听播客学英语 114 预算

 　　Today we are going to find out about the English word “budget”.

　　But first, I asked you a question at the end of the last podcast. I told you about the supermarket check-out for people who are buying only a few things. I asked you whether the sign above this checkout¹ should say “10 items or less” or “10 items or fewer”.

　　Well, I think it should say “10 items or fewer”. We can count items – one item, two items etc – and “fewer” is a word which we use with things we can count, while “less” is a word we use with things we cannot count. But many people – and several supermarkets – say “10 items or less”. That is the problem with English – English people don’t speak it properly.

　　But now lets talk about budgets. What is a budget? Suppose you make a list of everything you need to spend money on in the next month – rent, food, clothes, bus fares etc. Then you work out how much money you will earn. And then you compare these two – your income and your expenditure² – to see whether you will have enough money. This is a “budget” – a look into the future to see how much money will come in and how much will go out. It is a financial plan, in other words.

　　We use the word “budget” in other ways too. For example, suppose you want to buy a new computer. You work out how much money you have, and how much you will need to spend on other things. Then you calculate that you could afford to pay ??450 for a new computer. ??450 is your “budget” for the new computer.

　　We can use the word “budget” as a verb. “To budget” means to plan what you will spend money on. You might say, for example “I don’t have a lot of money. I need to budget carefully”.

　　Sometimes “budget” just means “cheap”. The problem with the word “cheap” is that it implies poor quality as well as low price. So shops don’t like to advertise their goods as “cheap”. They look for other words instead. They talk about “our value tinned tomatoes”, “our bargain sofas” or “our budget range of computers”. You see how much better it sounds to say “budget” instead of “cheap”. I should be an advertising³ executive⁴, not a podcaster.

　　And why are we talking about budgets in this podcast? Well, today is “budget day”, one of the great events of British politics. This afternoon our Finance⁵ Minister (or “Chancellor of the Exchequer” as we call him) will leave his home at number 11 Downing Street, next door to where the Prime Minister lives, carrying a red box. He will travel in his official car to Parliament, which is about 200 meters away. (I don’t know why he cannot walk, like a normal person.) When he gets to Parliament, he will open the red box and take out a file of papers. He will then tell Parliament about the government’s budget for the next financial year – how much the government will spend and how much it will take from us in taxes. He will tell us about tax increases and tax cuts, and say how wise and careful the government is, and how the British economy is doing really well. And then the opposition⁶ parties will say that the government is spending too much, or too little, or that taxes are too high, or too low, and that the British economy is in a terrible mess. And by this evening, we will all be able to work out whether the budget has made us better off or worse off. I can hardly wait.

1 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

2 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

5 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。