PETS－2语法讲解(206)

　　You can buy from a scalper.
　　对 话 　　Danny: I'm so pleased, I've got a ticket for the Cup final.
　　Rod: What! How did you get hold of that?
　　Danny: My brother works for the Soccer Association so I got it through him.
　　Rod: I'm desperate to go. Could you get one for me?
　　Danny: I'm afraid he only had the one spare. You can buy from a scalper outside the ground.
　　Rod: That's too risky. It would cost a huge amount and it could easily be a fake. I'll just have to stay home and watch it on the box.
　　丹尼：真开心, 我弄到一张世界杯决赛入场券。
　　罗德：什么!你是怎样弄到的?
　　丹尼：我哥哥在足球协会任职, 我是托他弄到手的。
　　罗德：我也很想入场看。可以帮我弄一张吗?
　　丹尼：我哥哥恐怕只剩这一张。你不妨到球场外, 试试买张黄牛票。
　　罗德：那太危险了, 黄牛票非常昂贵, 而且很可能是假的。 我只能待在家里看电视了。
　　卖黄牛票者，英文叫(ticket) scalper，英式英文则叫(ticket) tout，例如：The scalpers got hold of the best tickets, which they sold at several times their face value.（卖黄牛票者弄到了的入场券，要价比票面价钱高几倍）。　作动词，tout　本是指‘兜售’，引申解作‘卖黄牛票’，倒也恰当；scalp原意则是‘杀人后剥下头皮作战利品’，用以比喻‘卖黄牛票’，更加恰当，例如：As the match was about to begin, he was still scalping/touting the tickets for a lot more than what he had paid for them.（比赛快开始了，他卖黄牛票，要价仍比他原来买票的价钱高得多）。
　　丹尼对罗德说：You can buy from a scalper outside the ground。那ground不是指一般土地，而是指运动场，例如soccer ground（足球场）、cricket ground（板球场）等。The police cracked down on the ticket scalpers outside the soccer ground即‘警方严厉对付足球场外卖黄牛票者’。
　　‘足球’在美国叫soccer，美国以外则叫football。Soccer一字，出于the London Football Association（伦敦足球协会）这个名称。协会十九世纪后期成立，制定球赛规则，所以足球运动也叫association football。只取association中的soc三个字母，不易发音；加上cer，就成为顺口的soccer了。
　　罗德说黄牛票可能是假票：It could easily be a fake。Easily除了解作‘轻易地’，还有‘很可能’的意思，例如：We may easily be late if we don't hurry（我们不快一点的话，很可能就会迟到）。