細說英語粗話:21. Cheapskate

21. Cheapskate

 Cheapskate 小氣鬼，吝嗇的

Cheapskate 此字可當名詞及形容詞。當名詞時是“吝嗇者”、“小氣鬼”之意，其同義字有 skinflint，tightwad，penny pincher等；當形容詞時，形容behavior,friend，logic，energy等名詞，是“吝嗇的”之意。語氣雖并不粗俗，但仍為損人字眼，正式社交場所勸宜少用，仕人淑女尤然。

Cheapskate 當名詞用時——表示“不齒”

A. Old Wang had been out of work for some time. Then he looked me up，and I helped him find1 a job.

老王有一段日子失業(yè)，后來他找我，我就幫他找到了一份工作。

B. That was nice of you. He was probably very grateful.

你這么做很夠朋友!他很感激吧!

A. If so，he didn’t show it. He gave me two tins of Maofeng tea. That’s all.

如果是這樣，我看不出來。他只送了我兩罐毛峰茶而已!

B. Hmmph2! What a cheapskate!

哼!小氣鬼一個!

注：

1. help him find help+賓語+賓語補足語。在help后當賓語補足語的不定式(infinitive)須省去“to”。

2. Hmmph! 美國人表示反對、不同意、不接受或不齒時，所發(fā)出的鼻音。

Cheapskate 用表“自貶”

A. I’ll have to admit，when it comes to beggars who smoke and drink，I’m a cheapskate.

對于抽煙喝酒的乞丐，我承認我很吝嗇。

B. There’re too many beggars around. You have to be prudent.

四處乞丐太多了，要慎重地施舍才是。

A. The champion cheapskates? The people of Rhode Island，who managed1 a puny ＄1,5462 in average donations to good works.

(Denver Rocky Mountain News，12／14／97)

小氣鬼冠軍是羅德島州民。他們［一年］每人平均慈善捐款額僅區(qū)區(qū)＄1,546美元而已。

注：

1. managed 此處借“管理”作“用心達成”解，puny是“微不足道的”。

2. ＄1,546 此金額是美國國稅局(Internal Revenue Service)根據(jù)1995年個人所得報稅單上分項列舉(itemized)的慈捐扣除額(charitable de-duction)平均而得的。

Cheapskate 當形容詞用時——表示“吝嗇的”

A. Recently, our editors conducted an infomal，absolutely unscientific study of cheapskate behavior. Respondents cited coupon-clipping，magazine-reading on checkout lines，and large-scale theft of hotel soap as typical pastimes. But overall， the greatest cheapskate energy was spent on purchasing or not purchasing certain everyday low-budget items.

(Good Housekeeping雜志，4／1／98)

最近本刊編輯對吝嗇行為做了個既非正式又絕無科學根據(jù)的調(diào)查，答卷者所列舉的一般愛好是剪下打折券，購物排隊付賬時翻閱［出售的］雜志，以及大規(guī)模偷竊旅館的香皂?？偟膩碚f，吝嗇的精力最多用在購買與不購買皆可的廉價日用品上。

A. According to cheapskate logic，sometimes saving more means spending more. “I spend money on cosmetics that I’ll never need，just to get the ‘free’ promotional gift，” wrote one respondent.

(Good Housekeeping，4／1／98)

根據(jù)吝嗇的邏輯，有的時候節(jié)省意味多花。一個［問卷調(diào)查］的答卷者寫道：“只為了貪圖那個‘免費贈品’，我花錢購買了永不會用到的化妝品?！?