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And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语《词汇掌故》节目。
See if you can guess the meaning of first dibs from the following exchange:
看看你能否从下面的对话中猜出“first dibs”的意思：
"Hi, I was calling about the house for rent, and I was wondering if it's still available."
“嗨，我打电话来是想问一下那间出租的房子是否还空着。”
"Yes, well, it is empty, at the moment—but I can't rent it out yet. My nephew is interested, and he's got first dibs on it, so I'm waiting to hear from him."
“是的，现在它是空着的——但我还不能把它租出去。我侄子很感兴趣，而且他有优先权，所以我在等他的消息。”
"Oh, OK—do you know how long it'll be until he decides?"
“哦，好吧——你知道他要多久才能做出决定吗？”
"Um, you know, it could be a month. I'm not really sure."
“嗯，可能是一个月。我不太确定。”
Here, the owner is giving his nephew a chance to rent the house before anyone else can.
在这里，房主给了他的侄子一个可以在其他人之前租到这套房子的机会。
Having first dibs on something means having the right to get something before anyone else.
“having first dibs on something”的意思是拥有先于别人获得某物的权利。
We can have first dibs on one thing or on one or more things from a collection of objects.
我们可以优先获得一件东西或者从一批对象中获得一件或多件东西。
For example, you can say: "She has first dibs on the World Cup tickets."
例如，你可以说：“她有世界杯门票的优先购买权。”
In both examples, note that we use the preposition on before a noun.
在这两个例子中，注意我们在名词前使用介词on。
American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster says the expression first dibs likely comes from a children's game called dibstones played in 17th-century Britain.
美国词典出版商韦氏词典表示，短语“first dibs”可能来自17世纪英国的一种儿童游戏，叫做dibstones。
Children would try to catch small objects like pebbles on the backs of their hands.
孩子们会试图抓住手背上的小物体，比如鹅卵石。
The objects were called dibstones or dibs.
这些物体叫做dibstones或dibs。
By the early 1900s, get first dibs was in common use in American English.
到20世纪初，“get first dibs”在美式英语中被普遍使用。
Here are the verbs we often use with the expression:
下面是我们经常用来搭配这个短语的动词：
You can have first dibs.
你拥有优先权。
You can get first dibs.
你获得优先权。
Someone can give you first dibs, or you can give first dibs to others.
有人可以给你优先权，你也可以给别人优先权。
And when you call first dibs, that means you claim possession even if nobody said you could choose first.
当你call first dibs时，意思是你声称拥有所有权，即使没有人说你可以优先选择。
If you call first dibs, you should only do so if you think other people probably do not want, or care about, the thing you are claiming.
如果你声称拥有所有权，你应该只在你认为其他人可能不想要或不关心你所声称的东西的情况下才这么做。
Otherwise, people might view you as selfish or not respectful of the rights of others, and that could create conflict.
否则，人们可能会认为你自私或不尊重他人的权利，这可能会造成冲突。
Can you think of something you'd like to have first dibs on?
你能想到什么东西是你想要优先获得的吗？
You can let us know in the comments section.
你可以在评论区告诉我们。
Until next time, I'm Andrew Smith.
下次见，我是安德鲁·史密斯。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
