咕咕愛囉唆

送禮學問大! HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU SPEND

「禮輕意重」就是王道 You don't have to spend a lot to give a thoughtful gift

邁克和潘潘已經結婚八年了，兩人正在討論購買禮物的事情。

他們還剩下幾個聖誕禮物得選購；也需要替一些即將過生日的親朋好友添購禮品。

邁克想定好精確嚴謹的預算然後執行，而潘潘則沒那麼確定。

潘潘：我在諾德斯特龍百貨看到一件漂亮的毛衣，非常適合貝芙。

邁克：諾德斯特龍很貴的；多少錢呢？

潘潘：只要九十美元。

邁克：太貴了，我們已經花太多錢買禮物了。

潘潘：我知道，但這是聖誕節耶。

邁克：我可不想下個月收到超大金額的信用卡帳單。

潘潘：嗯，我也不想啊；可是我知道貝芙一定會喜歡那件毛衣的。

邁克：妳不能在別的地方找到一樣好的東西嗎？ 我們還有一些禮物得買喔。

潘潘：是啊，我們還沒替你哥哥一家準備任何禮物呢，不過我是有一些點子。另外，我們需要送佩妮、戴安和鮑伯禮物；下個月我們也得替我家人準備三份額外的生日禮物。

邁克：我們就要破產了！我們幾個月前談到要做的那個預算計畫怎麼沒下文了？

潘潘：今年要做好像有點來不及了。

You don't have to spend a lot to give a thoughtful gift Mike and Pam, who have been married for eight years, are discussing buying presents.

They still have a few remaining gifts to buy for Christmas. They also have to buy gifts for some friends and family members with birthdays soon.

Mike wants to make and stick to a strict budget, while Pam isn't so sure.

Pam: I found a beautiful sweater for Bev at Nordstrom that will be perfect for her.

Mike: Nordstrom is expensive. How much?

Pam:  It's only US$90.00.

Mike: That's a lot, and we've already spent tons of money on gifts.

Pam: I know, but it's Christmas.

Mike: I don't want to end up with a particularly huge credit card bill next month.

Pam:  Well, me neither, but I know she'd love the sweater.

Mike: Can't you find something equally nice somewhere else?  We still have a few more gifts to get.

Pam:  Yeah, we haven't gotten anything for your brother's family, but I have some ideas. And we need gifts for Penny and Diane and Bob. And we'll need three additional gifts for the birthdays in my family next month.

Mike:  We are going to go broke! What happened to that budget we talked about making a few months ago anyway?

Pam: It's a little late this year to do that.

stick to （ph v.）堅持；不放棄

The boss needs to stick to his decision about letting Art go, otherwise, the company is just throwing money away.

In our house I stick to eating while my wife does the cooking.

Even though he was sent to jail, Ben stuck to his story about being innocent. 堅持自己是無辜的

tons of 很多的；大量的

Tons of  people attended the art fair this past October. 藝術博覽會

Cooper has tons of  things he needs to finish up before his trip tomorrow.

We have tons of  food, so please stay for dinner.

it’s the thought that counts 禮輕情意重 

But the fact is someone spent time and effort and money to go out and do something for you. And so you could say, "Hey, you know, don't complain. It's the thought that counts."

thoughtful vs. considerate

strict vs. flexible vs. tight budget

Whereas if you have a tight budget, that usually implies that you have less money, so you really need to stick to your budget.

ugly Christmas sweater （tradition）

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. 注意送禮物但不懷好意的人【小心送禮物的希臘人】

equally （adv.）相等地；同樣地

Even though Preston and Elliot were equally qualified for the job, Preston was hired because he had a more pleasant personality. 性格比較開朗

Everything that was left in the house by their parents was divided equally between the two brothers.兩兄弟平分

Bernice likes to shop in that store because everyone is treated equally by the staff. 一視同仁

additional （adj.）附加的；額外的

What additional costs should we expect on our trip that weren’t covered in the initial fee? 額外的花費

When you fly, you get one free carry-on and are charged for any additional bags.

The guest speaker from Princeton was asked to provide some additional information about his university. 補充資料

to end up with ＋ （n.）

What happened to＋（n.）？

When you fly, you get one free carry-on and are charged for any additional bags.