又中又英
又中又英
又中又英

Riff-Raff

2021/08/03 04:13:01 網誌分類: 生活
03 Aug
          Many hotels are offering out of this world deals for staycations. As I explained before, the expression “out of this world” means extraordinary or extremely good. It’s a no-brainer for hotels to offer good deals because the coronavirus means foreign tourists cannot enter. If they don’t offer out of this world deals they will go bust. The expression “no-brainer” comes from the word brain. Some things are easy to understand or do. They are called no-brainers. Hotel owners don’t need to use their brains to offer staycation deals for locals to fill rooms that would otherwise be empty.

          The expression “go bust” is often used for businesses that have no more money and must close. A similar expression is “go broke”. I recently moved into a hotel after my apartment lease expired. I knew the apartment’s owner would increase my rent. A friend recommended a five-star hotel with a great harbour view that was offering out of this world deals for staycations as well as for people renting monthly. I jumped at the deal. The expression “jump at” means to accept something immediately or with eagerness. I jumped at the deal because the monthly rent was half that of my apartment. But there are trade-offs in jumping at good deals.

          The expression “trade-off” means to accept something bad to have something good. The hotel I am in has a good rent with a great harbour view. But the trade-off is I must tolerate a few riff-raffs (noisy or badly-behaved people) who jump at the out of this world staycation deals. I had a riff-raff staycation family next to my room recently. Family members were celebrating a birthday. Families should celebrate birthdays but they made noise past midnight. When I complained to the hotel a young boy from the riff-raff family came outside my door and told me to go to hell. He could only have learned this from his parents. I pity him and am glad the family moved out after their staycation.

        *****

          許多酒店都提供非凡的(out of this world)留港宅度假優惠待遇。正如我從前解釋過,習語“out of this world”是指無與倫比的、極好的。但其實,不用腦也能想得到(no-brainer),為何酒店會提供這麼划算的優惠——因為新冠肺炎疫情意味着外國遊客不能進港。若他們不去提供如此非凡的(out of this world)優惠,他們可要破產,關門大吉(go bust)了。習語“no-brainer”來自brain(腦袋)一字;一些事情很容易辦到,或不費腦筋也能明白的,這些事情就被稱為no-brainers。酒店老闆不用多費腦筋,也會向本地人提供宅度假優惠,以填滿那些房間,否則房間也是空着無用。

          習語“go bust”通常用來形容那些公司破產了,必須結業;類似的習語是“go broke”。我居住的單位租約完了,最近搬到酒店居住。我知道我單位的業主會加租,一位朋友就推介一間五星級酒店給我,它有無敵的海港景觀,提供非凡的(out of this world)宅度假優惠,以及超抵的月租價格。對此我幾乎是「𦧲飯應」(jumped at)!習語“jump at”意即搶着去欣然接受某事物。我急不及待、熱切地接受(jumped at)該酒店的優惠,因為酒店的月租是我原本單位租金的一半!但當然,欣然接受(jumping at)絕佳的優惠,難免有些 trade-offs。

          習語“trade-off”是指權衡過後,為了獲得一樣好的東西,而去接受那些不好的東西。我現居的酒店,確實有無敵海景,但隨之而來我要抵受的(trade-off),是我必須容忍幾個嘈吵而不三不四的下等人(riff-raffs),他們同樣對這個非凡的(out of this world)宅度假優惠𦧲飯應(jump at)。最近就有一個不三不四的(riff-raff)宅度假家庭,住進我隔鄰的房間。那家庭在慶祝生日,家庭慶祝生日是應份的,但他們過了午夜還在製造噪音。當我向酒店投訴時,那個無賴(riff-raff)家庭中有一個男孩走來我房門外,跟我說「go to hell (去你的)」,他只能是從他父母那裏學來這些罵人的話吧。我很同情他,也很高興他們在宅度假完結後便搬走了。中譯:七刻

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
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