新概念英语-你真的懂“the bottom line”

日期：2019-06-24 13:17 点击：

“bottom line”是什么意思？很多人看到的第一反应肯定是：“底线”！

 

如果你也这么想，那你多半用错了！

 

“bottom line”的常用意思有三种，原义是指财务账目表上最下面的一行或那一行上写的表示盈亏的数目，即“损益表底线”。由此引申而来的意思就是“the amount of money that is a profit or a loss after everything has been calculated”，也就是“最终赢利或亏损”。

 

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

别跟我说所有那些数字！告诉我最终盈亏就行了。

 

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

去年的赢利是税前利润85,000,000美元。

 

“bottom line”的第二个常用意思是“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；要点；关键之处”

 

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

重要的是我们必须今天作出决定。

 

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

关键问题是我们必须增加销售额，否则就得减工资。

 

另一个常用意思通常表达为：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“可接受的最低价格；最起码的条件”，此时可译为“底价”。

 

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

我做这个工作的底价是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：这辆车底价是多少？

B：最低750美元。

 

从以上例子中可以看出，我们通常所说的“底线”一般不适合用“bottom line”来表达。我们来看两个“底线”的例子：

 

不要挑战我的底线。

Don't challenge the limit of my patience.

 

她站在底线处发了最后一个球，赢得了比赛。

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

 

如果是指“最低条件”含义的“底线”，也可以用“bottom line”的第三义来表达。比如：

 

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

世界上只有一个中国，这是中国的底线。

 

最后我们来看一段对话，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.