新概念英語-你真的懂“the bottom line”

日期：2019-06-24 13:17 點擊：

“bottom line”是什么意思？很多人看到的第一反應肯定是：“底線”！

 

如果你也這么想，那你多半用錯了！

 

“bottom line”的常用意思有三種，原義是指財務賬目表上最下面的一行或那一行上寫的表示盈虧的數(shù)目，即“損益表底線”。由此引申而來的意思就是“the amount of money that is a profit or a loss after everything has been calculated”，也就是“最終贏利或虧損”。

 

Don't tell me all those figures! Just tell me the bottom line.

別跟我說所有那些數(shù)字！告訴我最終盈虧就行了。

 

The bottom line for last year was a pre-tax profit of $85 million.

去年的贏利是稅前利潤85,000,000美元。

 

“bottom line”的第二個常用意思是“the most important thing that you have to consider or accept; the most basic fact or issue in a situation”，也就是“最重要的事；要點；關鍵之處”

 

The bottom line is that we have to make a decision today.

重要的是我們必須今天作出決定。

 

The bottom line is that we have to increase our sales or take a cut in pay.

關鍵問題是我們必須增加銷售額，否則就得減工資。

 

另一個常用意思通常表達為：someone’s bottom line，指的是“the lowest price or the lowest acceptable amount of money regarded as acceptable in a business deal”，即“可接受的最低價格；最起碼的條件”，此時可譯為“底價”。

 

My bottom line on this job is $5000 - I can't do it for less.

我做這個工作的底價是5000美金。再低我就做不了了。

 

A: What's your bottom line for selling the car?

B: I can go down to $750.

A：這輛車底價是多少？

B：最低750美元。

 

從以上例子中可以看出，我們通常所說的“底線”一般不適合用“bottom line”來表達。我們來看兩個“底線”的例子：

 

不要挑戰(zhàn)我的底線。

Don't challenge the limit of my patience.

 

她站在底線處發(fā)了最后一個球，贏得了比賽。

She delivered a final serve from the baseline to win the match.

 

如果是指“最低條件”含義的“底線”，也可以用“bottom line”的第三義來表達。比如：

 

That there is but only one China in the world is China’s bottom line.

世界上只有一個中國，這是中國的底線。

 

最后我們來看一段對話，大家看看其中的“bottom”是什么意思呢？

The Bottom Line Is Quality

A: So you think our quality give us an edge over our competitors?

B: That's right.

A: What do you think about TG Co. next to our booth?

B: I must say I'm quite impressed by their approach to business.

A: I feel the same way. Their way of doing business is quite aggressive.

B: But I don't think they'll go very far if they don't improve the quality of their products.

A: So the bottom line is quality.