Larry 和李華正在紐約蘇活區(qū)吃午飯。兩人聊起了自己的暑期工作。今天李
華會學到兩個常用語：bang for the buck 和number crunchers.

    LL： Did I tell you that my boss has decided to advertise his business
online？ He says newspaper advertisements are too expensive and believes
the Internet will reach more people. LH ：你老板的主意很好啊。在因特網(wǎng)
上登廣告當然比在報紙上登廣告要便宜，而且看到的人還會多很多呢。

    LL： Yes it does. He figures that for a fraction of the cost， he
will get more bang for his buck ！

    LH：花一點點錢就能怎么啦？More bang for his buck？那是什么意思呀？

    LL： More bang for your buck…… Bang for the buck is when someone
gets more value for the money they put into something. "Buck" is another
way of saying dollars or money. LH：我懂了！Bang for the buck 就是花最
少的錢取得最大效果。也就是成本低，收效高，很合算的意思啦。就像我們現(xiàn)在
吃的自助餐，每人只要4 美元，就可以吃到各式各樣的菜色，還有可口的點心，
像冰淇淋、蛋糕等等。

    LL： That's right Li Hua， by paying less and eating more you are
getting more bang for your buck. LH ：這么說來，昨天我到艾爾加油站去加
油，也是很合算的。I got more bang for my buck ！

    LL： How's that ？

    LH：那個加油站昨天在大促銷��！一加侖汽油只要1 塊5 美元呢！

    LL： US$1.50 a gallon ！ That's incredible！ Prices at most stations
now are as high as US$2.70 a gallon. You definitely got more bang for
your buck ！

    LH：沒錯，有的加油站都快要三美元一加侖了。你好象沒有聽說過艾爾加油
站。我明天帶你去，so that you can get more bang for you buck too！

    LL：That sounds good！

    ******

    LH：對了，Larry ，你還沒說你老板決定在那個網(wǎng)站上登廣告？

    LL： He says he would like to put his advertisement on the Website
for the New York Times. Of course ， that really depends on what his number
cruncher says about the idea.

    LH：你老板想把廣告登在紐約時報的網(wǎng)站上。不過，什么是number cruncher
？那是什么意思？

    LL： A number cruncher is someone who is good with numbers， like
an accountant.

    LH：等，等。Number就是數(shù)字；cruncher這個詞來自crunch，就是在嘴巴里
咀嚼，crunch后面加上e ， r，就成了咀嚼的人。咀嚼數(shù)字……？噢，我知道了，
a number cruncher 就是會擺弄數(shù)字的人，也就是象會計那樣會算帳的人。你的
老板一定很信任公司的會計。

    LL： Who happens to be his wife.

    LH：原來你們公司的會計就是你老板的太太呀？

    LL：When he and his wife first started their business he was in charge
of the finances. That didn't last long. When they found themselves $10，
000 in debt they knew something had to change.

    LH：公司開辦時，你的老板管帳，結果一下就虧了一萬美元呀！所以后來才
讓他太太來管帳的。

    LL： Yes. In six months ， she helped turn the business around and
now they are making as much as $10，000 a month in profit.

    LH：喲，你老板的太太真厲害。她不但扭轉了虧損，現(xiàn)在一個月就能贏利一
萬美元哪！我可最怕數(shù)字的。

    LL：I am not a number cruncher either. She's a real number cruncher.

    今天李華學到兩個常用語。第一個是bang for the buck ，意思是花最少錢
得到最大的效果，也就是合算，劃算的意思。另一個常用語是number cruncher ，
這是指對數(shù)字很在行，很能算計的人。