跟艾米丽一起学口语(MP3+文本) 第793期:谈论失业

make ends meet

收支平衡

I'm trying to make ends meet.

我尽力保持收支平衡。

due

到期

When is your paper due?

你的论文什么时候到期？

due to...

由于；因为

The sports meeting was cancelled due to the bad weather.

由于糟糕的天气，运动会取消了。

renew

重新开始；更新；续费

I renew my membership card of the gym every year.

每年我都续期健身房的会员卡。

frugally

She lost her job and now lives a frugal life.

她丢了工作，现在生活很节俭。

greedy

He's greedy for power.

他贪婪权利。

经典对话

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.

我真不知道该怎么办，我要是丢了工作，一定会入不敷出的。

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

别担心，我觉得你不会因为只犯一次错误就丢掉工作的。

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

可真的是个大失误。如果你是投资顾问，那么，即使一个很小的失误，也会造成公司上百万的损失。

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

不过这事又不是只归你一个人负责对吧，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.

这是事实。可是我上司可不是个诚实的人。他不可能跟我们老板说话。我敢肯定他会跟我们老板说全是我的错儿。我也根本什么都做不了，就算我跟老板说实话，他也不会相信的。

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

那咱们模拟想象一下接下来会发生什么，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.

大概有足够支撑我生活三个月的，可是我真不想把存款都花在日常生活上，我想做点投资。

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?

你不可能什么都占着。咱们算算，如果你失业了该怎么办？你房租什么时候到期？

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

下个月，所以我要么搬出去，要么再续签一年的合同。

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.

那好办呢。如果你被炒了，你就搬过来跟我一起住，直到你找到新工作，这样可以帮你省一笔钱。

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

你真是太慷慨了，我觉得这样行得通。

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.

如果你真的失业了，你恐怕要有几个月不能再买你平常爱买的那些杂七杂八的东西了。如果你过得简朴一点，也能省下不少钱。

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

我也觉得上班挣这么多钱使我变得有点贪心了，也许失业反倒是件好事。