WQ: KAT, 我这里有一些螃蟹和大虾,你想要么?
KAT: Of course! I love sea food!
WQ: 去我家拿吧! 全给你,不要钱!
KAT: Wow…Wuqiong, that's really nice of you! Are you sure you don't want them?
WQ: 你不知道,这些都是我团购买来的,太多了,吃不了! 我还有餐券,电影票,健身卡,都是团购来的,好多都快到期了,我又没时间去。对了,"团购"在美语里怎么说呢?
KAT: It's called "group buying." It is a very popular marketing gimmick now. A lot of my friends back in the U.S. are just as obsessed with group buying as you are!
WQ: 呵呵,我的确是个"团购控"! 不过你刚才说 Group buying is a marketing gimmick, 什么是gimmick?
KAT: Gimmick, g-i-m-m-i-c-k, gimmick, 是花招,噱头。I call group buying a gimmick because it's used by retailers to attract more people to buy products of mediocre quality and popularity.
WQ: 你说得有道理。团购是个促销的花招,一般推出团购的都是小店,新店,团购的东西也不是什么名牌抢手货。I don't think I can ever get a discount on LV purses through group buying.
KAT: That's right. In that sense, group buying is just another form of price war.
WQ: Price war? 价格战?
KAT: 对。People use group buying because they want the discount. They want to buy things at a lower price.
WQ: 对,其实这和返券、打折差不多,都是商家在打价格战。不过,我也不傻,等他们把价格升上去了,我就不买了,就去找新的团购货!
KAT: Haha, that's exactly how you became a group buying maniac! 好了,说说你今天都学了什么吧!
WQ: 第一:团购是group buying
第二:花招,噱头是gimmick;
第三:价格战是price war.
(音频及文本来源:VOA英语教学)