第1653期:My two cents

外企电话会上常有人说 Just my two cents,你知道这句话什么意思吗?

给你看个例句先:

That’s just my two cents; you can do what you like.

这是美国和加拿大英语的说法,这句话如果放在英国,大多数人会说:

That’s just my two pennies’ worth; you can do what you like.

两句话一样,意思都是:

以上只是我的个人看法,你仍然可以做你想做的。这只是我个人的不成熟的看法,仅供参考。

今天就教你学会 two cents 这个说法。

别看这句话简单,可是大有来头。据说出自《圣经》中的一个故事 The Widow’s Offering(路加福音21章1-4节;Luke 21:1-4)。

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box. He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all offered their gifts out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.”

讲的是耶稣在一次传道时,在场的富人捐了很多钱,有一个穷困的寡妇只捐了两个铜钱。耶稣却说这个寡妇奉献的钱比那些富人更多,因为那两个钱对寡妇来说几乎相当于她身上所有的财富。

你可以学会这个说法,以后跟歪果同事开会时说。用法就是发表完自己的意见后,加一句That’s just my two cents. (这句话翻译成文言文就是:愚见浅陋,抛砖引玉)

这样说当然显得你很谦虚,但也可能会显得很虚伪。类似的一个说法有 IMHO(in my humble opinion,依不才愚见),我觉得听起来并不真诚。

你可以学会今天讲的这句地道的美国英语,但我并不赞同你总是表现那么谦卑,没有太大必要。