Jen: Hi! I'm Jen. And here's Li.
珍:大家好!我是珍。這位是李。
Li: (Sighing) Hi.
李:(嘆氣)大家好。
Jen: You seem in a bad mood, what's wrong?
珍:你看上去心情不好,怎么了?
Li: Take a look at this brochure.
李:你看看這本冊子吧。
Jen: (Reading) "Golden palm beach, Barbados. This resort boasts miles of unspoiled beaches, crystal blue waters and five star accommodation..." Is this where you're going on holiday, Li?
珍:(瀏覽)“巴巴多斯金棕櫚沙灘。這處度假勝地擁有數英里未受破壞的原始海灘、晶瑩湛藍的海水以及五星級酒店……”李,這是你要去度假的地方嗎?
Li: Yes, I just booked it.
李:對,我剛剛預訂了。
Jen: Well, you don't sound very happy about it, what's the problem?
珍:可是你聽起來并不開心,有什么問題嗎?
Li: Well, it cost me £5,000!
李:這花了我5000英鎊!
Jen: That's a lot of money.
珍:真是一大筆錢啊。
Li: I know, and I wanted to save my money so that I could get my bathroom decorated.
李:我知道,可是我還想存錢裝修衛生間呢。
Jen: Why did you book a holiday, then?!
珍:那你為什么要預定假期呢?
Li: I have to go on holiday - I haven't had a break for two years!
李:我必須要去度假,我已經兩年沒有休假了!
Jen: Well, that's ok, you've booked it now!
珍:好吧,你現在已經預訂了呀!
Li: But I really need to get the bathroom done too!
李:可是我同樣也要裝修衛生間!
Jen: Well, you can't have your cake and eat it, Li!
珍:李,魚和熊掌不可兼得。
Li: What do you mean? How did you know I had cake today? Are you calling me fat?! Do you think I should stop eating cake?!
李:你什么意思?你怎么知道我今天吃了蛋糕?你是說我胖嗎?你認為我不應該再吃蛋糕了嗎?
Jen: Whoa! No, no, I'm not saying anything-
珍:哇!不,不,我什么也沒說……
Li: Then why do you want me to stop eating cake?!
李:那你為什么讓我別再吃蛋糕了?!
Jen: Calm down. I said, "You can't have your cake and eat it." We use this phrase in English to mean that you can't have something both ways.
珍:冷靜。我說You can't have your cake and eat it,在英語中我們用這個短語來表示你不能同時擁有兩樣東西。
Li: Oh. So you mean I can't spend my money and save it at the same time?
李:哦,所以你的意思是我不能同時花錢和省錢?
Jen: Exactly. Let's hear some more examples:
珍:沒錯。我們來看一些例子:
He's just got married, but he misses the single life. Well it's too bad–you can't have your cake and eat it!
他剛結婚就開始想念單身生活了。這太糟糕了——魚和熊掌不可兼得啊!
I drank a whole bottle of champagne at the party last night, but now I feel sick - I've got the worst hangover ever. But I suppose you can't have your cake and eat it!
昨天我在派對上喝了一整瓶香檳,現在我感覺很不舒服,這是我經歷過的最糟的宿醉。我想這真是魚與熊掌不能兼得!
Li: The second example is good–you can't expect to drink a lot of alcohol without feeling the effects the next day: you can't have it both ways; you can't have your cake and eat it.
李:第二個例子很棒,你不能希望喝了大量的酒以后第二天沒什么影響:你不可能兩樣兼得;魚與熊掌不可兼得。
Jen: And you can't have your lovely holiday without spending a lot of money on it.
珍:而同樣你也不能既享受愉快的假期又期待不會花太多的錢。
Li: I suppose you're right.
李:我想你是對的。
Jen: All this talk of cake has got my stomach rumbling, I feel really hungry now.
珍:一直說到蛋糕我肚子都叫了。我現在非常餓。
Li: There's a new cafe across the road which is selling little cupcakes, they look really delicious! We could go and get some after the programme?
李:街對面開了一家賣紙杯蛋糕的新咖啡廳,看起來非常好吃!我們做完節目以后去買點吃怎么樣?
Jen: I would love to, but I can't, I want to save my money to go out to dinner tonight.
珍:我很想去,可是我不能去,我要省下錢,今天出去吃晚餐。
Li: Oh well Jen, you can't have your cake and eat it. I'll just get one for myself!
李:哦,珍,你這就是二者不可兼得啊。我去給我自己買一個蛋糕!