大家说英语 第554期:报税时间(2)

Conversation A

对话A

Rob¹: Welcome to the show, Tim Taxman!

罗布：欢迎来到我们的节目，蒂姆·塔克曼！

Tim: Thank you, Rob.

蒂姆：谢谢，罗布。

Rob: It's April 17 and you know what that means³!

罗布：现在是4月17号，你知道这意味着什么！

Tim: Yes! This year it's tax² day in America.

蒂姆：是啊！是今年的美国报税日。

Rob: Tell us a little bit more about that.

罗布：多给我们讲讲有关的事情吧。

Tim: Sure. People pay taxes⁴ to their national and state governments.

蒂姆：没问题。人们要向国家和州政府纳税。

Rob: Why is paying tax important?

罗布：为什么纳税这么重要？

Tim: The governments use tax money to provide important services to the public.

蒂姆：因为政府要用税收为公众提供重要的服务。

Conversation B

对话B

Rob: What kind of services does the government provide?

罗布：政府都会提供什么样的服务？

Tim: Taxes help to build hospitals, fix roads, and provide clean drinking water.

蒂姆：税收将用于修建医院、修路和提供清洁的饮用水。

Rob: Taxes also support schools and pay police officers and fire fighters.

罗布：税收也会用于扶持学校，并支付警察和消防员工资。

Tim: That's right. If governments don't have enough money, they can't do those things.

蒂姆：没错。如果政府没有足够的钱，这些事就都没法做。

Rob: So what do governments do then?

罗布：那之后政府要怎么做呢？

Tim: They have to raise taxes. No one likes that.

蒂姆：政府就不得不提高税收。没有人喜欢这样做。

Rob: You're right about that!

罗布：你说得很对！

1 rob   

v.抢劫；vi.抢劫，盗窃；vt.非法剥夺，使丧失，抢劫

参考例句：

• Two men formed a plot to rob the bank.两人制定了抢劫那家银行的秘密计划。
• They were scheming to rob the bank.他们在密谋抢劫银行。

2 tax   

n.税，重负；vt.课以税，使...负重荷，斥责

参考例句：

• How much tax do they take out of your monthly pay?他们从你的月薪中抽出多少税？
• The government has laid on a new tax.政府已征收新税。

3 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

4 taxes   

n.税，税额( tax的名词复数 )；整复法，排序( taxis的名词复数 )；出租汽车( taxi的名词复数 )；赋税

参考例句：

• the lowering of taxes and the consequent increase in spending 税收降低与随之引起的消费增长
• state and federal income taxes 州政府和联邦政府征收的所得税