Larry和李華明天要考試，今天一起復習，但李華一直沒法專心。她今天會學到兩個常用語：zone out和now you're cooking with gas。

LL: So Reaganomics were the economic policies of US. President Ronald Reagan - Li Hua? Are you listening?

LH: (Pause) 嗯？發生什么事了？

LL: Li Hua! How can you zone out when your final is tomorrow?

LH: Zone out? 你在說什么啊, Larry?

LL: To zone out means to lose concentration and to not notice what's happening around you.

LH: 喔，你是說我分心嗎？

LL: Yes. A 'zone' is an area. If you 'zone out', you mentally drift away from the place you are currently at, and go off into empty, dreamy space.

LH: 所以zone是指一個區域, zone out就是走神。

LL: Yup. So stop zoning out! We still have a lot of studying to do!

LH: 好吧。那你告訴我，什么是supply-side economics？

LL: Supply-side economics argues that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering barriers for people to produce goods and services (supply) -

LH: 比如說降低所得稅。

LL: Hey! Now you're cooking with gas!

LH: Cooking - cooking with what?

LL: Now you're cooking with gas! It means now you understand what I'm talking about.

LH: 啊, now you're cooking with gas是指我終于跟上了，了解你在說什么。是啊，我還是懂一點點的。不過now you're cooking with gas和了解一件事情怎么能扯得上關系呢？

LL: This comes with a little bit of history. In the 1930's cooking became more convenient as the kitchen evolved from the old coal/wood range into the wood/gas combination. So when we say 'now you're cooking with gas, it means you've crossed the barrier and progressed!

LH: 真有意思。原來是1930年代煮飯從依靠炭和木頭進化成依靠天然氣，生活方便了許多，所以說now you're cooking with gas就代表我進步了。

LL: Yes, that is correct. Wow you're really cooking with gas now! Learning so fast.

LH: 沒錯。我現在精神好多了。還是學習英文俚語比較有趣。

LL: But we have to keep going with Economics, or else we're both going to fail the exam tomorrow.

LH: 是啊。But if we keep talking about boring Economics, I'm going to zone out again!

LL: Hmm what should we do then...

LH: 要不這樣！你先教我zone out和now you're cooking with gas的用法，讓我變得有精神之后，我們再繼續看經濟學，怎么樣？

LL: I guess that could work. Hmm...you seem to be able to use these two phrases already. Do you have any questions?

LH: 當然有。如果分心是zone out, 那很專注的時候就是I'm really zoned in, right?

LL: That's interesting. But no one says it that way. A lot of phrases are only used in one direction. Therefore, you can only say zone out, but there is no such thing as zone in.

LH: 啊，原來如此。分心是zone out, 但注意力集中時不能反過來說zone in.

LL: Right. What about "now you're cooking with gas?" Can you give me an example using that phrase?

LH: Even though I was zoning out at the beginning of this review session, I began to cook with gas.

LL: Hmm. The phrase 'now you're cooking with gas' is usually used together as one, so no words are changed. Therefore, we don't say that someone begins to cook with gas.

LH: 好麻煩。所以說，Now you're cooking with gas. 得要整句一字不露地用。通常是一個人對另一個人說，Now you're cooking with gas. 而不是用來形容第三者的。

LL: That's right. Now you're really cooking with gas! Do you think we can go back to Economics?

LH: 啊！我要回家了。今晚是美國偶像American Idol的決賽。拜拜！

LL: Wait! Li Hua!

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（來源：流行美語 編輯：旭燕）