英语听力精选进阶版 6662

Yang Li: Welcome to Authentic¹ Real English 地道英语，我是杨莉，大家好。

Diarmuid: And I'm Diarmuid.

Yang Li: 今天的地道英语词语是一个数字。

Diarmuid: Yes, in English we can use one letter to represent a very big number.

Yang Li: And the letter is...

Diarmuid: K.

Yang Li: K. 你能猜出这个字母表示多少数字吗？

Diarmuid: These words, which start with the letter k, will give you a clue: kilogram.

Yang Li: 一千克。

Diarmuid: Kilowatt².

Yang Li: 一千瓦。

Diarmuid: Kilobyte.

Yang Li: 一千兆。一千兆... ah, I think we get the picture Derm. 所有这些词都含有一个共同的前缀，既表示一千这个数字概念的 kilo, 对不对?

Diarmuid: That's right, kilo means thousand when used as a prefix³. When used at the end of a number, the letter k can be used to mean thousand as well. Like this.

Example

A: Did you hear about Richard? Apparently⁴ he’s got a new job.

B: Yes. I heard he was on 50k.

Yang Li: 千字经常可以缩短为 k, 50k, 50,000.

Diarmuid: Yes, it's often used when talking about amounts of money, especially salaries.

Example

A: So, are you going to apply for that new job?

B: I would, but I really can't accept anything under 20k.

Yang Li: So Derm, what salary are you on. 30k, 40k or 100k?

Diarmuid: Ha ha, I'm afraid I can't tell you that Li!

Yang Li: Yes, British people do tend to be less open about their salaries than the Chinese! 我始终不太明白为什么英国人对谈论工资总是讳莫如深?

Diarmuid: That sounds like a question for Ask About Britain, not Authentic Real English!

Yang Li: Bye.

Diarmuid: Bye.

1 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

2 kilowatt   

n.千瓦

参考例句：

• They pay thirty fen per kilowatt hour.他们每度电付三角钱。
• The watt is a small unit of power so that we use the kilowatt instead.瓦特是小功率的单位，因此我们用千瓦代之。

3 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。