英语小达人 288 I Already Paid

 　　I Already Paid

　　我付过账了

　　A man in a bar had a couple of beers, and the bartender told him he owed 4 dollars.

　　一个人在酒吧喝了几杯啤酒，侍者对他说他的酒钱是4美元。

　　"But I paid, don't you remember?" said the customer.

　　“可是我已经付过了，你不记得了吗？”那人说。

　　"Okay," said the bartender. "If you say you paid, you did."

　　“好吧，”侍者说，“既然你说你付过了，就算付过了吧。”

　　The man then went outside and told a friend that the bartender couldn't keep track of his customers' bills. The second man then rushed in and ordered a beer. When it came time to pay he pulled the same stunt¹.

　　那人跑出去告诉了一个朋友说那个酒吧的侍者记不清顾客付账的情况。于是他的朋友也跑去要了一杯啤酒，到该付账的时候，他也耍了同样的花招。

　　The barkeep replied, "If you say you paid, I'll take your word for it."

　　侍者说：“既然你说你付过了，我就相信你。”

　　Soon the customer went into the street, saw an old friend, and told him how to get free drinks.

　　不久后，这人走在街上遇到了一个老朋友，就又告诉他这种免费喝酒的方法。

　　The man hurried into the bar and began to drink highballs when, suddenly, the bartender leaned over and said, "You know, a funny thing happened in here tonight. Two men were drinking beer, neither paid and both claimed that they did. The next guy who tries that is going to get punched² right in the nose."

　　这位老朋友也赶快跑到酒吧里喝高杯酒。突然，侍者欠身过来说：“你知道吗，今天晚上这里有个好笑的事，前面有两个人喝了酒不付钱还声称自己付过了，再有人这样做的话，我会照着他的鼻子给一拳的。”

　　"Don't bother me with your troubles," the final patron³ responded. "Just give me my change and I'll be on my way."

　　“别拿你的麻烦事来烦我，”这第三位答道，“赶快找我钱，我要走了。”

　　重点讲解：

　　1. keep track of

　　跟上…的进展；掌握…的最新消息；

　　eg. With eleven thousand employees, it's very difficult to keep track of them all...

　　对于一支 1。1 万人的员工队伍，很难及时了解到所有有人的动态。

　　eg. It's hard to keep track of time in here.

　　在这里很容易忘了时间。

　　2. pull a stunt

　　冒险；逞能；干傻事；

　　eg. The days when they needed to pull publicity⁴ stunts⁵ to get noticed are long gone.

　　他们靠作秀出名的日子早已过去。

　　eg. Don't ever pull a stunt like that again.

　　别再耍那样笨拙的把戏了。

　　3. take one's word for it

　　相信…的话；…说的是真话；

　　eg. You'll buy nothing but trouble if you buy that house, take my word for it.

　　你要是买那栋房子只会买来麻烦，我说的都是真的。

　　eg. Fool that I was, I took his word for it.

　　我真傻，竟然相信他的话。

1 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

2 punched   

v.用拳猛击( punch的过去式和过去分词 )；打孔

参考例句：

• He punched me with his fist. 他用拳头猛击我。
• She was punched and kicked by her attackers. 她遭到袭击者的拳打脚踢。

3 patron   

n.资助人，赞助人，老主顾，顾客

参考例句：

• The student wants to find a wealthy patron in America.那学生想在美国找一个富有的赞助人。
• I hope that you will become our patron.我希望你将成为我们的靠山。

4 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

5 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》