M: Well, Li Hua, I struck out again. It looks like my cousin won't have any world series tickets to sell to us after all.

L：你说什么？Struck out？这跟买球票有什么关系？

M: I said I struck out again. Struck out means that I failed after trying several times.

L：噢，我想起来了！棒球赛里就有strike out这个说法。如果一个击球手三次击球不中，他就strike out，也就是“三振出局”。所以，strike out的意思是，一件事做了几次也不成功。

M: That's right. Looks like you've got a good grasp of the rules of baseball. Why don't you try and use it in a sentence.

L：嗯，让我想想。对了，我一个朋友申请了几个学校的研究院，可是没有一所学校接受她。(English) So, she completely struck out.

M: There you go. You know, even if your friend struck out this year, I hope she tries again. I remember the first year I applied to graduate school, I struck out too. But I learned from my mistakes, and eventually found a good school that accepted me.

L：原来你和我朋友一样也有申请研究院失败的经历，可是吸取教训后你就成功了，希望我朋友也会如此。

M: Yeah, I was rather pleased to get into graduate school. Too bad I still strike out with the girls. None of the good ones want to go out with me.

L：嘿嘿，别担心，Michael，你要求不要太高，一定会找到你喜欢的女孩的。你总不可能一直在这方面strike out吧！

L：嘿，Michael，你到底有没有买到棒球决赛的球票啊？

M: No, to tell you the truth, Li Hua, I don't think I can pull it off. There simply are no tickets for sale.

L：你说什么？Pull it off？你还在想办法，对不对？

M: I said I don't think I can pull it off. To pull something off - Pull. P U L L. Off. O F F, means to succeed at something very difficult, usually unexpectedly.

L：噢，To pull something off就是出人意料地做成一件很困难的事情。哎，Michael，你再举个例子好不好？

M: Ok, most of our friends didn't think that Beijing would be allowed to host the 2008 Olympics, but in the end Beijing pulled it off! I was really surprised.

L：对，很多人以为中国申办奥运不会成功，但是中国试了几次，终于成功，也就是pulled it off。Michael，凭你对中国的了解，你不应该感到惊讶才对嘛。

M: Yeah. I guess so. Anyway, as for the tickets, I don't think I can pull this off.

L：为什么买棒球赛的票那么难啊？

M: The series has already started, the tickets were sold months ago, and the only people selling them on the Internet want at least $600 a ticket for game 7.

L：电脑上买票还要六百美元一张？这也太过份了吧？哎，Michael，反正我对棒球也没兴趣，你就不用给我买票了。

M: You know, Li Hua, I spent the whole afternoon calling people and trying to find tickets. I wish you had said something sooner.

L：对不起，我知道你花了很多时间。可是，我没想到你这么没能耐，试了半天还是struck out！

　　Michael和李华想买职业棒球赛的球票，可是没有买到。李华学到了两个习惯用语：to strike out和to pull something off。Strike out表示一件事做了几次都没有成功。To pull something off表示出人意料地做成了一件很困难的事情。