李华是在纽约上大学的中国学生。今天她的美国同学Michael 陪她练习开车，准备去考驾照。他们在路上几次遇到惊险的情况，尽管这样， 李华还是学到了两个常用语，一个是：cop; 另一个是：to freak out.

M：Your driving is getting better, Li Hua. Hey, you'd better slow down. This is a 35 mile per hour zone.

L：这地区每小时只能开35英里呀？我是不是开太快啦？哟，我的天呐，警察车跟在我后面，那怎么办呐？

M：Calm down, Li Hua. Just find a parking lot and stop the car. The cop will follow us, and come over to your window to talk to you.

L：哪儿有停车的地方呀！ 行，就停在这里吧！你刚才说谁会过来跟我说话？是警察吗？

M：That's right. "Cop" means police officer.

L：警察要来跟我说话！我会不会倒霉呀？我该怎么办呢？

M：Calm down! Sometimes the cops stop people just to warn them, not to give them a ticket. You weren't going very fast anyway.

L： 你说警察可能过来只是警告我一下，不一定会给我罚单呀？但愿如此，我好象是没有开太快。Michael, 你刚才说“cops", 那警车里到底有几个警察呀？

M：When I say "the cops", I mean the police in general. I'm not talking about any cop in particular.

L：噢，cop 这个名词用复数的时候，cops, 可以总的指警察，而不是指某个警察。 我就把车停这儿吧。 Michael, 我能称呼警察“cop”吗？

M：No! The word "cop" is too informal. You should show respect when talking to the cops. Call him "officer", don't call him "cop"!

L：天哪！原来“cop”是很随便的称呼，你干吗不早告诉我呀！我可不要惹警察生气！

M：Li Hua, don't worry. I'm sure this isn't very serious.

M：See, Li Hua, I was right. The cop didn't give you a ticket.

L：谢天谢地，他没有给我罚单。 他要罚我好多钱的话，那我就糟糕了。

M：I told you not to freak out. If a cop sees that you are nervous, he will be even more suspicious of you.

L：你告诉我什么？叫我别下车？

M：No, I told you not to "freak out". "Freak out" means to panic or to act crazy and excited.

L：是啊， 我经常听到一些人说 freak out， 原来是指过于激动，显得非常紧张。对不对？

M：That's right. Actually, I was the one who should have been freaking out!

L：你才该感到紧张？为什么？

M：Because this is my car, and you only have a learner's permit. I'd be responsible if you got in trouble.

L：这我就不懂了。是的，这是你的车，我只有一张学开车的许可证。可是，我开车出了问题，为什么警察会怪你呀？你为什么要freak out？

M：Hey! Li Hua, look out for that car!

L：Don't freak out, Michael. 我看见那辆车了。不过，那车差一点就撞到我们了！

M：Oh, man! that was close! That guy is crazy! I wish the cops were here to see that!

L：对，刚才是够险的，警察要看到他那么开车，准要给他罚单。不过，今天已经和警察打过交道了，够了。再要跟cops打交道，那我可真是要freak out了。

M：Me too. Now, drive carefully!

今天这两个年轻人真是够惊险的。不过，李华学到了两个非常有用的词汇: cop, 警察；to freak out，非常紧张和激动。这次<流行美语>到此结束，我们下次再会。