迷你對話學地道口語第283期:撿了芝麻,丟了西瓜

迷你對話：

A: He is penny wise and pound-foolish.

他這個人小處精明，大處糊塗。

B: Why do you say so?

怎麼這樣說他。

A: The trash of the world he sets high price upon, but the heavenly things he shamefully undervalues.

對廢物估價太高，對珍品卻呲之以鼻。

B: Maybe all of us are the same.

或許我們都大同小異。

地道表達：

penny wise and pound-foolish

解詞釋義：

此語的意思是指小處精明，大處浪費，明於小事而昧於大事。其英文解釋爲：unwise because doing something small now would prevent much more trouble later。

支持範例：

Education budget cuts are penny wise and pound foolish ——public education is an investment in our future.

教育預算削減是明於小事而昧於大事，因爲學校教育是我們將來的一項投資。

Asking the workers not to make private phone calls from the office is not likely to reduce the firm’s losses, it is just being penny wise and pound-foolish.

要工作人員不在辦公室打私人電話不大可能減少企業的虧損，那只是打小段盤而忽略大處。

詞海拾貝：

set high price (upon)：在......設置高價格

範例：You remember the child who set a high price on this picture?

你還記得那個買這幅畫要了高價的孩子嗎？

He set a high price on his services.

他把服務費用定得很高。

She has set a high price on the fashion dress so that nobody want to buy it.

她把這款時尚的裙子的價位定得太高了，因此沒有人想去買。