英语访谈对话 453 Bargains

 　　I'm an English teacher in Japan and when I first came here I didn't really have very much money so I found things quite expensive and I went out looking for cheap bargains. I came across a shop and it called the 100 Yen¹ shop. It's absolutely fantastic. 100 Yen is about 50 p, 50 pence that is. I think that's about 1 dollar, and you go in there and everything is 100 yen. You can buy all sorts of things in a 100 yen shop. You can buy food. You can buy things for your house, things for your bathroom, your kitchen. You can buy ornaments² and stationary³ and things like shampoo. I really, really like to get a bargain and when I go in and I know that I've found something and it's worth buying, I really, really get excited about it, and it sends shivers down my spine⁴. We have a shop in Britain and it's quite similar to the 100 yen shop. It's called Pound Land and so everything in it is 1 pound. Not everything is a real bargain.

　　Some things are really pretty rubbish but if you do find a bargain, it's great. It reminds me really of what we have in Britain called car boot sales. They are places where people go and they fill their cars full of things that they don't want anymore and they sell them and people look through other people's items and they find the things that they want to buy and they barter⁵, so they try and get things for a cheap price. It's really good though when you get a bargain. How do you feel about that?

1 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

2 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 stationary   

adj.固定的，静止不动的

参考例句：

• A stationary object is easy to be aimed at.一个静止不动的物体是容易瞄准的。
• Wait until the bus is stationary before you get off.你要等公共汽车停稳了再下车。

4 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

5 barter   

n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• They have arranged food imports on a barter basis.他们以易货贸易的方式安排食品进口。