本栏目是由世博英语Starry_Night原创编写！
第十七篇
Ross和Chandler看到Joey走进咖啡馆时不禁笑了起来，原来Joey昨晚在和他们打牌时犯了一个很好笑的错误。这时，Rachel想到了一个问题：
Rachel: How come you guys have never played poker with us?
Phoebe: Yeah, what is that? Like, some kind of guy thing? Like, some kind of sexist guy thing? Like it’s poker, so only guys can play?
Ross: No, women are welcome to play.
Phoebe: Oh, OK, so then what is it? Some kind of… you know, like, like… some kind of, y’know, like… alright, what is it?
Chandler: There just don’t happen to be any women in our games.
Joey: Yeah, we just don’t happen to know any women that know how to play poker.
Girls: Oh, yeah, right.
Monica: Oh, please, that is such a lame excuse!
Rachel: Really.
Monica: I mean, that’s a typical guy response.
Ross: Excuse me, do any of you know how to play?
Girls: No.
Rachel: But you could teach us.
Guys: No.
【世博视角】
说到“打牌”，我们通常会想到play cards，但在刚才的对话中，我们听到的是play poker, 别以为两者是一回事，play poker可是要输钱或是赢钱的！Rachel觉得很奇怪为什么“他们”从来不和“她们”玩牌，于是她问：“How come you guys have never played poker with us?” how come 和why一样也可以用来引导一个问句，所不同的是，如果你用how come来提问就表示说你觉得某件事很奇怪，有点想不通。比方说星期一早上我应该起床去上班的，可等我妈妈买菜回来一看我还在呼呼大睡时就可以问：“ How come you are still sleeping? ” 还有一点需要注意，那就是以how come开头的问句使用的仍是陈述句的句式。
Rachel的诘问马上得到了Phoebe的附和，她接着问道： “Yeah, what is that? Like, some kind of guy thing? Like, some kind of sexist guy thing? Like it’s poker, so only guys can play? （是啊，这是怎么回事？好像这是男人做事情，就好像这是扑克，只有男人们才能玩似的？）” 一般来说，女生总是play cards, 而男生则喜欢play poker, 当然这也不一定，所以Ross回答说： “No, women are welcome to play.” 然后Chandler和Joey补充说他们只是碰巧没遇上会玩扑克的女生 (Yeah, we just don’t happen to know any women that know how to play poker.)。happen to do sth表示 “碰巧怎么样” 比如：I happened to meet an old friend in town. 另外，在问别人借东西的时候，譬如借一支钢笔，我们也可以说：“Do you happen to have a pen I can borrow?” 这样就会给人感觉相当的礼貌。
听完那些guys 所给的理由之后，Monica叫了起来: “Oh, please, that is such a lame excuse!” lame这个词的意思是 “跛足的、腐腿的”, 但现在我们通常很少用它来形容人，因为这会让人听了不舒服，所以lame经常被用来修饰excuse、explanation 或arguments等词，表示 “站不住脚的”。可结果Ross的一句问话证明他们刚才所说的并不是a lame excuse.
*本篇所讲到的地道表达法：
play poker
how come …?
happen to do sth
lame excuse / explanation / arguments