上海的朋友一定不会对下面这则新闻感到陌生：“从5月11日起，上海市区的出租车起步价由目前的10元/3公里调整为11元/3公里;超过3公里后，每公里运价由现在的2元调整为2元1角……”有个疑问，怎么用英文表达“起步价”?
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 .
估计您也猜出来了，flag-fall price就是“起步价”的相应英文表达。Flag-fall(比赛开始)本是体育术语，尤其在田径比赛时，很形象地描述出了“裁判手中的小红旗朝下一挥，比赛立马开始”的情景。随着计程车的使用，flag-fall(比赛开始)逐渐由体育术语延伸为与人们生活密切相关的“起步(价)”。
另外，既然提到了flag，忍不住想起了Dido那首对爱执著、为爱不言放弃的《White flag》，摘几句歌词：
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
“我将乘船一直走下去，永远不会投降;在我的门上也永远不会挂有白旗，我爱你，直到永远。”这里的white flag直译为“白旗”，实质上表达的可是与surrender(投降)相同的意思哦。例如：
A white flag is used as a token of surrender.(白旗被用来作为投降的信号。)
He had to show the white flag at the end of the debate.(辩论到最后他只好认输。)
发表于 2016-8-12 16:34:53