The english we speak(BBC教學)第258期:Cheap and cheerful 物美價廉

Neil and Li are talking about the Christmas presents they received. Li describes her presents as 'cheap and cheerful' whereas the smart watch Neil's wife bought him is 'cheap and nasty'. What do they mean?

尼爾和莉在聊他們收到的聖誕禮物。莉稱她的禮物“物美價廉”，而尼爾的妻子送他的那塊手錶則是“價廉質劣”。他們是什麼意思？

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

注：音頻與文本不完全對應。

Li: Hi and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Li and with me today is my colleague Neil.

莉：大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語節目。我是莉，今天和我一起主持節目的是我的同事尼爾。

Neil: Hello everybody. How was your Christmas, Li? Did you receive lots of nice presents?

尼爾：大家好。莉，你聖誕節過得怎麼樣？你有收到很多漂亮禮物嗎？

Li: Yes, loads. Nothing that was really expensive. Everything was cheap and cheerful.

莉：有，我收到了很多禮物。不過沒有特別貴重的禮物。我收到的禮物都是物美價廉的。

Neil: Oh, that's a nice phrase you used. When people say that something is cheap and cheerful, they mean the product doesn't cost much but it serves its purpose. The customer is happy with it!

尼爾：哦，你用的這個詞組很好。人們形容某樣東西cheap and cheerful，意思是這個產品價錢不貴，而且很實用。顧客對這樣東西很滿意！

Li: So it is a positive phrase. Let's hear some examples of how it is used:

莉：這是一個褒義詞組。我們來聽些例句，學習這個短語的使用：

Examples

例句

She enjoys shopping for cheap and cheerful presents.

她喜歡選購物美價廉的禮物。

He made a lot of money from designing cheap and cheerful toys for children.

他爲孩子設計物美價廉的玩具，從中掙了不少錢。

Li: Some people design very clever little gifts. Look at this nice bracelet. It's actually a USB stick!

莉：有人設計靈巧的小禮物。你看這個漂亮的手鐲。它其實是個USB閃盤！

Neil: Oh, that reminds me of the smart watch my wife bought me online. In less than a week the battery has completely gone! It's useless.

尼爾：哦，這讓我想起我妻子從網上給我買的那塊智能手錶了。我戴了不到一個禮拜，電池就完全耗盡了！那塊表已經沒用了。

Li: Oh dear! If the quality is bad, I would use another phrase: 'cheap and nasty'! Let's hear a couple of examples:

莉：哦，天哪！如果質量不好，我會用另一個詞組來形容：價廉質劣！我們再來聽幾個例句：

Examples

例句

Everything in this shop is cheap and nasty. Don't buy anything.

這家店出售的所有商品都是價廉又質劣。不要在這裏買任何東西。

My boyfriend is very stingy. The hotel where we stayed was cheap and nasty. I wouldn't recommend it.

我男朋友非常小氣。我們住的那家酒店價廉又質劣。我不會推薦那家酒店的。

Neil: To be honest I don't like online shopping because you can easily be fooled by their wonderful-looking pictures.

尼爾：說實話，我不喜歡在網上購物，因爲很容易會被看起來很好的圖片欺騙。

Li: I know. When people want to save some money by buying something cheap and cheerful they often end up wasting their money because the goods can turn out to be cheap and nasty.

莉：我知道。人們想通過購買物美價廉的東西來省錢，可是往往最終會浪費錢，因爲他們買的商品通常是價廉又質劣。

Neil: No one likes a product that is cheap and nasty, but I hope everyone likes the two phrases we have taught today.

尼爾：沒有人喜歡價廉質劣的產品，不過我希望大家喜歡我們今天教的這兩個詞組。

Li: Cheers!

莉：再見！

Neil: Bye!

尼爾：再見！

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. remind sb. of sth. 使想起；使記起；提醒；
例句：Yellow flowers of rape alwaysremindmeofmy childhood in the countryside.
黃黃的油菜花總使我想起我在農村時的童年。
2. less than （用在數字或數量前）少於，低於，比…少；
例句：The new restaurant fold up inless thana year.
這家餐廳不到一年就歇業了。
3. a couple of 兩個；幾個；
例句：We needa couple ofboxes of cookies.
我們需要幾盒餅乾。
4. to be honest 老實說；說實在的；
例句：To be honest,I do not think we have a chance of winning.
說實話，我認爲我們沒有獲勝的可能。
5. end up (in) doing sth. 最終；結果；到頭來；
例句：Tyler says the things you own,end upowning you.
泰勒說不管你擁有什麼，最後都將反過來鉗制你。
6. turn out 原來是；結果發現；
例句：Itturned outto be a wild-goose chase.
結果證明這只不過是一場徒勞。