In England nobody under the age of eighteen is allowed1 to drink in a public bar. Mr. Thompson used to2 go to a bar near his house quite often, but he never took his son, Tom, because he was too young.
Then when Tom had his eighteenth birthday, Mr. Thompson took him to his usual bar for the first time. They drank for half an hour, and then Mr. Thompson said to his son, "Now, Tom, I want to teach you a useful lesson. You must always be careful not to drink too much. And how do you know when you've had enough? Well, I'll tell you. Do you see those two lights at the end of the bar? When they seem to have become four, you've had enough and should go home."
But, Dad, said Tom, "I can only see one light at the end of the bar."
Notes:
1. allow 允許
2. used to 過去常常
在英國,十八歲以下的人不準(zhǔn)進(jìn)酒吧喝酒。湯普森先生以前常常去他家附近的一個(gè)酒吧喝酒,但從來不帶他的兒子湯姆去,因?yàn)樗昙o(jì)太小。
后來,當(dāng)湯姆年滿十八歲的時(shí)候,湯普森先生第一次帶他去他常去的那家酒吧。他們喝了半個(gè)小時(shí),而后,湯普森先生對他兒子說:“湯姆,現(xiàn)在我要告訴你一個(gè)有益的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。你必須時(shí)時(shí)小心不要喝得太多。你怎么知道你喝夠了呢?好,我來告訴你。你看見酒吧那頭有兩盞燈嗎?當(dāng)那兩盞燈看起來變成四盞的時(shí)候,你就喝得足夠多了,應(yīng)該回家了?!?
“可是,爸爸?!睖氛f,“在酒吧那頭我只能看見一盞燈?!?
Useful link:
美國也好,歐洲也罷,到酒吧喝啤酒是一種文化,對他們來講,去那里喝酒好像喝水一樣普通。而在中國,即使是在大城市,很多人把去酒吧喝酒看成比較上檔次的消費(fèi),很有臉面。那么自然,酒吧如果價(jià)格太低,反而無法滿足這一類人的消費(fèi)心理。中國人的消費(fèi)行為和西方人不太一樣,越貴的有時(shí)賣得越好。