【英语趣味课堂】城市生活成本-City Costs

Tom: Jess, I love hearing you talk about the different cities, you've been working in. Were they all very expensive places to live?

Jess: No, they weren't all expensive. The first city I lived in when I moved away from Britain was Budapest in Hungary, and when I lived there it was before Hungary had joined the Euro, so the currency¹ was still the Hungarian forint and most things were really cheap compared to Britain.

 

There were things that were expensive there, I think especially for tourists or for people who the taxi drivers perceived³ as being tourists. After I had lived there for awhile kind of knew how much certain journeys should cost and I was very surprised at how often the taxi drivers would double that as soon as they realized I wasn't Hungarian, but overall⁴ Budapest was a cheap city. I'm not sure if that's the case now. It uses the Euro, but then it was cheap and very good fun. After Budapest, I went to Madrid, and that was a bit more expensive than Budapest, definitely⁵. Rent was certainly more expensive and a large proportion⁶ on my monthly⁷ salary went on rent but other things like eating out, supermarket shopping, clothes shopping, they were still quite a lot of choices that wasn't too expensive. The high street shops were about the same price as in Britain, but eating out there was cheap. Again, beauty services in Madrid - haircuts⁸ - I think they must be expensive all over the world cause they were really expensive in Madrid as well.

 

So, you've told me about Tokyo and Bangkok, where else have you lived Tom?

 

Tom: I had a short contract⁹ working in North Africa in Tripoli in Libya and rent was taken care of and I almost paid nothing while I was there and I was able to send seventy or eighty percent of my salary home to England to my savings¹⁰ account¹¹. Travel around Tripoli by these little minivans was a quarter of a dinar and food was a little bit more expensive but I could live on a very small amount of money each month and of course tripoli is right on the Mediterranean¹² so on my days off I could go to the beach very easily. The weather was always fantastic. It was an interesting place to live and the currency in Libya are these beautiful huge bank notes that you have to fold several times to put into your wallet. It was a really satisfying¹³ to have a fist full of those in your pocket.

 

Jess: Oh, it sounds fantastic. I'd love to go there.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

perceived

 

The taxi drivers perceived them to be tourists.

 

When you perceive² something, it means¹⁴ you think something is true even though you do not have all the facts or information. Notice the following:

 

Women are often perceived to be more caring parents than men.

We all perceived him to be happy, but he was actually quite sad.

the case

 

Budapest was cheap, but I’m not sure if that’s the case now.

 

In the previous sentence, the word 'case' means situation. It is often used with the word ‘not’. Notice the following:

 

My class was good today, but that wasn't the case yesterday.

People think I’m rich, but that’s just not the case.

high street shops

 

The high street shops cost the same in Paris as they do in Britain.

 

A high street shop is a store usually located¹⁵ in a more expensive part of town. Notice the following:

 

She is quite rich so he can afford to shop at high street shops.

I can only afford to window shop at the high street shops.

take care of

 

My rent was taken care of by the school.

 

In the previous example, the verb¹⁶ 'take care of' means the rent was paid by the school. When you take care of something, it means you finish some action that needs to be done. Notice the following:

 

The clean up after the party was taken care of by Joe.

I can’t pick the kids up from school today. Can you take care of it?

fist full

 

 

I had a fist full of money.

 

A fist is when you make a ball with your hand. Boxers¹⁷ fight with their fists. Here, it just means you have a hand full of some items¹⁸, such as money, paper, etc. Here though, it also means the person had extra money to spend.  Notice the following:

 

My favorite Clint Eastwood movie is a Fist Full of Dollars.

The child stood there looking happy with a fist full of candy.

1 currency   

n.通货，流通，通用；

参考例句：

• How much foreign currency do you take when you go abroad?你出国时带多少外币？
• The dollar has been revalued against all world currency.美元对所有国际货币比，做了重新调整。

2 perceive   

vt.感知，感觉，察觉；意识到，理解

参考例句：

• Did you perceive a red colour or a green one?你看出来是红颜色还是绿颜色？
• I can't perceive any difference between these coins.我看不出这些硬币的区别。

3 perceived   

v.感觉( perceive的过去式和过去分词 )；视为；认为；理解为

参考例句：

• I perceived a change in his behaviour. 我注意到他举止有些改变。
• On entering his house, we at once perceived him to be tasteful. 我们一进他的房子，立刻感觉到他是个高品位的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

5 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。

6 proportion   

n.比率，比例；大小

参考例句：

• His head is out of proportion to the size of his body.他的头部与身体大小不成比例。
• The proportion of imports to exports is worrying the government.进口与出口的比例令政府担忧。

7 monthly   

adj.每月的，持续一个月的，每月发生的；adv.每月，按月； n.月刊；(复数）monthlies:月经

参考例句：

• The rent on his apartment was his biggest monthly expense.他的房租是每个月最大的开支。
• The monthly rent is $15,inclusive of light and water.每月租金15美元，包括水电费在内。

8 haircuts   

n.（纸面）微裂痕；毛痕；粘丝；贴丝；理发( haircut的名词复数 )；发型

参考例句：

• Except for what he spent on haircuts,books and daily necessities he never wasted a penny. 除了理发、买书和必要的日用品之外，他从不浪费一分钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many people come here for haircuts, and they talk to me. 许多人来这理发，并和我聊天。 来自超越目标英语 第1册

9 contract   

n.合同，契约，婚约；v.使缩短，感染，订约

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• I'm under contract to teach here for one year.我按照聘约要在这里教一年书。

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

11 account   

n.叙述；帐目；帐户

参考例句：

• She left out an important item in her account.她的账目漏掉了一个重要的项目。
• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account.他从银行账户上提了几次款。

12 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

13 satisfying   

adj.令人满意的，令人满足的v.使满意，满足( satisfy的现在分词)

参考例句：

• It's satisfying to play a game really well. 一种游戏玩得特别好是一桩惬意的事。
• The book is more satisfying if you read each chapter in sequence. 这本书依次读各章会更好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

15 located   

adj.处于，位于

参考例句：

• The mechanic located the fault immediately. 机修工立即找到了出故障的地方。
• a small town located 30 miles south of Chicago 位于芝加哥以南30英里的一个小镇

16 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

17 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 items   

n.物料项目 （任何一种自制或采购的零部件或组装件，如最终产品、部件、子部件、零件或原材料）；条( item的名词复数 )；一项；一则；一件商品（或物品）

参考例句：

• Bulky items will be collected separately. 大件物品将分开收集。
• Customers with ten items or less can use the express lane. 购买十件商品以内的顾客可使用快速购物通道。