美語情景對話 第1116期:Ridiculously Expensive City 生活成本貴得離譜的城市

Meg: So Todd, I heard that you're from San Francisco and that it's really expensive there maybe to live. Is it – is that true?

梅格：託德，我聽說你來自舊金山，那是個生活成本非常昂貴的城市。這是真的嗎？

Todd: Yeah. It's ridiculously expensive. It's obscene actually. It's so hard to get other people to realize how expensive it is. You have to actually live there and then you can experience it firsthand. But basically, you know, your average small apartment is a minimum, a minimum of like $3,000 a month.

託德：對，那裏的生活成本貴得離譜。實際上非常驚人。很難讓其他人意識到那裏到底有多昂貴。只有生活在那裏，才能親身體會到。基本上來說，一個普通小公寓的最低月租是3000美元。

Meg: Wow. That sounds really expensive.

梅格：哇哦，聽起來真是太貴了。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：沒錯。

Meg: Well, so I don't know much about the San Francisco area. Is that like just in the main downtown part or anywhere in the city is it that expensive?

梅格：我對舊金山不太瞭解。是隻有市中心比較貴還是那座城市的所有地方都很貴？

Todd: It's actually – yeah, it's pretty much the entire peninsula. And the high pricing affects all of Northern California. And the reason is because companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Cisco – all these really big rich, rich companies pay people a lot of money. And so, there's a lot of money in San Francisco for the tech world, and that just drives up the prices for everything.

託德：實際上，基本上所有地方都貴。高昂的價格影響了整個北卡羅來納州。我想這是因爲臉譜網、谷歌、蘋果、雅虎、思科等大型富有公司提供的工資很高。所以，舊金山的科技世界有很多錢，這就導致了所有物品價格的上漲。

Meg: So everyone who lives there like must be pretty rich?

梅格：那生活在那裏的人一定都很有錢吧？

Todd: Yeah. So it's very high income. I think the average income is over $100,000 a year or something crazy like that.

託德：對。那裏的收入非常高。我想平均年薪可能超過10萬美元。

Meg: Wow.

梅格：哇哦。

Todd: Yeah, it's a lot.

託德：對，收入很高。

Meg: So if apartments are $3,000 a month, what about houses?

梅格：如果公寓的月租是3000美元，那房價呢？

Todd: Houses are ridiculously expensive. So your average house is probably – in San Francisco, a really small rinky-dink house can go for almost $1 million.

託德：房價更是貴得離譜。舊金山那種又小又舊的普通房屋的價格近100萬美元。

Meg: Wow.

梅格：哇哦。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：嗯。

Meg: Wow. That sounds impossible.

梅格：哇哦。聽上去真是不可思議。

Todd: Yeah. It sounds obscene. Yeah. Years ago I worked on the construction crew, and this was 15 years ago. And we were just renovating or painting a very small little shack. I mean, the house wasn't even that big and it was going for $1 million.

託德：對。簡直駭人聽聞。很多年以前我在建築隊工作，大概是15年前。我們的工作是翻新或粉刷一座非常小的房子。那個房子沒有多大，而價格是100萬美元。

Meg: Wow. So when you were working there, were you living in San Francisco also?

梅格：哇哦。你在那裏工作時，是住在舊金山嗎？

Todd: I was. And that's actually why I became a teacher in Asia, why I moved to Japan because we were losing our lease on our apartment, and I had to go find new housing. And not only is the house inexpensive but even if you have the money, you might not get a house because you have to go through this long process. It's almost like getting into college. You have to get through this interview process. And just going and finding an apartment is such a complicated process in San Francisco that I thought, "Oh, forget it, I'm just going to take the easy way out and go back and start teaching overseas again."

託德：對。那也是我現在在亞洲當老師的原因，也是我搬到日本來生活的原因，因爲我們失去了我們公寓的租約，我必須要找新的住處。我來到日本不僅因爲日本的房價便宜，在舊金山，即使你有錢，你可能也找不到房子，因爲手續非常複雜。就像上大學一樣。上大學要進行面試。在舊金山，找房子的手續非常複雜，所以我想“算了吧，我要找簡單的方法，我要再去外國教英語。”

Meg: So if someone were interested in living in San Francisco, what would your advice be?

梅格：如果有人想在舊金山生活，你會給他們什麼建議？

Todd: Don't, or make sure you have a lot of money or you have a really good job. I guess there are some ways around it. You can rent rooms and things like that. But it's doable because there is low-income housing. And if you live in the outskirts and if you are going to commute into the city, you could probably find something around $1,500 a month. But still, it's pretty expensive.

託德：不要去舊金山生活，除非你要很多錢或者有份好工作。應該有一些方法能讓你在舊金山生活。你可以租房。這是可行的，因爲舊金山有低收入住房。如果住在郊區，每天要通勤去市區，那可能可以租到月租金1500美元左右的房子。不過，這個價格依然很貴。

Meg: So work for Google first, then move to San Francisco.

梅格：首先要去谷歌公司工作，然後再搬到舊金山去。

Todd: Right. Exactly. Make sure you get that job at the tech company. And then once you have that job, then you're set.

託德：對，沒錯。確保在科技公司找到工作。找到工作以後，再準備。

Meg: Great. Well, thanks for sharing about San Francisco.

梅格：不錯。謝謝你分享有關舊金山的情況。

Todd: Sure.

託德：不客氣。

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重點講解：
1. forget it 沒關係；不必在意；不要再提了；
例句：'Sorry, Liz. I think I was a bit rude to you.' — 'Forget it, but don't do it again!'
“抱歉，莉茲。我想我剛纔對你有點粗魯。”——“沒關係，但是別再那樣做了!”
2. even if 即使；儘管；縱然；
例句：Even if you are not good at it in the beginning, you can become good at it through hard work at improving your skills.
即使最開始你不擅長也沒關係，你可以通過努力提高技能最終變得擅長。
3. make sure 一定要；設法保證；
例句：But she must make sure that this will not harm her by consulting a specialized physician.
她諮詢專業醫師確定這不會對她造成傷害。