| Neil: | Hello, I'm Neil. What a miserable day it is today! Hey, I think that's Li! What on earth's she doing?! She's on her hands and knees in the mud. Li! |
| Yang Li: | Oh! Hello! |
| Neil: | Are you okay? |
| Yang Li: | Yes, I am fine, thanks. |
| Neil: | Is there any particular reason you are in the mud? |
| Yang Li: | Oh yes, I am making myself dirty. |
| Neil: | Ri-ight. |
| Yang Li: | For the neighbourhood festival—it's tonight you know! |
| Neil: | I know. But I think I'm going to be having a shower and making myself clean, rather than dirty. Maybe this is some kind of low-cost spa treatment ... ? |
| Yang Li: | No, this is not a beauty treatment, the festival coordinator told us to do this. |
| Neil: | Did he? |
| Yang Li: | Yes, last week he asked each of us to contribute and said if it's going to be a success, you must all get your hands dirty. |
| Neil: | Ohhhhhh! |
| Yang Li: | What? |
| Neil: | I don't think he meant you should actually come with dirty hands. It's an expression! |
| Yang Li: | An expression? |
| Neil: | Yes. 'To get your hands dirty' means to get really involved in the work—including the parts that are not enjoyable—rather than standing back and watching others do it. |
| Yang Li: | Oh. |
| Neil: | For example.
|
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| Woman: | Unlike other bosses, Mr Stevens really likes to get his hands dirty. It's as if he's one of us. |
|
Man: Mary pretends to work hard, but I've never actually seen her get her hands dirty.
| Yang Li: | So what I was actually being asked to do was to get fully involved in festival preparations—I wasn't being asked to arrive with dirty hands. |
| Neil: | Yes. |
| Yang Li: | You know what? I don't care, I was really beginning to enjoy myself in the mud, and I'm sure my skin feels softer. Come on Neil, try, this is fun. Let's get our hands dirty—for real! Come on, come on ... |
| Neil: | I'd rather not ... no, please ... argh!
|
