Jen: Hi! I'm Jen. And here's Li.
珍:大家好!我是珍。这位是李。
Li: (Sighing) Hi.
李:(叹气)大家好。
Jen: You seem in a bad mood, what's wrong?
珍:你看上去心情不好,怎么了?
Li: Take a look at this brochure.
李:你看看这本册子吧。
Jen: (Reading) "Golden palm beach, Barbados. This resort boasts miles of unspoiled beaches, crystal blue waters and five star accommodation..." Is this where you're going on holiday, Li?
珍:(浏览)“巴巴多斯金棕榈沙滩。这处度假胜地拥有数英里未受破坏的原始海滩、晶莹湛蓝的海水以及五星级酒店……”李,这是你要去度假的地方吗?
Li: Yes, I just booked it.
李:对,我刚刚预订了。
Jen: Well, you don't sound very happy about it, what's the problem?
珍:可是你听起来并不开心,有什么问题吗?
Li: Well, it cost me £5,000!
李:这花了我5000英镑!
Jen: That's a lot of money.
珍:真是一大笔钱啊。
Li: I know, and I wanted to save my money so that I could get my bathroom decorated.
李:我知道,可是我还想存钱装修卫生间呢。
Jen: Why did you book a holiday, then?!
珍:那你为什么要预定假期呢?
Li: I have to go on holiday - I haven't had a break for two years!
李:我必须要去度假,我已经两年没有休假了!
Jen: Well, that's ok, you've booked it now!
珍:好吧,你现在已经预订了呀!
Li: But I really need to get the bathroom done too!
李:可是我同样也要装修卫生间!
Jen: Well, you can't have your cake and eat it, Li!
珍:李,鱼和熊掌不可兼得。
Li: What do you mean? How did you know I had cake today? Are you calling me fat?! Do you think I should stop eating cake?!
李:你什么意思?你怎么知道我今天吃了蛋糕?你是说我胖吗?你认为我不应该再吃蛋糕了吗?
Jen: Whoa! No, no, I'm not saying anything-
珍:哇!不,不,我什么也没说……
Li: Then why do you want me to stop eating cake?!
李:那你为什么让我别再吃蛋糕了?!
Jen: Calm down. I said, "You can't have your cake and eat it." We use this phrase in English to mean that you can't have something both ways.
珍:冷静。我说You can't have your cake and eat it,在英语中我们用这个短语来表示你不能同时拥有两样东西。
Li: Oh. So you mean I can't spend my money and save it at the same time?
李:哦,所以你的意思是我不能同时花钱和省钱?
Jen: Exactly. Let's hear some more examples:
珍:没错。我们来看一些例子:
He's just got married, but he misses the single life. Well it's too bad–you can't have your cake and eat it!
他刚结婚就开始想念单身生活了。这太糟糕了——鱼和熊掌不可兼得啊!
I drank a whole bottle of champagne at the party last night, but now I feel sick - I've got the worst hangover ever. But I suppose you can't have your cake and eat it!
昨天我在派对上喝了一整瓶香槟,现在我感觉很不舒服,这是我经历过的最糟的宿醉。我想这真是鱼与熊掌不能兼得!
Li: The second example is good–you can't expect to drink a lot of alcohol without feeling the effects the next day: you can't have it both ways; you can't have your cake and eat it.
李:第二个例子很棒,你不能希望喝了大量的酒以后第二天没什么影响:你不可能两样兼得;鱼与熊掌不可兼得。
Jen: And you can't have your lovely holiday without spending a lot of money on it.
珍:而同样你也不能既享受愉快的假期又期待不会花太多的钱。
Li: I suppose you're right.
李:我想你是对的。
Jen: All this talk of cake has got my stomach rumbling, I feel really hungry now.
珍:一直说到蛋糕我肚子都叫了。我现在非常饿。
Li: There's a new cafe across the road which is selling little cupcakes, they look really delicious! We could go and get some after the programme?
李:街对面开了一家卖纸杯蛋糕的新咖啡厅,看起来非常好吃!我们做完节目以后去买点吃怎么样?
Jen: I would love to, but I can't, I want to save my money to go out to dinner tonight.
珍:我很想去,可是我不能去,我要省下钱,今天出去吃晚餐。
Li: Oh well Jen, you can't have your cake and eat it. I'll just get one for myself!
李:哦,珍,你这就是二者不可兼得啊。我去给我自己买一个蛋糕!