2016年ESL之商务英语 03 Price Gouging

ESL Podcast 1180 – Price Gouging¹ 

Pedro: Why are you changing the prices on all of those items in the store? 

Elisa: Haven’t you heard? There’s a hurricane coming. People will be stocking up on basic necessities. 

Pedro: I know that, but that still doesn’t explain why you’ve decided² to jack³ up prices. 

Elisa: There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of a spike⁴ in demand during emergency situations. We’re in business to make money. 

Pedro: That’s price gouging and you know it. There are laws against that. And plus, we shouldn’t be exploiting people’s fear. 

Elisa: I’m not responsible for that hurricane and I didn’t tell people to hoard⁵. I’m not hiking prices so high that people can’t afford it. I’m just increasing them to discourage hoarding⁶, that’s all. 

Pedro: I don’t know. It still doesn’t feel right. It feels like we’re profiteering. 

Elisa: No, we’re not. We’re making a sound business decision. Hey, where are you going with those? 

Pedro: I’m putting some of these items in the back to reserve for people who can’t afford your new prices, the poorest and the most vulnerable in our community. 

Elisa: You’re not suggesting we give those items away! 

Pedro: You’ll thank me later for helping⁷ you to assuage⁸ your guilty conscience. 

Elisa: Hmph! 

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse 

1 gouging   

n.刨削[槽]v.凿( gouge的现在分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出…

参考例句：

• Banks and credit-card companies have been accused of gouging their customers. 银行和信用卡公司被指控欺诈顾客。 来自辞典例句
• If back-gouging is applied, grinding to bright metal is required. 如果采用火焰气刨，则应将其打磨至可见光亮的金属表面。 来自互联网

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

5 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

6 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 assuage   

v.缓和，减轻，镇定

参考例句：

• The medicine is used to assuage pain.这种药用来止痛。
• Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.你带来的这些振奋人心的消息一定能减轻她的痛苦。