英語成語園地-金錢篇
Back to The Garden of English Idioms
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across the board |
全面地;所有人同樣地;到處。 |
The computer company decided
to give the workers an across-the-board increase in their salary. |
a dime a dozen |
多得不稀罕,不值錢。 |
Used computers are a dime a
dozen and have very little value. |
a fool and his money are soon/easily parted |
蠢人有錢留不住;傻瓜不積財 - 指愚蠢的人不加思索就花錢,換言之,若不謹慎理財,錢很快就花光光。 |
Frank relishes his
extravagant lifestyle - but then a fool and his money are soon parted.
(法蘭克喜愛奢侈的生活方式,但他的錢很快就花光了) |
a/one's nest egg |
積蓄,儲蓄。 |
I made a nice nest egg when
I was working and I am now able to go to school. |
a penny for your thoughts |
(告訴我) 你呆呆地在想什麼。 |
"I will give you a penny for your thoughts,"
I said to my friend who was looking out of the window.
引句是一句常聽到的口語:「告訴我你在想什麼!」 |
at all costs |
無論如何;不惜任何代價。 |
He plans to go to school at
all costs. |
at a loss |
虧本出售。 |
We were forced to sell the
computers at a big loss. |
back to the drawing board |
(計畫或談判失敗時) 再從頭開始。 |
The negotiations for the
contract failed so we had to go back to the drawing board. |
ball park figure/estimate |
粗略數字或估計。 |
The contractor gave us a
ball park figure for the cost of repairing the new building. |
bang for the buck |
(投資或花掉的金錢的) 回收 |
We were able to get a big
bang for our buck when we advertised on the Internet. |
banker's hours |
短暫的上班或工作時間。 |
My sister's husband owns his
own company and is able to work banker's hours with his large staff. |
bean-counter |
會計師;會計人員。 |
We asked the bean-counters
to look over the figures in the new budget. |
be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth |
含著銀湯匙出生;生於富貴之家。 |
The student in our history
class was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has never worked in his
life. |
be caught short |
錢到用時方恨少。 |
I was caught short and had
to borrow some money from my father last week. (錢到用時方恨少,上週我不得不向我父親借了些錢來用) |
bet one's bottom dollar |
確信;傾囊下注或打賭。 |
I would bet my bottom dollar that the
accounting manager will be late again today. |
big cheese/gun/wheel/wig |
大人物;要人;領導人。 |
The new director was a big
wheel in his previous company but is not so important now. |
boys in the backroom |
幕後決策者。 |
The boys in the backroom
told us that we must close down the factory as soon as possible. |
break even |
收支平衡;不盈不虧;得失相當。 |
Our company was able to
break even after only six months of operation. |
break the bank |
把莊家的錢全部贏過來;使人傾家蕩產。 |
He broke the bank at the
casino and walked away with a lot of money. |
cash in one's chips |
交換或出售物品來換取金錢;把籌碼兌換成現金;死,翹辮子。 |
I decided to cash in my
chips to get some money to go back to school. |
cash on the barrelhead |
(在購物或交易時) 立即可付的現款。 |
I had to pay cash on the
barrelhead for the used car. |
chicken feed |
無足輕重的事情;為數極微的金錢。 |
His son always wants to
borrow money and says that it is only chicken feed but little by little it
adds up to a lot of money. |
close the books |
停止接受訂單。 |
They usually close the books
at the end of February every year. |
cold hard cash |
現金、硬幣和鈔票。 |
I paid for the stereo in
cold hard cash. |
cook the books |
(非法) 竄改帳目;做假帳。 |
The accountant was cooking
the books for over a year before he was caught. |
cost/pay the earth |
價格十分昂貴;支付一大筆錢。 |
The watch must have cost the
earth. (這支錶一定非常昂貴) Don't pay the earth for brand names. (別花大錢購買商標) |
cross one's palm with silver |
付錢給某人 (尤指算命者或有好消息奉告者)。 |
I crossed his palm with
silver, but he still stood there. (我已付錢給他,但他還站那裡) You will find that things happen much faster in hotels if you cross the staff's palms with silver fairly often. (如果你常常給旅館員工一些小費,你會發現事情處理起來快了很多) |
(a) Dutch treat |
各自付帳的聚餐 (或看電影等)。我們亦可以 "to go Dutch (with someone)" 來表達相同的意思 (見下面的例句) -- 「各付各的帳」。 |
We went to the movie as a Dutch treat so it
didn't cost me much money. John and I always go Dutch when we go out to restaurants. |
fast buck |
輕鬆快速賺得的錢 (有時指不義之財)。 |
The company tried to make a
fast buck on the property but they actually lost a lot of money. |
feel (or look) like a million dollars (or bucks) |
覺得棒極了。 |
Although I have been sick
for a few weeks I feel like a million dollars today. |
flat broke |
身無分文;一文不名。 |
I am flat broke and don't
even have enough money to pay my rent. |
foot the bill |
付帳;承擔責任。 |
My sister is footing the
bill for her daughter's education so she is making sure that she studies
hard. |
for a song |
非常便宜地。 |
We bought the car for a song
and will try and sell it for a higher price. |
for love or money |
為了愛情;出於喜好;不計報酬地。(通常是負面地) |
I would not want to have to
do that man's job for love or money. |
for one's money |
依某人之見,依某人看來。 |
For my money (= In my
opinion/To my mind), you are by far the best student in the school. |
give somebody a (good) run for one's money |
給某人造成強大的競爭壓力;使某人棋逢對手。 |
I think only Carl will be
able to give that candidate a run for his money in the presidential election
next year. (我認為只有卡爾才能在明年的總統大選中對那位候選人造成強大壓力) Amy was an excellent supermodel and could have given any other professional a run for their money. (艾美過去是一名非常優秀的超模,可能是其他任何專業模特兒的競爭對手) |
grease/oil one's palm |
買通某人;賄賂某人。 |
The waiter was greasing his
palm at the restaurant until he was finally fired. |
have money to burn |
有的是錢;錢多得花不完。 |
My aunt has money to burn
and is always travelling somewhere. |
highway robbery |
獅子大開口;索取高價。 |
The amount of money that the
company is charging for its services is highway robbery. |
hit the jackpot |
福星高照;獲得巨大成功;贏得大筆錢;突然發大財。 |
We hit the jackpot at the
casino and came home with a lot of money. |
in someone's bad/black books; in someone's good books |
失去某人的歡心;得到某人的歡心。 |
I'm in my dad's bad/black
books because I didn't clean the bathroom yesterday. (我爸爸對我很不滿,因為我昨天沒有清洗浴室) I washed the car this morning so I'm in Mum's good books. (我今天早上洗了車,所以媽媽對我很滿意) 附註:Books 原指記錄呆帳 (bad debt) 的帳冊。 |
in the hole |
欠錢,負債。 |
I think that we are going in
the hole in our attempts to make our business prosper. |
live from hand to mouth |
做一天過一天;現賺現吃;勉強餬口。 |
My sister has been living
from hand to mouth on her meager salary. (我妹妹一直靠著微薄的薪資,勉強餬口) |
live high off the hog |
過著舒適奢華的生活。 |
My mother and father have
been living high off the hog since they won the lottery. |
made of money |
腰纏萬貫;很有錢。 |
I'll pay for the drinks, but
I can't pay for everyone's meal as well. Do you think I'm made of money? |
make a killing |
賺大錢;大發橫財;獲取暴利。 |
My sister made a killing
when she worked overseas in the oil industry. |
make (both) ends meet |
收支相抵;收支平衡。 |
I have been having trouble
making ends meet because the rent for my apartment is too high.
(由於我住的公寓租金太高,我一直難以收支平衡) |
make money hand over fist |
快速賺進大筆財富。 |
My cousin has been making
money hand over fist with her business. |
Money burns a hole in one's pocket |
錢燒口袋漏,一有就不留;有錢就用光;有錢就亂花。 |
Cindy
has been living from paycheck to paycheck for ages because money burns a
hole in her pocket. (長期以來辛蒂一直是個月光族,因為她有錢就亂花) |
Money doesn't grow on trees |
(尤英) 金錢來之不易 (樹上長不出錢來)。 |
My mom used to say "money
doesn't grow on trees" whenever I asked her to buy me something not very
cheap. |
Money talks |
金錢萬能。 |
People with money usually
get what they want, so they always say "money talks." |
not have a red cent; without a red cent |
一文不名;一貧如洗;窮到極點。英文中表示相同意思的常用成語還有:not have a bean; not have a penny to one's name; not have two halfpennies to rub together; (as) poor as a church mouse. |
I am sorry, I can't lend you
anything -- I haven't got a red cent. |
on a dime |
極小的空間。 |
I had to turn my car on a
dime when I entered the parking lot. |
on a shoestring |
小本經營地;資金極少地;預算極低地。 |
He started his business on a
shoestring but now it is very successful. |
on the house |
(由餐館、飲食店) 免費招待 (酒食)。 |
We went to the restaurant
and all of the refreshments were on the house. |
pass the buck |
推卸責任。 |
The foreman is always
passing the buck and will never take responsibility for anything that he
does. |
pay an arm and a leg for something |
為....付高價。 |
I paid an arm and a leg for
my car but I am not very happy with it. |
pay dirt |
有價值的發現;如獲至寶。 |
We hit pay dirt when we got
the rights to distribute the new product. |
pay through the nose |
花很多錢 (買...);(為...) 付出高昂的代價。 |
I paid through the nose when
I had to buy gasoline in the small town. |
penny wise and pound foolish |
小事聰明,大事糊塗;小處精明,大處浪費。 |
My friend is penny wise and
pound foolish and economizes on small things but wastes all of his money on
big things. |
pick up the tab |
付帳。 |
I picked up the tab for my
sister and her three children at the restaurant. |
pony up |
付錢;支付。 |
I had to pony up a lot of
money to pay to get my car repaired. |
put in one's two cents |
發表意見。 |
I stood up in the meeting
and put in my two cents before I was asked to sit down. |
put one's money where one's mouth is |
說話算數,說給錢就給錢。 |
If people are really
interested in helping the homeless they should put their money where their
mouth is. (如果人們真的有意幫助無家可歸的人,那麼他們應該說話算數,說給錢就給錢) Congress needs to put its money where its mouth is and really support energy conservation. (國會須兌現撥款承諾,確實支持節約能源) |
rake in the money |
賺大錢。 |
We have been raking in the
money at our restaurant and will soon be able to go on a long holiday.
|
strike it rich |
致富;發橫財;突然走運。 |
My grandfather struck it
rich searching for gold but when he died he had no money. |
take a beating |
虧本;了錢。 |
My friend took a beating on
the stock market and now he never has to work. |
the ball is in someone's court |
輪到某人採取行動了。 |
The ball was in the union's
court after the company made their final offer. |
the 64,000 dollar question; the sixty-four thousand dollar question; the $64,000 question |
關鍵問題;至關重要的問題;最重要的問題。 |
It's a clever plan, but the
sixty-four thousand dollar question is: Will it work?
(那是一項巧妙的計畫,但關鍵問題是:它行得通嗎?) That's the 64,000 dollar question. (那是個至關重要的問題) 附註:根據 Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 線上字典,這成語源自美國 1955 至 1958 年播出的一個電視問答節目,答對問題者有獎金,而答對最後、也是最難一個問題可獲得 64,000 美元的獎金。 |
throw good money after bad |
花錢填補無底洞。 |
Anyone with credit card debt
can now ask the government for help; for my money, the politicians are just
throwing good money after bad. |
throw money at something |
花錢解決問題。 |
The president of our company
is willing to throw a lot of money at the problem in the hope of solving it. |
tighten one's belt |
勒緊腰帶;更節省地過日子;節省。 |
We decided to tighten our
belt and save up some money for a holiday. (我們決定勒緊腰帶,存些錢去度假) |
turn an honest penny |
用正當手段賺錢;老老實實賺錢。 |
Kevin's doing odd jobs to
turn an honest penny. (凱文打零工老老實實掙錢) My father's just an ordinary businessman, trying to turn an honest penny. (我父親是個普通生意人,只想用正當手段賺錢) |