细说英语粗话:21. Cheapskate

21. Cheapskate

 Cheapskate 小气鬼，吝啬的

Cheapskate 此字可当名词及形容词。当名词时是“吝啬者”、“小气鬼”之意，其同义字有 skinflint，tightwad，penny pincher等；当形容词时，形容behavior,friend，logic，energy等名词，是“吝啬的”之意。语气虽并不粗俗，但仍为损人字眼，正式社交场所劝宜少用，仕人淑女尤然。

Cheapskate 当名词用时——表示“不齿”

A. Old Wang had been out of work for some time. Then he looked me up，and I helped him find1 a job.

老王有一段日子失业，后来他找我，我就帮他找到了一份工作。

B. That was nice of you. He was probably very grateful.

你这么做很够朋友!他很感激吧!

A. If so，he didn’t show it. He gave me two tins of Maofeng tea. That’s all.

如果是这样，我看不出来。他只送了我两罐毛峰茶而已!

B. Hmmph2! What a cheapskate!

哼!小气鬼一个!

注：

1. help him find help+宾语+宾语补足语。在help后当宾语补足语的不定式(infinitive)须省去“to”。

2. Hmmph! 美国人表示反对、不同意、不接受或不齿时，所发出的鼻音。

Cheapskate 用表“自贬”

A. I’ll have to admit，when it comes to beggars who smoke and drink，I’m a cheapskate.

对于抽烟喝酒的乞丐，我承认我很吝啬。

B. There’re too many beggars around. You have to be prudent.

四处乞丐太多了，要慎重地施舍才是。

A. The champion cheapskates? The people of Rhode Island，who managed1 a puny ＄1,5462 in average donations to good works.

(Denver Rocky Mountain News，12／14／97)

小气鬼冠军是罗德岛州民。他们［一年］每人平均慈善捐款额仅区区＄1,546美元而已。

注：

1. managed 此处借“管理”作“用心达成”解，puny是“微不足道的”。

2. ＄1,546 此金额是美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)根据1995年个人所得报税单上分项列举(itemized)的慈捐扣除额(charitable de-duction)平均而得的。

Cheapskate 当形容词用时——表示“吝啬的”

A. Recently, our editors conducted an infomal，absolutely unscientific study of cheapskate behavior. Respondents cited coupon-clipping，magazine-reading on checkout lines，and large-scale theft of hotel soap as typical pastimes. But overall， the greatest cheapskate energy was spent on purchasing or not purchasing certain everyday low-budget items.

(Good Housekeeping杂志，4／1／98)

最近本刊编辑对吝啬行为做了个既非正式又绝无科学根据的调查，答卷者所列举的一般爱好是剪下打折券，购物排队付账时翻阅［出售的］杂志，以及大规模偷窃旅馆的香皂。总的来说，吝啬的精力最多用在购买与不购买皆可的廉价日用品上。

A. According to cheapskate logic，sometimes saving more means spending more. “I spend money on cosmetics that I’ll never need，just to get the ‘free’ promotional gift，” wrote one respondent.

(Good Housekeeping，4／1／98)

根据吝啬的逻辑，有的时候节省意味多花。一个［问卷调查］的答卷者写道：“只为了贪图那个‘免费赠品’，我花钱购买了永不会用到的化妆品。”