Business Channel 2007-11-27&11-29, 作长假节日预算

Almost 3 in 5 people won’t plan a holiday budget this year don’t fall into this trap. First you will need to figure out how much you should spend on gifts. You wanna make sure you can pay off your bills in one to two months. Since some financial planner recommend that you not spend more than 1.5% of your annual income on gifts, figure out all your expenses like those decorations or holiday meals and check out the website called christmasorganizer.com. On this site you can download holiday planner forms, gifts lists and calendars. Catherine?
Yeah, those eating out bills can really add up, can’t they? Thinking outside the box too, a good idea when giving gifts.
Well, you know, who needs another sweater or crockpot right? You don’t know where's the need to spend a ton of dough¹ on gifts.you can curb² all these last-minute-give impulses⁴ by giving a donation to charity in the name of a friend or relative, check out charitynavigator.org. So you are gonna valuate and choose a legit charity. But you may also wanna give your friends and family the gift of experience, maybe you wanna send your in-laws up in a hot air balloon, and you can even send your brother to cooking class, check out xperiencedays.com and signaturedays.com. You can even have a day as James Bond, Catherine.
That is a good idea. Alright, now another idea is to compare prices and really it’s easier to do that these days, isn’t it?
Absolutely, you know you can save time and money by shopping online plus you don’t get tempted⁵ by those impulse³ purchases. Do some Comparison shopping, go to shopping.com and bizrate.com. These sites let you compare products and deals plus if you do decide to shop online you can often get free shipping⁶, yes, free shipping.
And speaking of comparing prices, you just should also shop around for some good cards out there.
Well, you know, if you don’t carry a credit card balance from month to month and you have good credit score, getting a rewards card is a great idea, but get the details you may only be able to use your card as specific merchants, plus some cards are tier. This means the more you spend the more you earn. Here are some favorites from creditcardratings.com discovers more card and blue cash from American express. You can check out the terms of these cards and many others at creditcardratings.com. And of course if you have a question, send it to us at toptips @CNN.com. We'd love hearing from you.
Catherine?
Alright, Gerri, thank you very much.

Notes:

Crockpot: A famous brand of electric pot in the US.

Dough: (Slang) Money

1 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

2 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

3 impulse   

n.（一时的）冲动，冲力，脉冲，神经冲动

参考例句：

• She wrote that letter on impulse.她一时冲动写了这封信。
• I don't know how to resist my impulse.我不知道怎样抑制自己的感情冲动。

4 impulses   

凭冲动行事( impulse的名词复数 )； 突如其来的念头； 推动； 冲量

参考例句：

• The photochemical reactions transform the light into electrical impulses. 光化学反应使光变为电脉冲。
• His senses and reasons inhibited his wrong desires or impulses. 他的理智抑制了不正当的欲望或冲动。

5 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

6 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。