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There is a phrase in English when someone gets a big salary that they earn "telephone numbers". A man in New York is suing the city (and others) for so much that it is almost impossible to think of a comparison. Anton Purisima, 62, is suing for two undecillion dollars. Over 99.99 per cent of English speakers would not know or have heard of the word for this amount. That astronomical figure is two undecillion dollars – a two followed by 36 zeros. The only people who are likely to need this word are probably astrophysicists and astronomers. Two undecillion dollars is, in fact, more than all the money in the whole world. Even more than all the wealth created throughout humankind's entire history.
英語中有一個短語用來形容工資很高，那就是earn telephone number. 紐約的一個人起訴該市(和其他人),稱這一數字根本是無法想象的。安東里西馬今年62歲，控告城市賠償兩倍的1066美元。99.99%以上的以英語為母語的人根本沒有聽過這樣一個數字。這一天文數字是1066美元的兩倍，也就是數字2后面有36個數字0.唯一的人可能需要這個詞的人可能是天體物理學家和天文學家。事實上, 1066美元的兩倍超過整個世界上所有的錢的數量。甚至比人類整個歷史上創造的所有財富還要多。
So what did New York City do so wrong to be sued for such a mind-bogglingly gargantuan sum? Quite a lot, it seems. The New York Post reports that Mr Purisima is suing the city (as well as two local hospitals, LaGuardia Airport, the transportation system, a bakery and even a dog owner) for "civil-rights violations, personal injury, discrimination in national origin, retaliation, harassment, fraud, attempted murder, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy to defraud". Why? Well, it's because last month a "rabies-infected" dog bit his finger on a city bus; then, a "Chinese couple" took photos of him without asking; and to add insult to injury, he is routinely overcharged for coffee at LaGuardia Airport.
那么紐約做了什么錯事的被起訴賠償這樣令人難以置信的巨款呢？似乎很多?！都~約郵報》報道說,里西馬先生起訴紐約市。(以及兩個當地醫院,拉瓜迪亞機場,交通系統,面包店,甚至一位狗主人)“侵犯公民權利,人身傷害,種族歧視,報復,騷擾,欺詐、蓄意謀殺,故意精神傷害,合謀欺騙”。為什么?這是因為上個月在在城市公交車上，一只感染了狂犬病的狗咬破了他的手指頭。然后,一對“中國夫婦”在沒有經其同意的情況下拍下了照片，這對其造成了受傷后的侮辱，他經常在拉瓜迪亞機場被多收喝咖啡的費用。
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
