VOA流行美語 Unit 177:to have a beef with someone,

Larry在告訴李華這個星期他辦公室發生的一場爭論。今天李華會學到兩個常用語：to have a beef with someone和hit pay dirt。

LL: The boss still wants to fire Jim because they had a beef over the last sales report.

LH: 老闆要開除Jim，因爲他們有什麼？A beef？你是說他們爲了一些牛肉在吵架？

LL: No (laughing), not beef as in the beef that you eat. To have a beef with someone means to have a disagreement. The boss and Jim had a disagreement over the sales report.

LH: 噢，哈哈，原來have a beef with someone就是和某人有爭執。這和我們吃的牛肉一點關係也沒有。你老闆爲什麼會和Jim吵架呢？

LL: Well, the boss felt that Jim had done a really bad job of preparing the report and Jim felt that the boss did not give him enough time to do the report properly.

LH: 噢，老闆覺得Jim寫的報告太差，而Jim覺得老闆沒給他足夠的時間，所以兩人就這麼吵起來啦？Jim had a beef with the boss。我說得對嗎？

LL: Yep. Now, the boss is making everyone else miserable because of his beef with Jim.

LH: 他是和Jim鬧不開心，這跟其他人有什麼關係呢？

LL: He's just been in a really bad mood and he's being tough on everyone. It's not fair. His beef is with Jim, not the rest of the people in the office.

LH: 他不高興就對辦公室裏每個人都特別厲害。這是很不公平。他是跟Jim吵架，又不是和全辦公室吵架。

LL: Exactly. I'm worried that the situation will go too far and there will be major problems in our office.

LH: 你怕情況發展下去辦公室會出大問題呀？你們爲什麼不讓Jim向老闆道個歉。這不就完了嗎？

LL: I don't think he'll do that.

LH: 他不會道歉？啊呀，你勸勸他嘛。關鍵在他身上， 道了欠緊張氣氛就化解了，對大家都有好處。

LL: It's worth a try. Maybe Jim will be willing to sacrifice his own interests and resolve his beef with the boss.

******

LL: Hey, Li Hua, you really hit pay dirt with that suggestion you made. Jim apologized to the boss and everybody is happy now.

LH: Jim和你們老闆道歉啦？那太好了！不過，Larry，你說hit pay dirt是什麼意思，我聽不懂耶！

LL: To hit pay dirt means that you found something that turned out to be profitable or beneficial.

LH: To hit pay dirt就是發現了很有好處的東西。所以你剛纔的意思是我的建議非常有用。不過，這三個詞hit, pay, dirt合在一起挺怪的。這說法是從哪裏來的？

LL: When miners would dig for gold, they would say that they had hit pay dirt when they found dirt that contained gold.

LH: 噢，原來是採金礦的工人在挖到含黃金的礦石時，他們就會說hit pay dirt，這樣一解釋，我就懂了。

LL: They sometimes say "strike pay dirt". Anyway, LI Hua, I also hit pay dirt today.

LH: 你今天也挖到寶啦？怎麼說？

LL: I got a job offer for after I graduate.

LH: 你已經找到畢業後的工作啦！那太好了！是哪家公司要僱你呢？

LL: Actually, the office I'm working in offered me the job.

LH: 真的？就是你現在打工的這家公司？不過你真的想在那兒工作嗎？

LL: At first, I wasn't that interested, but when they told me what my salary would be, I realized that I'd really hit pay dirt.

LH: 哇，太棒了，你很快就能把你的破車賣了，買一輛高級車，a nice set of wheels。我們一塊兒出去慶祝慶祝吧！

今天李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是have a beef with someone，就是和某人爭吵，關係緊張的意思。另一個常用語hit pay dirt，也可以說strike pay dirt，就是指發現了有價值的東西。