Larry 和李华正在纽约苏活区吃午饭。两人聊起了自己的暑期工作。今天李
华会学到两个常用语：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。在因特网
上登广告当然比在报纸上登广告要便宜，而且看到的人还会多很多呢。

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

    LH：花一点点钱就能怎么啦？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
少的钱取得最大效果。也就是成本低，收效高，很合算的意思啦。就像我们现在
吃的自助餐，每人只要4 美元，就可以吃到各式各样的菜色，还有可口的点心，
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 ：这么说来，昨天我到艾尔加油站去加
油，也是很合算的。I got more bang for my buck ！

    LL： How's that ？

    LH：那个加油站昨天在大促销啊！一加仑汽油只要1 块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：没错，有的加油站都快要三美元一加仑了。你好象没有听说过艾尔加油
站。我明天带你去，so that you can get more bang for you buck too！

    LL：That sounds good！

    ******

    LH：对了，Larry ，你还没说你老板决定在那个网站上登广告？

    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：你老板想把广告登在纽约时报的网站上。不过，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就是数字；cruncher这个词来自crunch，就是在嘴巴里
咀嚼，crunch后面加上e ， r，就成了咀嚼的人。咀嚼数字……？噢，我知道了，
a number cruncher 就是会摆弄数字的人，也就是象会计那样会算帐的人。你的
老板一定很信任公司的会计。

    LL： Who happens to be his wife.

    LH：原来你们公司的会计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：公司开办时，你的老板管帐，结果一下就亏了一万美元呀！所以后来才
让他太太来管帐的。

    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：哟，你老板的太太真厉害。她不但扭转了亏损，现在一个月就能赢利一
万美元哪！我可最怕数字的。

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

    今天李华学到两个常用语。第一个是bang for the buck ，意思是花最少钱
得到最大的效果，也就是合算，划算的意思。另一个常用语是number cruncher ，
这是指对数字很在行，很能算计的人。