Nancy 是刚步入职场的社会新鲜人,工作一年后,她却发现自己的银行户头没有存到多少钱,所以她决定去银行咨询理财相关的业务…
Nancy: Hi, I have an appointment with one of your financial consultants, Mr. Chen.
Nancy: 妳好,我今天有跟陈先生预约理财咨询。
Clerk: Okay, please wait here a minute.
柜台: 好的,请稍等。
(After a few minutes)
(几分钟过后)
Counter: Hi, Miss Huang. Mr. Chen is ready to see you.
柜台: 黄小姐,里面请。
Mr. Chen: Hi Nancy, how can I help you today?
陈先生: 嗨 Nancy,有什么我可以帮忙的地方吗?
Nancy: I’m looking for some advice on saving money. I don’t want to live from paycheck to paycheck anymore.
Nancy: 我想要跟你咨询关于储蓄因为我不想要再当月光族了。
Mr. Chen: Don’t worry. I will do my best to help you. So, first, I would like to know how much you want to save and over what period of time you hope to build up that amount.
陈先生: 别担心,我会尽力帮你。首先,我想要先了解一下你有没有储蓄的目标,以及你想要在多久之内存到这笔钱。
Nancy: Well, I don’t have a specific goal yet. I guess I just want to save as much as I can for rainy day.
Nancy: 目前我没有明确的目标,我只是想要尽可能存多一点钱当应急基金。
Mr. Chen: I see. Please hold on for a second. Let me get some information for you.
陈先生: 了解,请稍等一下,让我为你准备资料。
live from paycheck to paycheck (phr.) 当月光族
你是月光族吗? Do you live from paycheck to paycheck? ,其中 paycheck 的意思是「工资单;薪水条」,过着期盼下一张工资单来的日子,也就是所谓的月光族。
My brother lives from paycheck to paycheck. I worry about what he will do if he gets an unexpected bill.
我哥哥是个月光族。我很担心他万一帐单爆掉怎办。
build up (phr.) 存 (钱)
存钱除了用我们最常听到的 save money 之外,还有什么其他说法吗?有!那就是 build up one’s savings。 build up 的意思是「建立」,后面若加上 savings,就变成「累积存款」的意思喔!
I want to build up my savings over the next five years so I can buy a house.
我想要在未来五年里累积存款这样才能买房。
save for rainy day (phr.) 存应急基金
「为下雨天而存钱」是什么意思呢?在这边的 rainy day 指的是「穷困潦苦的日子」,因此 save for rainy day 就是未雨绸缪、存应急基金的意思。
It’s important to save for rainy day because you never know what will happen in the future.
准备应急基金是很重要的因为你永远不知道未来会发生什么事。
过几分钟后,陈先生拿了一些资料过来…
Mr. Chen: Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve prepared some options for you to have a look at.
陈先生: 不好意思让你久等了,我已经准备好一些建议选项给您。
Nancy: Excellent.
Nancy: 太棒了。
Mr. Chen: My first recommendation would be a fixed deposit. The bank usually offers a higher interest rate with this compared to a regular savings account.
陈先生: 我第一个建议是定存帐户,跟一般帐户比起来,银行通常都会给定存帐户的投资人更高一点的利率。
Nancy: Interesting. What other options do I have?
Nancy: 听起来蛮有趣的,我还有什么选择呢?
Mr. Chen: My other recommendation would be to put some money in an index fund.
陈先生: 我另一个建议是指数型基金。
Nancy: I see. What are the main differences between these two?
Nancy: 那么,两者有何差别呢?
Mr. Chen: A fixed deposit is just that. It is an account where you park a fixed amount of your savings while accruing interest. An index fund is a portfolio of stocks that normally offer very stable returns. It’s great for those who want to make a relatively low-risk investment in the stock market.
陈先生: 定存就是那样。它是一个可以让你存入同样金额同时又能赚利息的帐户。指数型基金则是一个定期回本的证券组合。很适合想要投入低风险股票市场的人。
Nancy: That sounds great! Thank you.
Nancy: 太棒了!谢谢你。
fixed deposit (n.) 定存帐户
银行帐户有分两种,一个是定存帐户,另一个是活存帐户,你们知道它们的英文分别要怎么说吗? 「定存帐户」是 fixed deposit 或是 time deposit,fixed 在这边意思是「固定的」,而 deposit 就是「存钱」的意思;那么「活存帐户」则称为 current deposit 或是 demand deposit。如果今天你要去银行存钱,可以用 make a deposit of + 金额 + into one’s account 这个说法,举例如下:
A fixed deposit is a good way of saving money.
定存帐户是存钱的好方法。
I would like to make a deposit of 1,000 USD into my current account.
我想要在我的活存帐户存美金一千元。
interest rate (n.) 利率
把钱放在银行存起来的好处就是利息啦! 「利息」的英文是 interest,它除了可以表示「兴趣」之外,也可以当「利息」的意思;另外,「利率」的英文则是 interest rate,rate 是名词,「率,比率」之意。
What is the bank’s current interest rate?
现在银行的利率是多少?
index fund (n.) 指数型基金
指数型基金是一种消极管理投资型基金的方式,其英文中的 index 则表示「指数」,而 fund 动名词同形,当动词是表示「资助」,当名词时则有「基金;资金」的意思。
Index funds often perform better than hedge funds.
指数型基金通常会比避险基金表现来得好。