Make Money - 英语听力.mp3

[00:10.42]Now, the VOA Special English program
[00:14.95]Words and Their Stories.
[00:17.34]Most people enjoy working for several reasons
[00:22.06]-- their job might be fun,
[00:24.86]or they like their employer and the other people at work.
[00:29.14]Most people I know, however, work for the money.
[00:33.83]I do not know anyone who is "loaded"
[00:37.86]-- or extremely rich.
[00:40.31]Most of my friends work to earn enough money to live.
[00:46.01]They have to "make ends meet"
[00:48.35]-- they have to earn enough money
[00:51.73]to pay for the things they need.
[00:54.08]Some even live "from hand to mouth"
[00:57.63]-- they only have enough money for the most important things.
[01:02.45]They struggle to earn enough money to "bring home the bacon"
[01:08.88]-- it can be difficult to earn enough money for a family to survive.
[01:15.35]Sometimes, poor people even "get caught short"
[01:20.63]-- they do not have enough money to pay for what they need.
[01:26.41]Or they have to spend or "lay out"
[01:30.60]more money than they want for something.
[01:33.54]When this happens,
[01:35.08]poor people have to "tighten their belts"
[01:38.77]and live on less money than usual.
[01:42.16]I hate when I have to live on less money.
[01:46.64]It takes me longer to get "back on my feet"
[01:50.93]-- or return to good financial health.
[01:54.97]However, other people are "on the gravy train"
[02:00.05]-- they get paid more money than their job is worth.
[02:05.24]These people "make a bundle"
[02:08.57]-- they really "rake in the cash."
[02:11.46]In fact, they make so much money
[02:15.65]that they can "live high off the hog"
[02:19.43]-- they own the best of everything and live in great ease.
[02:25.06]Sometimes they "pay an arm and a leg" for something.
[02:29.99]Because "money is no object" to wealthy people,
[02:34.48]they will pay high prices for whatever they want.
[02:38.96]Sometimes, they even "pay through the nose"
[02:42.50]-- they pay too much for things.
[02:45.29]I am not rich.
[02:48.72]I did not "make a killing" in the stock market
[02:52.60]when my stocks increased in value.
[02:55.50]Yet, I am not poor either.
[02:58.83]When I go out with friends,
[03:01.48]I do not want to "shell out" -- or pay a lot of money.
[03:06.11]Often, my friends and I will "chip in"
[03:09.55]-- or pay jointly for a fun night out.
[03:13.14]When we go to restaurants, the meal is "Dutch treat"
[03:18.47]-- each person pays his or her own share.
[03:22.95]Once, the owner of a restaurant gave us a dinner "on the house"
[03:29.53]-- we did not have to pay for our meals.
[03:33.11]However, I admit that we had to "grease someone's palm"
[03:38.34]-- we had to pay money to the employee who led us to our table.
[03:43.42]The money was for a special request.
[03:47.06]Yes, it was a "buy-off"
[03:49.94]-- the employee put us at the top of the list
[03:54.48]for a table instead of making us wait like everyone else.
[03:59.46]We had a great time that night
[04:02.60]and the meal did not "set me back" at all
[04:06.04]-- I did not have to pay anything.
[04:10.28]Because of that experience,
[04:13.11]I will always remember that nice things still happen
[04:17.84]in a world that is "driven by money."
[04:20.53]But, that is "just my two cents worth"
[04:24.27]-- it is just my opinion.
[04:27.21]Words and Their Stories, in VOA Special English,
[04:41.91]was written by Jill Moss.
[04:44.11]I'm Faith Lapidus.