跟艾米莉一起學口語 第793期:談論失業

make ends meet

收支平衡

I'm trying to make ends meet.

我盡力保持收支平衡。

due

到期

When is your paper due?

你的論文什麼時候到期？

due to...

由於；因爲

The sports meeting was cancelled due to the bad weather.

由於糟糕的天氣，運動會取消了。

renew

重新開始；更新；續費

I renew my membership card of the gym every year.

每年我都續期健身房的會員卡。

frugally

She lost her job and now lives a frugal life.

她丟了工作，現在生活很節儉。

greedy

He's greedy for power.

他貪婪權利。

經典對話

A: I don't know what I'm going to do. It's going to be impossible to make ends meet if I lose my job.

我真不知道該怎麼辦，我要是丟了工作，一定會入不敷出的。

B: Don't worry. I don't think you're going to lose your job over one mistake.

別擔心，我覺得你不會因爲只犯一次錯誤就丟掉工作的。

A: It was a rather big mistake when you work as an investment advisor. One small mistake can cost the company millions.

可真的是個大失誤。如果你是投資顧問，那麼，即使一個很小的失誤，也會造成公司上百萬的損失。

B: But it wasn't just you who was involved, right? You're only doing what your supervisor told you to do.

不過這事又不是隻歸你一個人負責對吧，你只是做了你上次吩咐你做的事情而已。

A: That's true. But my supervisor is very dishonest. There's no reason he needs to tell our boss the truth. I'm sure he will tell our boss that it was all my fault. And there's nothing I can do about that, my boss won't believe me if I tell him the truth.

這是事實。可是我上司可不是個誠實的人。他不可能跟我們老闆說話。我敢肯定他會跟我們老闆說全是我的錯兒。我也根本什麼都做不了，就算我跟老闆說實話，他也不會相信的。

B: Let's think realistically about what might happen. How much money do you have in your savings?

那咱們模擬想象一下接下來會發生什麼，你有多少存款？

A: I have enough to get me through about three months. But I really don't want to spend my savings on just living. I'd rather invest my money somehow.

大概有足夠支撐我生活三個月的，可是我真不想把存款都花在日常生活上，我想做點投資。

A: Well, you can't have everything. Let's just figure out what you will do if you lose your job. When is your rental contract due?

你不可能什麼都佔着。咱們算算，如果你失業了該怎麼辦？你房租什麼時候到期？

B: Next month. So I can either move out then or renew my contract for another year.

下個月，所以我要麼搬出去，要麼再續簽一年的合同。

A: Well, that's good. If you lose your job, you can just move in with me until you find another job. That will save you plenty of money.

那好辦呢。如果你被炒了，你就搬過來跟我一起住，直到你找到新工作，這樣可以幫你省一筆錢。

B: That's very generous of you. I guess that would work.

你真是太慷慨了，我覺得這樣行得通。

A: If you lose your job, you just have to go for a few month without buying all the junk you usually buy. If you live frugally, you'll save plenty of money.

如果你真的失業了，你恐怕要有幾個月不能再買你平常愛買的那些雜七雜八的東西了。如果你過得簡樸一點，也能省下不少錢。

B: I guess working with so much money has made me rather greedy. Maybe losing my job would be a good thing.

我也覺得上班掙這麼多錢使我變得有點貪心了，也許失業反倒是件好事。