Yang Li:     大家好，欢迎收听本期的《你问我答》节目，我是杨莉，和我今天共同主持这期节目的是 Diarmuid. Hi Derm.     

Take your pick, but don't drink too much

 
Diarmuid:    Hi Li. I guess you’ve got another vocabulary question today?
 
Yang Li:  Well yes and no. It’s to do with both language and culture. Here is the
question from Anna.  
 
Insert
 
Off license 是酒的意思吗？有一次和朋友聚会，一个朋友对大家说：Does anyone would like some off licence? 我没听懂这句话的意思。Can you explain the meaning of off-licence?
 
Yang Li:  The question is half in Chinese and half in English. The first part of her question is whether it means alcohol, secondly she would like to have some explanation for the phrase off licence. Derm, what’s your answer?    
 
Insert  
 
Off licence doesn’t mean alcohol.   An off-licence is a shop that sells  alcohol. The meaning of the phrase off-licence is that you buy the alcohol there but you don’t drink it there. You buy the alcohol and you take it away.  
 
Yang Li:    大家明白了吗？Off-licence 是卖酒执照的意思，指那些只出售酒水但不准顾客就地引用的外卖酒水商店。请大家注意这个词的拼写。Derm, what’s the correct spelling of the phrase?
 
Derm:       Spellling is very simple, two words off o-f-f, licence, l-i-c-e-n-c-e.
 
Yang Li:  What is the opposite of off licence?
 
Diarmuid:    I suppose the opposite of an off licence is a pub- public house so that’s a place you can buy alcohol and drink it there.
 
Yang Li:  Any other places where people can also go for a drink?
 
Diarmuid:    Obviously you can have a drink in a restaurant or if you go to the theatre there is usually a bar there and in fact even a lot of cinemas now will sell alcohol so you can have a drink while you’re enjoying the film.
 
Yang Li:  Licence 这个词的意思是执照，不过加上 off 就容易让人误会了。那么怎么来理解呢？ off 就是离开商店的意思，换句话说就是外卖的意思。而相对于外卖店的就是餐馆和各种酒吧，restaurants, pubs and bars are all licensed premises 有饮酒执照的营业地点.
 
Diarmuid:  A licensed premises means it’s a place you can buy alcohol and drink it
there.  
 
Yang Li:  So where would you normally go if you want to have a drink?
 
Diarmuid:  Normally I will just go to my local pub. In fact that’s a phrase we use in English the nearest pub to your house where you go for a drink is your local so I would just go to my local.  
 
Yang Li:    In English people tend to call their local pub their local. Diarmuid likes to go to his local. However our editor Alison has a different preference. She said that she is not a pub person. Listen and find out Why Alison is not a pub person.
 
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One of the reasons I am not a pub person is because mainly the drink they are selling is lager and beer and I don’t drink it. I am wine drinker and in some pubs you get a good  choice of wines but some pubs the wine choice is very limited. So I tend to like to go to  bars for drinks.  
 
Yang Li:           Now we know why Alison is not a pub person. 主要是因为pub 以出售啤酒为主larger and beer，葡萄酒的选择种类不多。而 Alison 偏偏是喝葡萄酒的人 a wine drinker. 不过除此之外 pubs 和 bars还有什么区别呢？What other differences there are between pubs and wine bars? Alison again.
 
Insert
 
The disadvantages they do tend to be a little more expensive than pubs and you probably get a different type of clientele there, so you’re likely to get more office workers and professionals whereas in pubs you get more of a mix of people. and the decos are very different in bars to pubs. It tends to be a lot more temporary, a lot more modern inside and quite trendy I think on the whole and you will find people are well-dressed.  
 
Diarmuid:  Alison has made some interesting comparisons.
 
Yang Li:  她说，和 pubs 相比 bars tend to be more expensive. 价格稍稍高一些。 
 
Diarmuid: A different clientele.
 
Yang Li:  顾客不同。 此处 Alison 用了一个法语词 clientele, 去bars 喝酒的人多数是白领和专业人士。 
 
Diarmuid: Office workers and professionals.  
 
Yang Li:  这些人往往穿戴讲究。
 
Diarmuid: Well dressed. 
 
Yang Li:  第三点不同就是室内装饰不同。The decors are very different. Bars 往往比较现代时髦。Let’s listen to this part again.
 
Insert
 
The disadvantages they do tend to be a little more expensive than pubs and you probably get a different type of clientele there, so you’re likely to get more office workers and professionals whereas in pubs you get more of a mix of people. and the decos are very different in bars to pubs. It tends to be a lot more temporary, a lot more modern inside and quite trendy I think on the whole and you will find people are well-dressed.  
 
Yang Li:  So up to this point we have clarified the meaning of off licence and a licensed premises.  
 
Diarmuid:  Oh by the way I nearly forgot to remind our listeners of the different spellings, as a noun it is spelt with a c, l-i-c-e-n-c-e, but as a verb it is spelt with an s, l-i-c-e-n-s-e. Two words sound the same.
 
Yang Li:  这两个词的拼写的不同。OK Diarmuid that’s very good. I just thought that maybe it would be helpful to our listeners to learn a few other phrases involving the word licence. What do you think?
 
Diarmuid:  Good idea. Now Li have you got a driving licence?
 
Yang Li:  Of course I do. A driving licence 驾照。I have a clean driving licence too.  
 
Diarmuid:  When you do business you have to have a business licence.
 
Yang Li:  营业执照 a business licence.  
 
Diarmuid:  Finally a firearms licence.  
 
Yang Li:  持枪执照。I think that brings us to the end of this programme. Thanks to Anna for her questions.
 
Diarmuid:  Well if you like some help from us with your question just send them over to chinaelt@bbc.co.uk We hope to see more questions.
 
Yang Li:  That’s right. Till next time, bye bye.
 
Diarmuid: Bye。  

The phrase off-licence does not mean alcohol but it is related to alcohol.

How?

Well in the UK there are shops that can sell alcohol, but are not permitted to allow the consumption of alcohol.

So what are the places that people can go for a drink?

While restaurants, pubs and bars are all licensed premises there are some differences too.

Yang Li talks with Diarmuid and Alison about each of their favourite places to go out to with friends.

If you have a question you would like to ask our team, email us at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.

We might make a programme about your question.

Glossary 词汇

permitted 被准许的

consumption 消费

licensed premises 可以消费酒水的场所