取自电影《修女也疯狂》续集(Sister Act 2)中小女孩Rita Watson和妈妈的谈话。——美国巨星乌比戈登堡（Whoopi Goldberg）扮演的修女玛丽克莱伦斯（Sister Marie Clarence）要组织教会学校的高中生参加全国唱诗比赛。女孩Rita极有音乐天分，由于妈妈认为唱歌不会有出路、不会有前途，坚决反对她参加。

　　M: Rita, how many times do we have to go through this? Singing does not put food on the table. Singing does not pay the bills. Singing is no guarantee¹ to a future, even if you have got talent.
　　R: Mama, do you know I can sing?
　　M: So could your daddy, and he died still trying to make it.
　　R: What does that have to do with me? Mom, we're a good choir². They wanna take us to this all-state music competition. We could win.
　　M: If you want to win in life, then you keep your nose in them and out of the clouds.
　　R: If you could just listen to me, let me explain……
　　M: Baby, I know how you feel. But there are a lot of talented people right down on the street, singing their “shoulda-coulda-wouldas”. Is that how you wanna end up?
　　R: No. That’s not what I want.
　　M: Good. Then you don't have time for any choir, cause you gotta study.
　　R: We have a chance of winning³.
　　M: The choir and the competition are out.
　　R: But Mama……
　　M: If you “But Mama”me one more time, I would let you out. Now I said the choir and the competition are out. You understand?

重点讲解

　　妈妈回家以后看到丽塔在听音乐，有些不耐烦地说，这件事已经讨论过多少次了。词组go through，原来意是仔细检查，这里用来说一件事情已经过了许多次。下面是妈妈用一连串排比句说明，唱歌是怎样一件没有出路的事。都是生活中的现实：唱歌不能换吃的，不能付帐单，不能保证有光明的前途，即使你是个很有天分的人。

　　丽塔用了几个理由求妈妈：她很有天分（can）、他们组织的唱诗班可能会赢得全国比赛(all-state music competition)。妈妈毫不客气地打断了她，妈妈说，如果你想在活生生的现实中成为强者(to win in life)，就不要学穷困潦倒在街上的歌者，唱着“应该-可能-但愿”(shoulda-coulda-wouldas)的那些人。这里用的都是省略语，使用的是情态助动词加尾音。

　　“难道你就想这样结束么？”(how you wanna end up?)是妈妈威胁丽塔的话。词组end up with，意思是，以某种方式结束、告终，用作疑问句，用表示方式的疑问词how带起，省略了with。

　　最后一种需要注意的表达方式是be out。妈妈说，唱诗班和比赛都出局了，想都不能再想了(The choir and the competition are out.)，就用的是这种表达。