評論
打印
LL: You'll only give me one grand?! That's one-thousandth of a million Li Hua! I thought our friendship was worth more than that...
LH: One ground...是一千塊錢的意思嗎？
LL: Yup. One grand is equivalent to one thousand dollars.
LH: 喔。所以one grand 是一千塊錢的意思。
LL: Yes, that's right.
LH: 那我就可以把五千塊錢說成 five thousand grands 咯？
LL: No, no, no. "Grand" replaces "thousand dollars", so you would say five grand.
LH: 原來如此。五千塊要說five grand, 因為grand 代替了thousand dollars 這兩個詞。但為什么是說 five grand 而不是 five grands 呢？
LL: Even though five is more than one, you still say grand because the word is already in its plural form.
LH: 喔。因為grand 已經是復數了, 所以要說five grand 而不是five grands, 那我懂了。
LL: Hey, so back to the topic. You're only giving me a thousand dollars?
LH: Yeah, one grand is a lot of money. 那換做是你，你會給我多少錢呢？
LL: I would give you 10 grand.
LH: 你會給我一萬？你真好！Wait, what would be the catch?
LL: There would be no catch! I treat you as a very close friend.
LH: 真的？我不信。不過，catch 還可以怎么用？ 能不能多給我幾個例子？
LL: Sure. A catch is any benefit that comes with a drawback. For example, when you go on a web site, and they tell you you have a chance to win a laptop, there's usually a catch.
LH: 你是說，某些網站如果說你有機會贏一臺手提電腦，通常都要回答問卷，訂閱周刊等等好多好多條件，所以這些條件就是the catch 嗎？
LL: Exactly. So whenever someone tells you you've won money, or a laptop, don't believe them. Or else, you're going to have to expect a big catch that goes with the benefit.
LH: 難怪有一種說法是 "天下沒有白吃的午餐"。Everything that sounds too good has a catch to it.
LL: That's very true.
LH: 但我給你一千塊錢絕對沒有別的企圖喔！There is no catch.
LL: But I'm willing to give you ten grand!
LH: 那我也給你ten grand 怎么樣？
LL: Ten grand. That sounds a lot better...
LH: 那就好。對了，你等下有事嗎？請我去吃牛排吧！
LL: You want me to treat you to steak? A minute ago you were only willing to give me one grand, and now you want me to treat you to steak. Ai, Li Hua!
今天李華從 Larry 那兒學到兩個常用語，一個是 grand, 是一千美元的替代說法；另一個 catch, 指某種好處所附帶的條件。
A: 要是我也能中100萬美元的大獎，我一定不獨吞，Kat, 你說吧，想要什么，等我中了獎就買給你，no catch!
B：謝謝了！I'll do the same for you if I win the lottery.
A: 哎呀，咱們真是有福同享！
B: 有難你當！
A: 啊？
B: 哈哈! Okay, let's move on to the next program.
A: 好，在今天的美語怎么說里，咱們教“搶風頭”。
