living in the United States - just like how you're taking your cousin under your wing now!

　　LH: 哈，看来我们都是好心人!最近我在帮我表妹找房子。她以前的房东欺负她是新来的，把房租提高了两倍!我表妹已经傻呼呼地交了一个月的钱!

　　Larry: Yeah, you have to be really careful. It sounds like that landlord was taking your cousin for a ride。

　　LH: Taking her for a ride? 开车带她出去?那个房东可没这么好心!

　　Larry: Um, I mean "taking her for a ride" as in, taking advantage of her situation - playing a trick on her for his own benefit。

　　LH: 哦!原来to take someone for a ride还有欺负人，宰人的意思!

　　Larry: Yea, that's right. For example, when I went to New York City, my cab driver noticed that I had never been to New York before, and so he took a longer route to my hotel in order to run up my bill. This is a classic case of "taking someone for a ride."

　　LH: 啊?司机看你是第一次来纽约，就带着你绕远路，多收你的车费。这可真差劲，欺负人!

　　Larry: Unfortunately, some people will take advantage of other people like that。

　　LH: Larry, 咱们是愿意take others under our wings, 不遗余力地帮助别人，可这个房东和那个出租司机却会take people for a ride，占别人便宜。所以这两个说法的意思正好相反嘛!

　　Larry: Yea, you could think of it like that. So, it's a great thing that you are taking your cousin under your wing! Otherwise, it would be easy for people to take her for a ride。

　　LH: 好吧，为了防止她受欺负，我就继续努力吧。

　　Larry: I'm sure your cousin is a smart girl. Before you know it, she'll be just as capable to live on her own in the United States as you are - and you won't have to worry about people trying to take her for a ride。

　　LH: (叹气)不过，在她完全自立前，我可有的忙了，估计不能常和你见面了!

　　Larry: That's OK. Taking someone under your wing is a quite a full-time job!

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