字神帝國英語天地

 
 今日主題：Penny pinching! 一毛不拔
 凱妃老師&派老師共同推薦：雅思聽力最好的課外教材：BBC
 康康精選雅思會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!
 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。
 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/66.mp3
 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：
 中英文稿：
Hello I’m Rob and this is 6 Minute English. With me today is Finn. Hello Finn.
大家好，歡迎收聽本期BBC六分鐘英語。我是Rob，這是我的搭檔Finn。你好，Finn。
Hello Rob.
你好，Rob。
Today we’re discussing money.
今天我們要討論一下錢。
Money – a subject close to my heart. But we’re not talking about big money are we?
錢？這可是我最關心的話題。但今天談論的，不是大筆錢吧？
No, we’re talking about the humble penny. The Canadian penny, to be more precise. It’s going to be withdrawn from circulation because production costs have exceeded its monetary value.
不是，是小錢，就便士而已。更確切地說，是加拿大便士。由於生產成本超出了貨幣價值，它馬上就要停止流通了。
So there’s not much time left to ‘spend a penny’!
這麼說來，花“一分錢上公共廁所”的日子剩不多了。
That’s a very good penny idiom and I’m sure there are plenty more we’ll mention in today’s programme.
呵呵，這個成語很好，我敢肯定今天的節目中還會提到很多有關便士的成語。
Yes – but of course the penny is not the proper name for this small Canadian coin – its official name is the cent. So do we have any cent idioms today?
沒錯，但準確來說加拿大硬幣並不叫做便士，它的官方名稱是分。所以今天有關於一分錢的成語嗎？
We don’t but, as always, I do have a question to ask you.
沒有，但像往常一樣，我要問你一個問題。
OK.
好啊。
Right, on the theme of money of course, and in which country would you use the Tambala coin? Is it: a) Malawi b) Madagascar c) Myanmar?
恩，當然以錢為主題。問題是這樣的：你會在哪個國家使用坦巴拉呢？是馬拉威，馬達加斯加還是緬甸呢？
I don’t know the answer, so I’m going to say it sounds like an African country. Let’s say Malawi.
我還真不知道答案。不過聽起來像是非洲國家的。所以我選馬拉威。
Malawi. Well, I’ll let you know the answer at the end of the programme. But let’s get back to the news the Canadian penny – or cent - is being withdrawn from circulation.
馬拉威，好的，節目最後我們會揭曉答案。再來看看今天的新聞，加拿大便士（或加拿大一分錢硬幣）正在退出流通。
The Royal Canadian Mint will no longer distribute the coin to financial institutions around the country, but it will remain legal tender.
加拿大皇家鑄幣廠也不會再向金融機構分發硬幣，但它仍是法定貨幣。
Legal tender – that means shops can still accept the coin as payment for things. But it’s slowly going to disappear because places like banks will not be given any new ones. So why is this?
既然是法定貨幣，那麼人們依舊可以在各家商店使用它。可由於銀行等地不再獲得新貨幣，所以它將慢慢消失。那麼為什麼會這樣呢？
Well, I suppose the coin does not have much value – and personally, I find having loads of small coins in my pocket quite annoying.
我覺得是硬幣沒多大價值。我個人認為兜裡揣幾個硬幣挺煩人的。
That’s true, although all those pennies can add up to a lot of money, so I like to save them in a big jar. People do say that if you take care of the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves!
沒錯，但要是把那些硬幣放在一起，也可以攢很多錢呢，所以我喜歡把硬幣放在大儲蓄罐裡。有人說過管好小開銷，大錢自然來。
Well in Canada, at least, there will be fewer pennies to collect, it might be nickels instead. Nickels are worth five cents each. That’s because the government has advised shop owners to round out prices to the nearest nickel for cash transactions. That means to increase or round up, or decrease or round down to the nearest nickel.
但加拿大卻沒有多少便士可收集，相反鎳幣倒是多一些。一鎳幣價值五美分。那是因為政府建議店主把價格湊到最近鎳幣，以方便現金交易。換句話說，就是提高或降低商品價格以湊到最近的鎳幣。
Canada is not alone in withdrawing small coins. Other countries, such as New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden, no longer use the penny. And here in the UK, some people think the penny is just a waste of space.
加拿大並不是唯一撤回小硬幣的國家。紐西蘭、澳大利亞、荷蘭、芬蘭及瑞典等其他國家也不再使用便士。而在英國，有些人認為便士只是在浪費空間。
Peter Nichols is a coin dealer; would he miss the British penny if it was withdrawn?
Peter Nichols是一名錢幣商。如果英國便士被撤回了，那麼他會想念麼？
Not at all, I don’t even count them in the till. When the section gets too full I put them in the charity box, that’s more where it comes from now, yeah.
一點不會，我甚至都不數錢櫃中有多少便士。等裝滿了我就把它們放在慈善箱裡，所以慈善箱裡的便士比錢櫃裡還多。
So he wouldn’t miss them. The pennies he gets now go in to a box where money is collected for charity. They are basically a nuisance – they just get in the way.
Peter Nichols說不會想念便士。他把自己的硬幣投到了慈善箱裡。硬幣基本上就是個麻煩，所以人們才這樣處理它。
Of course the other problem with these small coins is how much they cost to make. They are not cost-effective. In Canada, it costs 1.6 cents to make a 1 cent coin. So that means it costs the economy a pretty penny.
當然，這些小硬幣還引發了另一個問題：生產成本。製造硬幣根本不划算。在加拿大，製造1分硬幣需要成本1.6分，也就是說生產硬幣要花費一大筆錢。
A pretty penny! That means a large sum of money. Yes, the Canadian economy makes a loss of 11 million Canadian dollars every year by making these coins. That’s a big loss from a small coin. But back in the UK, some people are fond of this humble coin. They want to look after the penny.
一大筆錢，也就是很多錢。的確，加拿大每年都會因製造硬幣而損失1100萬加元。那可是很大的損失。但英國人很喜歡硬幣，他們希望攢小錢。
Could we say they are ‘penny pinchers’ Rob? That’s what we call people who are careful with how they spend their money. It means that they count every penny!
那可以說他們是小氣鬼嗎，Rob？換句話說他們是很在意如何花錢的人，每一分錢都要斤斤計較。
Definitely not me and it isn’t Phil Mussel, who is a numismatist – that’s someone who collects and studies coins…
我可不是小氣鬼，Phil Mussel也不是。他是收集並研究硬幣的人，即錢幣學家。
I think it would be a great shame if we got rid of the penny. It’s one of those iconic coins of Britain. We’ve had the coin since 780, and we’ve had it ever since. In fact up until the fourteenth century, it was the only coin in circulation.
我認為遠離便士是很恥辱的事情。因為它是英國的標誌性硬幣之一，自780年硬幣流通，便士就一直存在。直到十四世紀，它還是唯一流通的硬幣。
So Phil Mussel is nostalgic about the British penny. He calls it an iconic coin – it represents or is a symbol of British currency.
這麼說來，Phil Mussel很懷念英國便士。他說便士是標誌性硬幣，即英國貨幣的象徵。
By getting rid of the penny altogether, there is fear that it could create inflation.
如果完全除去便士，那麼可能會造成通貨膨脹。
Phil Mussel fears that if it happened in the UK, prices would only go up. He says that is inevitable – it will happen.
Phil Mussel擔心假如此事在英國發生，那麼價格只會上漲。他說這是不可避免的事情，一定會發生。
Well that would make our wallets and pockets a lot lighter!
要是這樣，我們的錢包和口袋就輕巧多了。
Our wallets hang on. Ah, I get it. The penny is dropped, I see what you mean!
錢包輕巧？啊，我明白了，你是指便士被撤回了。
Very good. Well here is something that is inevitable, the answer to this week’s question. Earlier, I asked you in which country would you use the Tambala coin?
恩，不錯嘛。現在我們來做點不可避免的事情，看看本周問題的答案。我剛剛問過，你會在哪個國家使用坦巴拉？
Well I said a) Malawi. Was I right?
我當時選的馬拉威。對嗎？
Finn, you were absolutely right. The Tambala coin is legal tender in Malawi 100 Tambalas make one Kwacha. OK, it’s almost time to go but before we do, Finn could you remind us of some of the words we have heard today.
恭喜你Finn，完全正確。坦巴拉是馬拉威的法定硬幣，100坦巴拉等於1瓦查。好了，節目也快結束了。Finn，你能帶我們回憶下今天聽到的詞彙嗎？
Ah, today. Yes. We heard: humble, circulation, legal tender, to round out, up or down, a nuisance, a pretty penny, numismatist, iconic, inflation, and inevitable.
沒問題。今天我們聽到了以下詞彙：humble（卑微的，小的）、circulation（流通）、legal tender（法定貨幣）、to round out（完成）、up or down（上漲或下跌）、a nuisance（令人討厭的人或事）、a pretty penny（一大筆錢）、numismatist（錢幣學家）、iconic（標誌性的）、inflation（通貨膨脹）、inevitable（不可避免的）。
Thanks. Well, that’s all we have time for today. Please join us again soon for Six Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com.
謝謝你，以上就是本期節目的全部內容。歡迎大家登錄bbclearningenglish.com收聽我們BBC六分鐘英語。