今天我们要讲的两个习惯用语都跟吃午饭有关系。午饭在英文里就是:Lunch美国人有一个很老的俗语,那就是:There's no such thing as a free lunch. 这个俗语翻到中文就是:白吃午饭这种事是没有的。这句话现在已经成为美国人经常用的俗语了。它的含意当然要超越午饭这个范围。There's no such thing as a free lunch的确切意思就是:世界上没有任何不付出代价就能得到的东西;也许当时你不用付出代价,但是迟早你得付,即便不是付钱,你也得为别人效劳来偿还。
例句-1: I never let a lobbyist buy me a lunch or do any favor for me. Early in my political career I learned the truth of the old saying - there's no such thing as a free lunch.
例句2: Seeing the word "free" in ads used to excite me because I thought the store was giving away stuff. Later I learned that there's really no such thing as a free lunch. They always want you to buy something and then give you some cheap gift to make you feel good.
刚才我们说的是几乎不要钱的午饭,下面我们要讲的一个习惯用语是价钱很高的午饭。这个习惯用语就是:Power lunch. Power就是有力量的或是有权力的。那么,什么是 power lunch 呢?Power lunch就是有两个或更多的重要人物在一起吃午饭,但是他们并不是像一般朋友那样为了见见面,聊聊天而一起吃午饭;他们是为了谈生意,或其他工作上的事。
Power lunch一般是在很贵的饭馆里举行,因为请客的一方可以向自己的公司报销。在这种饭馆里工作是很好的,下面这个例句就给大家提供了一个很好的实例。
例句3: My brother works in a place that is very popular for power lunches. And he gets plenty of nice big tips because these people like to show off in front of each other.
例句4: For the first time my friend Leo, a rising young star in New York financial circles, got invited to attend a power lunch today. He said he didn't enjoy it too much though because the big shots there scarcely noticed him.