目 录 上一节 下一节 
美国人大兴在汽车库里甩卖旧货之风 Not long ago, Charles Erickson and his family decided to do some spring housecleaning. Sorting through their possessions, they came up with some 1,500 old, unwanted items - all sorts of things they wanted to get rid of. The Ericksons decided to do what a lot of other Americans are doing these days - have a "garage sale." They posted homemade signs throughout the neighborhood, ran an advertisement in the local newspaper, then set out the unwanted objects on the front yard of their home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and waited to see if any one would come. The Ericksons needn't have worried. Eager buyers bought all but 50 of the items in one weekend, leaving the family $442 richer.. 不久前，查理士艾里克逊及其家人决定搞一次春季家庭用品的大清理。他们把自己家的东西都彻底分类整理了一下，结果挑出来大约有1500件不想再要的东西--他们想处理掉的各种各样的东西。艾里克逊一家决定做近来很多其他家庭所正在做的事情--来一次"车库里大甩卖。"他们在自己家附近的地区内张贴了一些自制的海报，在当地的报纸上还登了广告，然后就把自己家不想再要了的那些物件摆在了他们自己住在密歇根州布卢姆菲尔德岗市的家门前的小院子里，最后就等着看是否会有人来买了。艾里克逊一家用不着担心，那些急于要来买东西的人在一个周末就把全部东西几乎买走了，除了剩下50件东西外，结果这些买主给这家人留下了442美元的货款，使这家人又增添了点儿收入。 Garage sale, yard sale, basement sale - whatever they're called and wherever they're held, Americans are having them in ever-in-creasing numbers. 汽车库里大甩卖也好，家门口大甩卖也好，地下室大甩卖也好--不管叫什么名堂，也不管在哪举办，总之，美国人举办这类活动的次数是越来越多了。 The variety of things put up for sale is really wonderful - dishes, books, used clothing, tools, tires, empty bottles, bicycles, furniture. A man in Atlanta, Georgia, even sold a full-size replica of a 1931 Ford. 摆出来卖的东西的花式品种可真是多极了--有碟子、书籍、用过的穿戴用品、工具、轮胎、空瓶子、自行车、家具。一个乔治亚州的亚特亚大市的人甚至还卖掉了一整套的1931年产的福特牌汽车的复制品。 "You wouldn't believe the stuff people will buy," says Mrs. Jerry McNeely of Houston, Texas, who has held two garage sales with friends. "On the other hand, you wouldn't believe some of the things people will put out to sell." 德克萨斯州休斯敦市的杰丽o麦克尼利太太跟她的朋友们已经举办过两次这种汽车库甩卖会了。她说："你不会相信人们会来买，反过来，你更不会相信人们会把一些东西摆出来卖。" 
为什么一些美国人会在别人要处理掉的东西中间搜索着买东西呢？ Rising living costs are considered by almost everyone as a reason both for holding sales and for attending them. The seller makes a little extra money and the buyer saves quite a lot, since garage-sale items usually are priced at a very small part of their original cost. 几乎每一个都认为，种种生活费用都在不断地上涨，这就是举办汽车库里甩卖的卖家，和前往车库甩卖现场的买家，双方能成交的原因。卖家额外地回收一点钱而买家却节省下了很多钱。因为给车库里甩卖的物件所订的价钱仅占原来买进时的价格的很小一部分。 But beyond that, they're fun. Garage sales have become suburban social events, drawing people of all ages. Neighbors enjoy meeting new people, and some families even serve drinks and cakes. One psychologist suggests that people are fed up with the computerization of their lives -they may be searching for their roots. Many of the youger buyers say they are turned off by the poor quality of modern goods and are looking for remnants of a stronger and firmer era, when things were built to last. 不仅仅是价钱问题，大家都很开心。由于在汽车库里卖货能吸引来男女老少，所以一次次地在汽车库里卖货就变成了郊区的社交活动。邻居们都喜欢结交新搬来的人，所以有些人家甚至还用饮料和蛋糕来招待他们。一位心理学家说，依我看，人们已经厌烦了他们的电脑程式化的生活--人们是在寻根。许多年青的买主说，他们不喜欢现代产的质量差的产品，他们是在建筑过去把物件都制造得比较结实比较坚固的好个时代所流传下来的物件。那个年代，东西都造得经久耐用。 Some people have made garage-sale shopping into a hobby; they spend their weekends going from sale to sale, hoping to run across a real treasure. Says one long-time weekend bargain hunter, "In the back of your mind you have the hope of finding some fabulous painting stored away somewhere or something else of great value for a bargain price." 有些人把到汽车库甩卖场去寻宝购物变成了一种业务爱好；他们把一个又一个的周末都花费在一个甩卖场跑到另一个甩卖场的跑场上去了。总希望能偶尔碰到一件真正的值钱货。有位长期在周末到甩卖场去讨便宜的猎奇的人说："在你思想深处，总希望能发现藏在某个角落里一幅使人难以置信的名画，或其他非常值钱的东西，用买废品的价格就把它买下来了。" Diana McLellan, a reporter for the Washington Star-News, wrote, "The garage sale is like the quality of mercy - it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. It separates clothes, toys, pots, cups, forks and knives from their reluctant owners and places them in loving new homes." 《华盛顿之星新闻报》记者，黛安娜o麦克莱兰写道："这种在汽车库甩卖的作法带有扶贫济困的性质--这既能给施舍者带来福音。也能给取走东西的人降临了主的恩惠。这种义举能使那些服装、玩具、锅碗瓢盆、杯、刀叉离开不愿意再要它们了的主人，并把它们安置在一个新的热爱它们的家庭当中"。 
这种汽车库大甩卖的热情能持续多久？最近一位卖主说："站起来有朝一日那些买主肯定也会面临我们所有过的同样的问题--把这些东西处理掉。" American stores 美国各种类型的商店 In the United States you will find yourself being urged from every page of every newspaper and on practically every television station to buy all kinds of goods that you are actually quite happy without. 在美国，你不知不觉地发现，月份报纸的每一页，特别是每个电视台的广告都在敦促你去购买各种各样的商品。其实，如果你不买这些商品的话，也许你会更快活。 Not only is there a wide range of prices for goods in America, there is also a wide range in the quality of goods offered for sale. Unlike some countries, Americans generally pay the price of a product without question, instead of trying to get a lower price by bargaining. However, there are many "sales" in the United States, during which time stores will lower their normal prices. This may all be very confusing to the visitor. Which is the best product to buy out of hundreds to choose from? How are you going to know how to "get your money's worth" when you shop? Perhaps the best advice is: Don't hurry. Visit various stories and determine the quality of goods. Examine them carefully. Read the advertisements so that you can compare prices. Explore and examine before you buy. 在美国，不但所出售的商品的价格大不相同，连商品的质量也是完全不一样。不像在其他一些国家，美国人一般按产品的价格付款时都不争讲价钱，不是通过讨价还价来企图以较低的价格来买到产品。不过，在美国也有很多"促销"活动，在促销期间各类商店都会把他们的正常价格降下来。这使得访客们感到大惑不解，在数百个选择机会当中，哪一种产品才是最好的呢？每当你去商店购物时，你怎样才能知道你的钱花得物有所值呢？也许最好的忠告就是：别着急，多跑几层楼查看一下商品的质量，仔细检验一下商品，看看各种广告以便你可以比较一下价格。在你还没买之前先考察一番，检验一下商品质量。 There is a great variety of shops in the United States, ranging from very large stores called "department stores," offering clothing, furniture, household goods as well as many other goods, to very small shops that specialize in just one kind of product. There are "discount houses" offering goods at low prices, and "dime stores" specializing in a wide range of inexpensive items. 在美国，有好多不同类型的商店：从供应衣着用品、家具、日杂用品以及被称为"百货公司"的大型商店，直到专营某种产品的一些很小的商店。还有以低价供货的"特价商品屋"和专营各种下大值钱的东西"十美分商店"。 
在一些大城市，大多数百货公司经营的产品一般说来质量较好，但价格平均也比较高。尽管价格较高，因为百货公司里有很多很多的不同的产品，这就给逛商店的人提供了很大的方便。 If convenience isn't important to you as price, you many want to shop in some of the discount houses. These stores have nearly as great a variety of goods as department stores, but offer lower prices. They can do so for several reasons. They don't offer the same services to buyers that department stores do; there may be fewer sales people; and the store probably doesn't deliver purchases. 如果对你来说，这些方便不如价格重要，那你可以去一些特价商品屋去采购。这些商店所拥有的商品几乎跟大百货公司一样地品种繁多，可是价格去比较低。特价商品屋之所以能这样做，有下列几种原因：他们不能像大百货公司提供给买主的那些服务项目；特价商品屋的销售人手比较小，所以这种商店可能不会送货上门。 There are many small shops in America, as there are everywhere, that offer a more limited quantity of products. Usually run by a small number of salespeople, these shops offer products that range from inexpensive to very expensive, depending on the shop. You are likely to receive more attention from the sales-people in small shops than in department stores. 在美国，正像世界各地一样，有很多小店铺，这些小店铺供应的商品品种就更有限了。通常只有少数几个人在经营这个店铺，这些铺子经营的产品有不贵的也有很贵的，这要看该铺子的情况了。在这些小铺子里比大百货公司里你可能会得到售货员的更加细心的照料。 Another popular shop is the "dime store," sometimes referred to as the "five and ten." No longer selling many things for five or ten cents, these stores got their name in the last century when it was decided that a small profit on a great quantity of goods would be better than a large profit on fewer sales. Dime stores specialize in a wide variety of inexpensive items and today, prices range from a quarter or 50 cents up to several dollars. If you need a small item and don't want to spend very much, the dime store is likely to have just what you are looking for. 另一种很受欢迎的商店就是"10美分店"，有时也称为"5分10分店。"这些商店的名字是上个世纪起的，那时簿利多销总比厚利少销要好，这是很清楚的。10美分店专门经营种类繁多的便宜货，今天的价格是25美分或50美分，直到几美元的东西都有。如果你想买一件小东西，但又不想多花钱，那么10美分店里很可能就会有正是你所要撒谎的那件东西。 The United States is also known for its "supermarkets," where huge quantities of all kinds of food and household articles are sold. These stores offer good quality food at lower prices than smaller food stores. 美国以其"超级市场"而称著于世，超市里出售大量的花色品种繁多的食品和日用品。超市所供应的食品与较小的食品店比较起来质量好，价格低。 
绝大多数的美国人都在超级市场里采购食品。冷冻食品部是人们最有兴趣去的部门之一。冷藏食品的各种方法问世以来，几乎各种食品都可以冷冻并且能保存原滋原味。因为冷冻食品所需要的烹制时间很短，所以在美国冷冻仪器自然就成了到处都受欢迎的食品了。
| 
