今天李华和Michael在讨论做生意的事。 李华会学到两个常用语：to make a killing和to break even.

    M： Li Hua， what are you looking at on the Internet？

    L： 噢，我想在网上买个做豆腐的机器。我和一个朋友想做了豆腐周末拿到农民集市上去卖。 你说有人会买吗？

    M： Of course people would buy your tofu！ You'd make a killing！

    L： Make a killing？ 做豆腐和杀人有什么关系？

    M： No， I said you'd "make a killing". "To make a killing" means to earn a lot of money quickly through some kind of lucrative business.

    L： 唷， to make a killing就是通过做生意赚了许多钱！ Michael， 这么说，你认为我们这个生意能做得成，是吗？我不知道美国人是不是爱吃豆腐呐。

    M： Of course！ A lot of people who don't eat meat， or who want to eat healthy foods eat tofu. Also， there are a lot of Chinese in this part of town. I'm sure you'll make a killing.

    L： 对，好多美国人现在健康意识很强，不吃肉，爱吃豆制品。Michael， 你说得没错，这一带中国人也很多，肯定有人会买新鲜豆腐的。Michael， 你能不能再给我举一个例子呀？

    M： Well， for instance， my uncle Roger made a killing in real estate. A few years ago， he bought a lot of land and then rich people started building houses in the area， and he made a lot of money.

    L： 你叔叔几年前买了好多地，然后有钱人在这些地上盖房子，所以他就通过房地产生意赚了好多钱！他可真有远见呐！

    M： You can also say to make a killing in the stock market， in the insurance business or even in the tofu business！

    L： 噢，to make a killing in the stock market就是通过买卖股票赚了好多钱，in the insurance business就是保险业。可是，我想靠卖豆腐大概不会make a killing ——赚不了太多钱。

    M： Don't worry about losing money， Li Hua. At the very least， you will break even.

    L： 你说我至少会什么？break even？

    M： "To break even" means to neither lose nor gain money. If you do some business and are able to cover the costs of the business， but don't make a profit， you are breaking even.

    L： 噢，那就是既不赚钱，也不亏本。做豆腐的机器不是太贵，所以，你说得对，要做到收支相抵， 也就是break even， 应该不会有问题。

    M： Even if you don't earn a lot of money， if you break even you lose nothing， plus you get to enjoy lots of fresh tofu.

    L： 唷，你倒想得好，不赚不赔没什么损失，还能吃好多新鲜豆腐！你不就是想不出钱白吃豆腐嘛！对不对？

    M： What？ I don't care that much about tofu. Stop being silly and use this phrase in a sentence.

    L： 嗯……有了。我和我的朋友Regina上星期第一次去大西洋赌城玩。开始我们各自出了50 美元，可是不到一小时全输光了。后来我们两人各出10美元，合在一起，结果终于把100美元又赚了回来。所以，In the end， we broke even.

    M： （Sarcastically） Wow. $50. Good thing you were able to break even， or you'd have to sleep in a cardboard box on the sidewalk.

    L： Michael， 别小看人哪！输了50美元，我就得睡在马路上的纸箱里呀？哎，不过，说实话，50美元是不少钱，我本来就不该去赌钱。

    今天李华学到两个常用语，一个是：to make a killing， 意思是做生意在短期内赚了很多钱。另一个是：to break even， 意思是做生意没有亏本，也没有赚钱。