Jennifer: Hello, and welcome to Authentic Real English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Jennifer, and with me in the studio today is Jean.

Jean: 大家好，我是董征。

Jennifer: In this programme, we teach you about English words or phrases that you might find a little confusing.

(Phone text message sound)

Jennifer: Jean! You shouldn't have your phone switched on in the studio! It's not professional!

Jean: 不好意思不好意思，就是一個短信…是我一個好朋友發過來的，今天是她生日，我專門為她烤了一個蛋糕做禮物。

Jennifer: That's very kind of you. Is she texting to say thank you?

Jean: Well… actually… no! 好像她反而正在生我的氣呢！

Jennifer: What do you mean?

Jean: 我給你念念她的短信。她的短信說："I'm supposed to be on a diet – don't make me any more delicious cakes ever again!" 壞了，看來我真是把她惹火了！

Jennifer: Are you sure you've read it correctly?

Jean: Yes! She's upset, I'm a bad friend – what should I do?

Jennifer: Hold on, hold on, let me have a look at the message – pass your phone over.

Jean: OK, here you go.

Jennifer: It says "I'm supposed to be on a diet – don't make me any more delicious cakes ever again..." Ah, I understand now. I don't think your friend is angry with you.

Jean: Really, why not?

Jennifer: Look at the text message. Do you see that she has written the letters

L.O.L. – or LOL – at the end?

Jean: 對，沒錯！剛才我沒看到這個詞… L.O.L. LOL. 這是個單詞嗎？

Jennifer: It's a good example of English 'text speak', that is, language people use when texting, writing emails or talking over the internet. LOL stands for 'laughing out loud'.

Jean: Laughing out loud? 就是“哈哈大笑”？

Jennifer: Yes, it’s used instead of the sound of laughter. It is usually used to show that something is a joke, or that a comment is meant to be funny.

Jean: 又學到了一個當代英語新詞匯 L.O.L. 就是 'laughing out loud' 的字母縮寫–表示“哈哈大笑”的意思，最常用在網上、郵件和短信里。其實這和我們中文網上和短信語言里大家經常用的“呵呵”挺像的。

Jennifer: Exactly – so your friend was joking when she said "don't make me any more delicious cakes!"

Jean: That's a relief. So I can write LOL on the end of a message, to let people know that I'm joking, or laughing, about something?

Jennifer: That's right.

Jean: 好，我學到了。這就練練，先給你發一個 (typing on phone) sent!

Jennifer: (Text message sound) OK let me read it. "Hi Jen, I've decided that learning English is too complicated. I'm going to learn Spanish instead, LOL!" I hope you're joking, Jean!

Jean: (Laughing) You KNOW I'm joking, I wrote that I was 'laughing out loud' –LOL – at the end.

Jennifer: Good, as we've got so many more words and phrases to learn in English before you can even think about any other languages! Join us again for another edition of Authentic Real English, bye for now!

Jean: Bye!

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（來源：BBC英語教學 編輯：Julie）