Gina帶美國老板Jason去購物，Jason讓Gina教他砍價。

Jason: So what's the general amount that they mark up by? Thirty percent? Forty? 所以他們一般會抬高原有價格的百分之多少？30%？40%？

G: They could mark it up seventy percent or even one hundred! That's why you've got to have an in-depth working knowledge of local prices—that way, if they quote an outrageous price, you can just laugh. 他們會抬高70%，甚至100%! 這就是為什么你要深入地了解行情的原因——那樣的話，你可以了然于胸了，如果他們提出載人的高價。

Jason想知道購物中心商品標價一般要比合理價格高出多少，mark up是把抬高價格的意思，相反的，mark down 則是減價銷售。Gina說，有時價格會故意標高70%，甚至100%。這也就是為什么要了解當地的價格行情，have an in-depth working knowledge of something，是深度了解的意思，in-depth is spelled i-n in, and d-e-p-t-h, depth, in-depth，這樣如果別人quote an outrageous price，抬出宰人的高價，outrageous is spelled o-u-t-r-a-g-e-o-u-s, outrageous, 意思是超乎尋常的，另外需要注意的，要價動詞用的是quote, q-u-o-t-e, quote.

J: In America we generally can't get away with bargaining in many shops. The prices are listed on the price tag and that's that. Sometimes you can get a discount, but it's usually never more than ten percent or so. 在美國，我們通常在許多店里面是不能還價的。價格標簽上的價格就是它實際的價格。有時，你可以得到折扣，但是大多不會低于九折。

G: In China, pretty much all prices are negotiable. Some vendors tell me they actually respect buyers who can drive a hard bargain. 在中國，很多價格都是可以商量的。有些賣主告訴我其實他們是很期待買家砍價的。

J: That's interesting. 真有意思。

Jason說，在美國，商店都是明碼標價，The prices are listed on the price tag. Price tag，是價格標簽的意思，有時也能享受優惠discount, discount，是減價、打折的意思，但是一般很少超過百分之十。Gina說，在中國，幾乎所有價格都可以砍，negotiable is spelled n-e-g-o-t-i-a-b-l-e, negotiable，是可以商量的意思。有些賣主甚至更瞧得起會砍價的買主，drive a hard bargain，是固定用法，意思是會砍價。

G: Yes...but of course the seller will always try to win the bargaining battle...that's the nature of the game. 是的……但是當然了，賣家總是會盈利的……這是自然法則。

J: Yeah, it is like a game, isn't it? Both people are bluffing, just like in poker. 是的，這就像是場博弈，對嗎？雙方都在虛張聲勢，就好像在玩撲克牌。

G: That's right. But you have to get a sense of where the bottom line is. After a while you learn to recognize a look in the seller's eyes that says: I'm really not going to go any lower. 正確，但是你要清楚底線是什么。你要學會讀懂賣家的眼神，是不是表示出他真的不會再降價了。

確實，砍價就象打牌，討價還價的雙方都要虛張聲勢，bluff is spelled b-l-u-f-f, bluff, bluff，是虛張聲勢的意思。Gina 說，沒錯，關鍵是要識別賣主的底線，bottom line，要能從賣主的眼神里看出，他真的不會再降價了。