Friends, 中文译名为《六人行》或《老友记》是美国正在热播的一个sitcom (即situation comedy) 也就是我们所说的情景喜剧。它之所以这么受欢迎，是因为其内容轻松，语言幽默，每每令人捧腹不已。对于英语学习者来说，我们更能从中学到不少地道的口语。现在就请大家和我一起感受其中的乐趣吧！

咖啡馆里，正在和Monica聊天的Chandler被一位漂亮女子所吸引，踌躇了一会儿之后，Chandler鼓起勇气向那位女子走去：

Chandler: Hi, I-I was just sitting over there, and uhh, Chandler. My name is Chandler. Did I say that?

Kathy: No, you didn‘t. Hi, I‘m Kathy.

Chandler: Uh Kathy, with K or a C?

Kathy: With a K.

Chandler: Oh-oh-hey!

Kathy: Wow! You are really good at this.

Chandler: Hey, come on, give me a break, I‘m out on a limb here.

Kathy: I‘m sorry, you‘re right, I apologize, but I should tell you that I‘m waiting for a date. Oh, and there he is now.

Joey: Hey!

Chandler: Hey! Hey, hey-hey, hey.

Joey: Hey, I see you guys already met, huh?

Chandler: Yes-yes, I was just trying to figure out a way to uh, demonstrate how I could get my exceptionally large feet into my even bigger mouth.

Joey: Didn‘t I tell ya? Always showing off

刚开始Chandler还蛮自然的，可等问完那女子的名字之后，他就不知再说什么了，那位叫名叫Kathy的女子看出了Chandler的尴尬，但她还是夸了他一句说：Wow! You are really good at this. 好话并不是句句都顺耳的，对于有自知之明的人来说尤其如此，Chandler明明不善于和女孩子“搭讪”，可对方还说他对此很有一套，这听上去简直有点像反话，所以Chandler对Kathy说：Hey, come on, give me a break, I‘m out on a limb here. (哎，得了，别嘲弄了我，我可处境尴尬着呢)。在前几篇中我们讲到过break这个词，作为名词它可以解释为“休息”或是 “分手”，而今天我们又能学到一个和break有关的口语 give somebody a break, 意思是“放某人一马”或“饶某人一回”，比如你欠了别人的钱，别人来要债，可是你的发薪日还没到，这时你就可以求求人家说：Give me a break, you guys! I can‘t get the money until Friday. 又比如说你平时穿衣都不太讲究，可今天却穿了一套名牌，于是你的朋友同事都纷纷调侃起你的人模狗样来，弄得你怪不好意思的，这时你也可以对他们说一声：Give me a break, okay?