英语小达人 222 How to Break Down the Cost

 　　How to Break Down the Cost

　　费用怎样分配

　　The president of a large corporation decided¹ that it was time to build a new factory. He asked representatives from three development companies to come in and make a bid on the project.

　　一家大公司的总裁决定要盖一间新厂房。他约来了三家房产公司的业务代表对这项工程进行竞标。

　　The three companies showed up at the scheduled meeting. The president of the large corporation asked the first company whose president earned his MBA from UCLA, "How much will your company charge for this project?"

　　三家公司在约定的时间都到齐了。大公司的总裁问第一家公司：“这项工程你们的报价是多少？”这家公司的老板是加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校的MBA。

　　"20 million, 10 million for materials and 10 million for labor²."

　　“2000万，1000万购买建材，1000万付劳务费。”

　　The president then asks the same question to the second company whose president earned his MBA from Stanford.

　　大公司的总裁又问了第二家公司相同的问题，他们的老板是斯坦福大学的MBA。

　　"30 million, 15 million for materials, 13 million for labor, and 2 million for licenses³ and permits."

　　“3000万，1500万购买建材，1300万付劳务费，两百万用来办理各种许可证。”

　　Finally, the president asks the last company whose president earned his MBA from USC.

　　最后，大公司的总裁问第三家公司，他们的老板是南加利福尼亚大学的MBA。

　　"40 million."

　　“4000万。”

　　"FOURTY MILLION," yelled the persident of the large corporation. "How do you break down the cost?"

　　“4000万！”总裁叫道，“你们怎样用这些钱呢？”

　　"10 million for you, 10 million for me, and 20 million to get the guy from UCLA to build the factory!"

　　“1000万给你，1000万给我，剩下的2000万把工程包给第一家公司！”

　　重点讲解：

　　1. break down

　　分解；将…分成若干部分；

　　eg. The report breaks down the results region by region.

　　报告将调查结果按地区分成若干部分。

　　eg. These rules tell us how a sentence is broken down into phrases.

　　这些规则告诉我们一个句子是怎样分解成若干短语的。

　　2. It's time to do sth.

　　句型，表示“是做某事的时候了”；

　　eg. Since we've been working so hard I think it's time to call it a day.

　　我们已经工作那么辛苦了，我想今天该停工了。

　　eg. We made a great deal of money, so we decided that it was time to set sail for home.

　　这使我们大赚了一笔，因此决定该是起程回家的时候了。

　　3. show up

　　如约赶到；出现；露面；

　　eg. We waited until five o'clock, but he did not show up.

　　我们一直等到了 5 点，但是他始终没有露面。

　　eg. If I don't show up for class this morning, I'll be kicked out.

　　如果我今天上午不去上课，我就要被开除了。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句