J: Yang Chen, I"m so sorry I"m late. Has the program started yet?
Y: 当然已经开始啦。
J: Oh, I"m so sorry everyone. Hello everyone! Welcome to American Cafe. My apologies.
Y: 你怎么今天迟到了?
J: Just go ahead without me. I"m going to get my bags...
(Sound of rustling bags.)
Y: Jody 你干吗呢? 能不能集中点精神？ ... 啊?! 你竟然去逛街去了？
J: Shopping? No, no, no. I was not shopping.
Y: 那这些购物袋是怎么回事儿呢？
J: What bags? Oh, these bags? Right, You see, Yang Chen, I was doing research.
Y: 作研究, 做什么研究啊？
J: Research on ... buying and selling.
Y: 啊哈，作市场调查。那还不是和逛街差不多。
J: Okay, I may have done a little shopping. But I just wanted to get in the mood. Because I thought shopping is such a popular pastime for Americans, we could do a show on shopping. What do you think?
Y: 我知道美国人，特别是女士们周末喜欢逛街。我也很喜欢啊。你下次再作市场调查可要叫我和你一快去啊。
J: Oh, absolutely! Actually for today"s show I thought we could talk about a special type of store that I"ve always wanted to know more about, a consignment store!
Y: Consignment store? 哎, 咱俩那天在Dupont Circle路过的那家店就是一家consignment store,对不对？
J: The one and the same! It"s called Secondi Consignment Store. And when I went back, I spoke with Molly, an employee there, who helped me understand exactly how a consignment store operates.
Y: 我们来听听Molly怎么解释consignment store是什么意思。
实录1 Molly: A consignment store is a store where people own the items that the store sells for them on their behalf. The original owner of the items is only paid once the items are sold on the store.
Y: 这种商店在中文里应该叫寄售商店。
J: Let"s listen to Molly again as she talks more about how a consignment store operates.
实录2 Molly: The consigner comes in. One of the managers goes through the items and tells the consigner "Yes, we can sell it" or "No, we can"t." "Here"s what we think we can sell it for" pricewise. And then the consigner gets 50 percent of that price.
Y: Molly 刚才提到的"consigner"... right?
J: Consigner. Correct.
Y: ... 就是委托他们出售商品的客户。一般来说，客户拿东西到她们商店来，有一位专门负责收购的经理决定哪些她们能卖出去，哪些她们不愿意卖。然后和客户商订价钱，商店会得到售价的50%。
J: Wow, Yang Chen, you summed that up really well. A consigner is the person who brings the clothes in that they want the store, the consignment store, to sell for them. So a consignment is just like being a distributor. You know, a slang word for distributor is "middle man." And you say "middle man" even if it"s a woman.
Y: 呣, 在中文里呢, "middle man"应该就是"中间人" 或者"经纪人"的意思。
J: Oh, hey, Yang Chen, also at Secondi they have a great system that keeps the inventory fresh.
Y: 这家商店，就是Secondi这家商店，那么他们怎么避免货品的积压呢？我们再让Molly解释一下。
实录3 Molly: After the first month the clothing goes down 20 %, and after the second month it goes down 40%, and after the third month if it"s still here, the contract that we have with the consigner is just that we can donate it automatically for them.
Y: 噢，原来她们的货物第一月没卖出去就降价20%，两个月卖不出去就降40%，三个月还卖不出去就要捐出去了。听 Molly 怎么一说，如果我们每天去这家商店，那每天都能看到她们的货架上有新的东西。
J: Oh, they have some really great items there. Some were way out of my price range. Too expensive!
Y: 我知道，你说的 "well out of my price range"就是对我来说价钱太贵了，买不起。
J: But look at my new jeans! $28 and they still had the tag on them!
Y: 才28美元？太值了！好了，各位听众，您今天了解了美国的consignment store，不知道您有什么感想呢？我觉得，我真是一种很不错的消费方法，以低于零售商店的价格买到名牌衣服。这简直就是每个女士的梦想。哎，Jody， 咱们现在就去吧！
J: Thanks for tuning to American Cafe. Come on, Yang Chen, lets go!
Y: 谢谢您收听美语咖啡屋，我们下次再见。
美国习惯用语第276讲
今天我们再给大家介绍两个以sit这个字为主的习惯用语。大家都知道，sit就是坐。虽然我们要讲的两个习惯用语都以sit这个字为主，但是它们坐的地方却很不同。
现在我们先来讲第一个习惯用语。To sit on one"s hands. 要是按字面的意思直接翻译的话，to sit on one"s hands就是某人坐在手上。但是，我们现在讲的是习惯用语，to sit on one"s hands具有更深的意思。To sit on one"s hands这个俗语是出自文艺界。去看戏，或去参加音乐会的观众往往会用鼓掌的方式来对台上的表演表示赞许和欣赏。可是，要是演出的水平太低的话，观众就会sit on their hands - 不鼓掌。现在，to sit on one"s hands这个常用语已经不局限于文艺界了。它可以用在其他方面，意思是表示不喜欢，不欣赏。我们来举一个例子吧。
这是一个唱流行歌曲的歌星在说话。他刚结束了当天的演出，对于观众没有为他鼓掌而感到很不高兴。他说：
例句-1: Man, that"s sure a tough audience out there tonight! I thought I sounded great but the audience really sat on their hands - I tell you I never want to come back to this lousy place!
这个歌星说：好家伙，今天晚上的听众可真是很难讨好呀。我觉得我自己唱得非常好，但是观众们却毫无反应，不鼓掌。我告诉你，我以后再也不要到这个倒霉地方来了！
看来,这个演员肯定是自我感觉良好。观众是很公平的，要是他们都不鼓掌，那很有可能就是演出水平太低。
******
有的时候，to sit on one"s hands也可以指某个人不马上同意，或参加一个活动，其原因倒不一定是他不喜欢，而是有其他原因。我们来举一个例子。这是一个学校里的一个学生在说话。他在说他请一位叫Emily的老师帮助学生组织戏剧俱乐部的经历。他说：
例句2: Emily loved the idea, but she sat on her hands for two weeks. I finally realized we should have asked her to be the director. We did, and now she"s working harder for the club than anybody else.
这个人说：埃米很喜欢这个想法，但是她拖了两个星期，没有做出反应。后来，我终于意识到，我们应该请她当导演。结果，我们确实请她当了导演。现在她非常努力地为俱乐部工作，没有任何人能比得过她。
这是一个很好的例子。这个例子说明埃米之所以拖拉，也就是to sit on her hands,不是由于她不愿意成立俱乐部，而是为了自己想当导演。
******
我们现在来讲第二个以sit这个字为主的习惯用语。To sit on the fence. Fence就是篱笆，to sit on the fence按字面来解释，它的含意就是坐在篱笆上。但是，作为一个习惯用语，to sit on the fence就是左右不定。To sit on the fence这个说法十九世纪初就开始出现了。那个时候，to sit on the fence是指一个人在政治上既不支持共和党，也不支持民主党；也就是保持中立。
现在，to sit on the fence可以更广泛地使用。凡是一个人没有做出决定，或者在某一个问题上没有采取立场，都可以用to sit on the fence来形容。下面是一个人在说一个名字叫杰克的中学生。
例句3: Jack sat on the fence for weeks before he made up his mind to go out for baseball instead of track. A good choice for the school: he turns out to be the best player on the team.
这个人说：杰克犹豫了两个星期，最后决定放弃田径，去打篮球。这对学校来说是一个很好的选择，因为他后来成为学校篮球队中最好的球员。
******
下面我们再来举一个例子，这次我们又回来谈政治了。说话的人已经决定在国会议员的选举中投在职议员一票，但是他的太太还没有做出决定。这位丈夫说：
例句4: I"ve decided to vote for the man already in office. But Sally is still sitting on the fence. Maybe she"ll vote for the independent candidate. We"ll just have to wait and see.
他说：我已经决定投那个已经在职的议员一票。但是，沙利到现在还没有做出决定。也许她会投那个独立候选人的票。我们只能等着瞧了。
美国习惯用语第277讲