“起步價”怎么說？
[ 2006-05-15 09:00 ]
上海的朋友一定不會對下面這則新聞感到陌生：“從5月11日起，上海市區的出租車起步價由目前的10元/3公里調整為11元/3公里；超過3公里后，每公里運價由現在的2元調整為2元1角……”有個疑問，怎么用英文表達“起步價”？
請看《中國日報》相關報道：Taxi passengers in Shanghai started to feel the pinch of soaring
fuel prices as the city began to roll out its first taxi fare hike since 1998.
The flag-fall
price in downtown, which covers the first 3 kilometres of a
trip, has risen to 11 yuan from 10 yuan during the daytime. And the price after
11 pm will climb to 14 yuan from 13 yuan .
估計您也猜出來了，flag-fall
price就是“起步價”的相應英文表達。Flag-fall（比賽開始）本是體育術語，尤其在田徑比賽時，很形象地描述出了“裁判手中的小紅旗朝下一揮，比賽立馬開始”的情景。隨著計程車的使用，flag-fall（比賽開始）逐漸由體育術語延伸為與人們生活密切相關的“起步（價）”。
另外，既然提到了flag，忍不住想起了Dido那首對愛執著、為愛不言放棄的《White flag》，摘幾句歌詞：
Well I will go down with this ship/And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door/I'm in love and always will be
“我將乘船一直走下去，永遠不會投降；在我的門上也永遠不會掛有白旗，我愛你，直到永遠?！边@里的white
flag直譯為“白旗”，實質上表達的可是與surrender（投降）相同的意思哦。例如：
A white flag is used as a token of surrender.（白旗被用來作為投降的信號。）
He had to show the white flag at the end of the
debate.（辯論到最后他只好認輸。）
(英語點津陳蓓編輯）
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