BBC地道英语｜Small change 不值一提的小事

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Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, you are Neil…

大家好，欢迎收听地道英语，这位是尼尔……

…and hello, you are Feifei.

……大家好，这位是菲菲。

Neil, a question – if you looked into my purse, what would you find?

尼尔，有个问题——如果你看看我的钱包，你会发现什么？

Not much! Probably lots of small coins that aren’t worth much.

没什么吧！也许有许多小硬币，不值什么钱。

Well I’m not rich, Neil – but yes, you would find small change. A collection of coins with little value.

嗯，我是不富有，尼尔——不过是这样的，你会发现一些零钱。一堆硬币，没啥价值。

OK – is this the phrase for this programme?

好，这是今天节目的短语吗？

Not exactly. The phrase is ’small change’ but it’s not about money. Something that is insignificant or trivial, meaning not important, can also be described as ’small change’.

不全是。这个短语不仅仅是关于钱的。无关紧要的、琐碎的，也就是不重要的事情，都可以用这个短语来描述。

Like getting a seat on the train during the rush hour is ’small change’ for me.

比如在高峰期的火车上有座位坐，对我来说就是一件“不值一提的小事”。

And getting chocolate sprinkles on top of my cappuccino is ’small change’ for me.

对我来说，在我的卡布奇诺上放巧克力屑对我来说是“不值一提的小事”。

Really? That’s ’big change’ for me! Let’s hear some examples that are far from being small change!

真的吗？这对我来说可是大事！让我们来听几个例子吧，这可不是不值一提的小事！

I’ve only got a cold so my health problems are small change compared with your broken leg.

我不过是得了感冒，和你摔断的腿比起来，我的健康问题就是不值一提的小事了。

Eating out every night is small change to Molly – she can afford it with the huge salary she’s on.

对于莫莉来说，每晚在外面吃是一件小事，她薪水很高，负担得起。

Where I sit on the plane is small change to me, as long as we arrive on time.

在飞机上坐在哪儿对我来说是一件小事，只要我们按时到就行。

This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re talking about the phrase ’small change’, which describes something insignificant or trivial, meaning not important.

这里是BBC英语教学的地道英语，我们正在学“不值一提的小事”这个短语，这个短语描述的是无关紧要、琐碎的事，也就是不重要的事。

We can also describe someone as being ’small change’ – so they are not important. Feifei, do you think I’m small change in this programme?

我们也可以说某人“不值一提”，也就是他们不重要，你觉得我在这个节目里是不重要的吗？

Of course not, Neil. You are very important to this programme – and besides, we couldn’t afford the other presenter!

当然不是，尼尔。对于这个节目来说你非常重要，除此之外，我们也请不起别的主持人！

Ha ha, very funny. So now we’ve explained ’small change’ – can you lend me some?

哈哈。很好笑。所以我们现在解释了“零钱”这个短语——你能借给我点儿吗？

You mean money? How much do you want?

你是说钱吗？你想要多少？

Ten pounds!

十英镑！

Neil, that’s NOT small change – and your request is not ’small change’ either. The answer is ’no’!

尼尔，那可不是零钱——而你的要求也不是“不值一提的小事”。所以我的回答是“不行”！

Well it was worth a try. See ya.

好吧，这还是值得一试的。再见。

Bye.

再见

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