William: Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English. My name is William Kremer. 大家好，欢迎来到地道英语节目。我是威廉·克莱默。

Feifei: 50p... £2.50... £2.80... £3.20. 50便士……2.50英镑……2.8英镑……3.2英镑。

William: Er, Feifei? 呃，菲菲你在做什么？

Feifei: Not now! £4.20... £4.50... £6.50. 现在不是和你说话的时候！4.20英镑……4.5英镑……6.5英镑。

William: What do you mean "not now"? It's time for the programme, Feifei. Our listeners are waiting... 什么是现在不是时候？菲菲，现在是做节目的时候了。听众在等着我们呢……

Feifei: £6... £6 什么？多少来着？哎呀，我数到哪儿了，又忘了！听众朋友，大家好，我是冯菲菲。刚刚我在数我还有多少钱呢。

William: Yes, everyone in the UK is worried about money at the moment. They're worried about the possibility of a double-dip recession. 是的，现在在英国每个人都在担心钱。他们担心二次衰退。

Feifei: A double-dip recession. 这个表达是什么意思呢？

William: Well, you know what a recession is... 恩，你知道衰退吧……

Feifei: A recession 经济衰退。

William: Double means twice. And dip means to go down. So double-dip recession describes a situation in which the economy goes into recession, then comes out of recession then goes back into recession again.

Feifei: A double-dip recession的意思就是当一个国家的经济从衰退走出来后再次进入一个新的衰退期、萧条期，这时我们说a double-dip recession 二次衰退。William 输我直言，我觉得这个话题实在是挺无聊的。我一听关于经济方面的事情就犯困。咱们能不能说个有趣儿的短语呢？

William: Well, I'm not really that interested in economics either. But this is a phrase that is very common at the moment because the UK was in recession last year and then we had a little bit of growth and now people are starting to worry about the possibility of a double-dip recession. So here are a couple of examples I heard on the radio recently: 是的，事实上我也不喜欢经济的话题。但是这是个近来经常用到的短语，因为英国去年经济衰退了，然后稍稍涨了，所以现在人们开始担心二次衰退。下面这些例子是我最近在广播上听到的：

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And even the Mirror leads with the economy. It says on its front page David Cameron and George Osborne's bragging over savage cuts has led us to the brink of a double-dip recession, the blundering Tory duo... 甚至Mirror也在引领经济。在书的第一页，大卫·卡梅隆和乔治·奥斯本鼓吹大幅消减已经让我们接近二次衰退的边缘，错误的保守主义的二重奏……

So are worried consumers spending less in the shops? Well, the managing director of John Lewis, Andy Street, says he doesn't foresee a double-dip recession and indeed he says sales are holding up in his stores, for the moment anyway. 所以这也使得人们不敢随意花钱购物了？嗯，约翰·刘易斯的总经理，安迪·斯特里特说他不会预知二次衰退并且他说不管怎么样，现在他的店面销售不畅是个不争的事实。

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Feifei: 其实大多数和经济有关的表达或者短语很少能像今天我们学的这个短语一样广为使用，那么这个double-dip recession 为什么如此流行呢？

William: Well, I think it's very popular with journalists who want to soften hard economic news. The phrase sounds really quite friendly, doesn't it? Double dip... it reminds me a bit of a sherbet dip, which is an old-fashioned kind of sweet that I used to buy as a young boy! 嗯，我想对于记者来说，他们乐于缓和经济形势。这个词组听起来的确很缓和，不是吗？二次衰退……它让我想起了喝冰冻果子露，那是我小时候常买的过去很流行的甜品。

Feifei: 啊，原来这样呀。用一个较通俗的表达来描述一个比较难懂的经济术语。

William: Yes, and I've heard the phrase quite a lot with the adjective dreaded. 是啊，我过去常听到这个词组，用令人畏惧来修饰。

Feifei: Dreaded 可怕的，令人畏惧的。

William: And again, I think that's because of the way it sounds: dreaded double dip. The words have a rhythm and they sound quite nice, a bit like children's poetry: dreaded double dip. 还想再说下，可能是由于它听起来就是这样，可怕的二次衰退。这组词很有韵律，听起来悦耳，有点像孩子的诗歌，可怕的二次衰退。

Feifei: Hmm. 短语听起来不错，不过不是一个什么好的经济兆头。说到这儿，我想起来了我还有一个重要的工作要做。50p... £2.50... £2.80... £3.20. 50便士……2.50英镑……2.8英镑……3.2英镑。