今天李華和Michael在討論做生意的事。 李華會學到兩個常用語：to make a killing和to break even.

    M： Li Hua， what are you looking at on the Internet？

    L： 噢，我想在網上買個做豆腐的機器。我和一個朋友想做了豆腐周末拿到農民集市上去賣。 你說有人會買嗎？

    M： Of course people would buy your tofu！ You'd make a killing！

    L： Make a killing？ 做豆腐和殺人有什么關系？

    M： No， I said you'd "make a killing". "To make a killing" means to earn a lot of money quickly through some kind of lucrative business.

    L： 唷， to make a killing就是通過做生意賺了許多錢！ Michael， 這么說，你認為我們這個生意能做得成，是嗎？我不知道美國人是不是愛吃豆腐吶。

    M： Of course！ A lot of people who don't eat meat， or who want to eat healthy foods eat tofu. Also， there are a lot of Chinese in this part of town. I'm sure you'll make a killing.

    L： 對，好多美國人現在健康意識很強，不吃肉，愛吃豆制品。Michael， 你說得沒錯，這一帶中國人也很多，肯定有人會買新鮮豆腐的。Michael， 你能不能再給我舉一個例子呀？

    M： Well， for instance， my uncle Roger made a killing in real estate. A few years ago， he bought a lot of land and then rich people started building houses in the area， and he made a lot of money.

    L： 你叔叔幾年前買了好多地，然后有錢人在這些地上蓋房子，所以他就通過房地產生意賺了好多錢！他可真有遠見吶！

    M： You can also say to make a killing in the stock market， in the insurance business or even in the tofu business！

    L： 噢，to make a killing in the stock market就是通過買賣股票賺了好多錢，in the insurance business就是保險業。可是，我想靠賣豆腐大概不會make a killing ——賺不了太多錢。

    M： Don't worry about losing money， Li Hua. At the very least， you will break even.

    L： 你說我至少會什么？break even？

    M： "To break even" means to neither lose nor gain money. If you do some business and are able to cover the costs of the business， but don't make a profit， you are breaking even.

    L： 噢，那就是既不賺錢，也不虧本。做豆腐的機器不是太貴，所以，你說得對，要做到收支相抵， 也就是break even， 應該不會有問題。

    M： Even if you don't earn a lot of money， if you break even you lose nothing， plus you get to enjoy lots of fresh tofu.

    L： 唷，你倒想得好，不賺不賠沒什么損失，還能吃好多新鮮豆腐！你不就是想不出錢白吃豆腐嘛！對不對？

    M： What？ I don't care that much about tofu. Stop being silly and use this phrase in a sentence.

    L： 嗯……有了。我和我的朋友Regina上星期第一次去大西洋賭城玩。開始我們各自出了50 美元，可是不到一小時全輸光了。后來我們兩人各出10美元，合在一起，結果終于把100美元又賺了回來。所以，In the end， we broke even.

    M： （Sarcastically） Wow. $50. Good thing you were able to break even， or you'd have to sleep in a cardboard box on the sidewalk.

    L： Michael， 別小看人哪！輸了50美元，我就得睡在馬路上的紙箱里呀？哎，不過，說實話，50美元是不少錢，我本來就不該去賭錢。

    今天李華學到兩個常用語，一個是：to make a killing， 意思是做生意在短期內賺了很多錢。另一個是：to break even， 意思是做生意沒有虧本，也沒有賺錢。