What a Bargain!
Elementary
扩展学习音频 2
Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.
Erica: And I’m Erica.
Marco: And today we’re bringing you another great lesson and this time we’re gonna be shopping.
Erica: That’s right. Actually a lot of our users, um, asked for some… some lessons about shopping, right?
Marco: Exactly and I think one of the most important things when you go shopping is to get a good price.
Erica: That’s right.
Marco: So, we’re gonna be teaching you how to bargain.
Erica: So, Marco, you just mentioned a really great word, um, let’s look at it in “vocabulary preview”.
Marco: Alright, so, we’re gonna preview the word bargain today.
Erica: Bargain.
Marco: Bargain.
Erica: Bargain.
Marco: Now, this is an interesting word because it’s a verb and a noun.
Erica: That’s right, um, so, a bargain is a good price, right?
Marco: Okay, so, a bargain is a good price.
Erica: Yep, this t-shirt was a bargain, um, I only paid a dollar for it.
Marco: Okay, so that is a bargain.
Erica: Yes.
Marco: But to bargain as a verb…
Erica: Um, to try and get a good price.
Marco: So, it’s very similar to negotiate.
Erica: Yeah, so, I would say "uh, it costs a hundred dollars".
Marco: And then I would say maybe "ah, I’ll give you fifty".
Erica: "Ah, seventy five".
Marco: Um, and I say "sixty".
Erica: Etcetera, etcetera.
Marco: Hehe. And that’s to bargain, right?
Erica: Yep.
Marco: Okay, so we’re gonna be bargaining, uh, let’s listen to the dialogue for the first time as we have a woman bargaining in a store, right?
Erica: That’s right.
Salesperson: Hello, ma'am. Can I help you find anything?
您好，女士。有什么我可以帮您的吗？Customer: Yes, I really like this dress, but it’s a bit out of my price range. How much is it?
有的，我很喜欢这件连衣裙，但有点超出我的预算了。这件多少钱？Salesperson: It’s one hundred and fifty dollars.
这件是 150 美元。Customer: Oh, that’s a bit pricy. Can you give me a better deal?
噢，有点小贵。能便宜点吗？Salesperson: Well, I can offer it to you for one hundred and twenty dollars.
嗯，我可以按 120 美元卖给您。Customer: That’s still more than I wanted to spend. I think I’ll shop around.
这还是比我的预期高了点。我想我还是去别的店逛逛看看吧。Salesperson: Okay, okay! How about one hundred dollars? That’s my last offer.
别别，好吧！100 美元怎么样？这可是我的底价了。Customer: Deal!
成交！
Marco: Alright, that was some good bargaining skills right there.
Erica: Yeah, and, you know what, she used a lot of good language to get, ah, a cheaper price, didn’t she?
Marco: Yeah, yeah, that was good. So, let’s take a look at this language in “language takeaway”.
Marco: Okay, the first word we have in language takeaway today - price range.
Erica: Price range.
Marco: Price range.
Erica: Price range.
Marco: Price range. What does it mean exactly?
Erica: So, price range is, uh, the minimum and the maximum that you’re willing to spent for a thing that you wanna buy.
Marco: Exactly, so, in the dialogue we heard it’s out of my price range.
Erica: It’s more than I can spend.
Marco: More than I could spend.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Okay. Okay, let’s look at our next word - shop around.
Erica: Shop around.
Marco: Shop around.
Erica: Shop around.
Marco: So, she said "I think I’ll shop around".
Erica: Right, um, so she wants to check in a few other stores to see if there’s a better price.
Marco: If I shop around I’m going and trying to compare prices maybe.
Erica: Exactly, this is a really good, um, shopping technique.
Marco: Yeah, it is.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Okay, and let’s look at our last word - pricy.
Erica: Pricy.
Marco: Pricy.
Erica: Pricy.
Marco: So, something that’s pricy is…
Erica: Expensive.
Marco: Expensive.
Erica: Yep, this is, uh… a more sort of informal way of saying expensive.
Marco: Exactly, so instead of saying "Wow! That car is really expensive!"
Erica: It’s really pricy.
Marco: It’s really pricy.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Okay, let’s listen to our dialogue for the second time and it’s gonna be slowed down a bit.
Erica: So you’ll understand some of these great words a little bit better.
Salesperson: Hello, ma'am. Can I help you find anything?
您好，女士。有什么我可以帮您的吗？Customer: Yes, I really like this dress, but it’s a bit out of my price range. How much is it?
有的，我很喜欢这件连衣裙，但有点超出我的预算了。这件多少钱？Salesperson: It’s one hundred and fifty dollars.
这件是 150 美元。Customer: Oh, that’s a bit pricy. Can you give me a better deal?
噢，有点小贵。能便宜点吗？Salesperson: Well, I can offer it to you for one hundred and twenty dollars.
嗯，我可以按 120 美元卖给您。Customer: That’s still more than I wanted to spend. I think I’ll shop around.
这还是比我的预期高了点。我想我还是去别的店逛逛看看吧。Salesperson: Okay, okay! How about one hundred dollars? That’s my last offer.
别别，好吧！100 美元怎么样？这可是我的底价了。Customer: Deal!
成交！
Marco: So, we’ve covered the language in this dialogue, now let’s take a look at some of the phrases in “putting it together”.
Erica: So, Marco, in this dialogue there’s a lot of really useful phrases, um, to help you get a better price when you shop, right?
Marco: Exactly.
Erica: So, the first one we have is “can you give me a better deal?”
Marco: Can you give me a better deal?
Erica: Can you give me a better deal?
Marco: So, if I’m shopping and something is too expensive…
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: I would use this sentence with the shopkeeper.
Erica: Yeah, so you might say, um, "hey, this is out of my price range, could you give me a better deal?"
Marco: Can you give me a better deal?
Erica: Yep.
Marco: Okay, we have some examples of “can you give me a better deal”, let’s listen.
Example 1: I really like this shirt, but it’s too expensive. Can you give me a better deal?
我很喜欢这件衬衫，但太贵了。能便宜点吗？Example 2: Can you give me a better price on this car? I really don’t have that much money.
这辆车能再给个底价吗？我真的没有那么多预算。
Erica: So, you can see here that you can say "can you give me a better deal" or "can you give me a better price".
Marco: Alright, let’s take a look at our next phrase - that’s still more than I wanted to spend.
Erica: That’s still more than I wanted to spend.
Marco: That’s still more than I wanted to spend.
Erica: So, if the seller suggests a really high price you can say…
Marco: That’s still more than I wanted to spend. So basically you’re telling the shopkeeper…
Erica: Still too expensive.
Marco: It’s still too expensive.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: You still don’t want to spend that much.
Erica: Uh-huh.
Marco: Alright, let’s take a look at our last phrase.
Erica: That’s my last offer.
Marco: That’s my last offer.
Erica: That’s my last offer.
Marco: Now, this could work both ways. It could be the shopkeeper that’s telling you that.
Erica: That’s my lowest price.
Marco: Right. Or you could say that’s my last offer.
Erica: That’s my highest price, if you are buying it.
Marco: Right, because sometimes when you’re bargaining the shopkeeper will say "alright, what’s your best offer, how much will you pay?"
Erica: "Hundred dollars, that’s my final offer".
Marco: Exactly.
Erica: Uh-huh.
Marco: Alright, so, we’ve looked at a lot of great phrases and words and now you’re ready to bargain and also listen to this dialogue for the third time and then we’ll come back and talk some more.
Salesperson: Hello, ma'am. Can I help you find anything?
您好，女士。有什么我可以帮您的吗？Customer: Yes, I really like this dress, but it’s a bit out of my price range. How much is it?
有的，我很喜欢这件连衣裙，但有点超出我的预算了。这件多少钱？Salesperson: It’s one hundred and fifty dollars.
这件是 150 美元。Customer: Oh, that’s a bit pricy. Can you give me a better deal?
噢，有点小贵。能便宜点吗？Salesperson: Well, I can offer it to you for one hundred and twenty dollars.
嗯，我可以按 120 美元卖给您。Customer: That’s still more than I wanted to spend. I think I’ll shop around.
这还是比我的预期高了点。我想我还是去别的店逛逛看看吧。Salesperson: Okay, okay! How about one hundred dollars? That’s my last offer.
别别，好吧！100 美元怎么样？这可是我的底价了。Customer: Deal!
成交！
Marco: Alright, so I know that in Canada it’s not really common to bargain, right?
Erica: No, it… it really isn’t like even when you go to the market to buy fruits and vegetables, uh, it’s very very rare to bargain with the shopkeeper.
Marco: Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Erica: How about in Ecuador?
Marco: No, in Ecuador you definitely bargain.
Erica: Really?
Marco: Well, if you go to the mall, for example…
Erica: Yep.
Marco: Or if you go to a supermarket, of course you wouldn’t really bargain.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Unless maybe you go to a small store or you go to one of the local markets.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Then it’s more common to bargain.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: And you have to, because people expect you to bargain.
Erica: Really?
Marco: Yeah, yeah, in many countries in the world bargaining is almost like an art.
Erica: Yeah, that’s true. Actually, Marco, you are an excellent bargainer, aren’t you?
Marco: Hehe. Yeah, I’ve… I’ve been known to bargain with the shopkeepers in… ah… I’ve been known to bargain a little bit with… with the shopkeepers and helping out.
Erica: A little bit? I mean you’ve got better prices than I can even imagine getting.
Marco: Hehe. Yeah, that’s… that’s a good story maybe we’ll get JP to… to go to our comments section and tell you about that, ah…
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: So, we want to know about your countries. Is it common to bargain? Do you really do it? Is it okay? Or when is it okay?
Erica: Yes, tell us. Visit our website at englishpod.com, tell us about, um, your country’s bargaining customs and, um, also leave your questions there for us.
Marco: Exactly, we’ll be there to answer them, but until then we gotta go, so… Bye!
Erica: Good bye!
