VOA流行美語 Unit 207:freebie和megabucks

Larry剛在銀行開了一個帳戶。他一走出銀行的大門就遇到了李華。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：freebie和megabucks。

LL: Hi there, Li Hua! You should open a savings account today. Look at the freebie I got at the bank.

LH: Freebie? 你手裏拿的好像是個計算機。

LL: You are right, Li Hua. It is a calculator and, you know, it is free. And that is what makes it a freebie!

LH: Free？你說，只要開個帳戶就能得到一個免費的計算機。所以免費送的東西就是freebie。真的是送給你的嗎？

LL: Yes, it was a special promotion. I love getting freebies. And a calculator is a good freebie.

LH: 原來是銀行在開展特別的推銷活動，給開帳戶的人送一個禮物。 計算機是有用的東西。不過，凡是免費的我也都喜歡。

LL: Banks often give away candy as freebie or a pen with the bank logo. But a calculator is something I will really use. That makes it a good freebie.

LH: 是啊，送給我一支筆，那也有用。送我糖我纔不要呢！在所有的免費禮品中我最喜歡香水了。

LL: It is a good way to try expensive perfumes before spending the money. I guess.

LH: 對呀！買一瓶香水很貴。送我一瓶小小的香水，要是喜歡我下回可以去買，不喜歡就算。這樣就不會浪費錢了。Larry, 還有哪裏可以得到免費商品啊 ?

LL: Well, book stores often give away freebie bookmarks. But, I think my favorite freebie is food!

LH: 書店給的書籤沒有什麼吸引力。我也喜歡超市裏爲了推銷而提供的那些免費食品，什麼麪包呀，蛋糕呀，肚子餓的時候可好啦！

LL: Speaking of freebie food, here is a grocery store across the street. Let's go in and see if they have any freebies.

LH：對馬路的超市有免費食品呀？那還等什麼呀？快走呀！

(Sound of door opening, grocery store sounds)

LL: Let's go to the freezer compartments. There is usually a lady giving out freebie samples of pizza.

LH: 我看見了， 後面是有一個女服務員在送比薩餅呢。Larry， 你可真行呀！哪裏有freebie 你都知道。

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LL: Say， Li Hua， would you like to win megabucks?

LH: Megabucks? Mega意思是大， buck是指美元。 如果我沒有猜錯的話， megabucks的意思是很多錢。

LL: Wow, Li Hua. Your English is getting really good. That's right, megabucks is a lot of money.

LH: Larry, 我當然想贏megabucks。誰不想發財呢？問題是怎麼才能得到那麼多錢呢？

LL: Well, we can buy a lottery ticket at the front of the grocery store. Who knows, we may win megabucks.

LH: 你要到前面去買一張彩票呀？我纔不信我們會贏megabucks呢！不過， Larry，要是我們贏了，那會有多少錢呀?

LL: If all six of the numbers on our ticket match the winning numbers, we will win 5 million dollars.

LH: 要真能贏五百萬， 那該多好呀！我們就不用再打工了。可是，要六個數字全和彩票一樣才能贏，那中彩的機率不會很高吧？

LL: It really isn't. We would have to spend megabucks buying lottery tickets to even have a small chance of winning.

LH: 我就知道嘛，這種機會是很小的。即便花好多錢去買好多彩票，我們也不見得會贏。與其這麼毫無希望地等着中彩票還不如我們自己去賺大錢呢。

LL: You mean go to work? I don't know about you, Li Hua, but I'm not being paid megabucks.

LH: 我知道你工資不高，我的工資也很低啊。 不過如果我們努力工作的話， 說不定哪一天我們會發財的。

LL: You mean like Bill Gates of Microsoft? He's certainly made megabucks.

LH: 是啊，所以微軟的Bill Gates把很多錢都捐給了慈善事業。

LL: I'm not sure I'll be making megabucks -- so for now I'll just keep living off of freebies in the grocery store. Want some more pizza?

今天李華學到了兩個常用語。一個是freebie，意思是免費送的東西。還有一個是megabucks，意思是很多錢。