With a little help from my government 政府救救我‏

每日 EZ Word 
 
living hell　夭壽……
字面上是活像「人間煉獄」，意思就是「極度」、「程度非常」而且一聽到hell這個字，就表示說話的人滿腹苦水！
A: How's your new boss?
你的新老闆怎麼樣？
B: Terrible! He works the living hell out of us!
爛透了！他快把我們操死了！ 
somewhere around…　……上下、左右，在……一帶
問地點、問價錢，最重要的就是「精確」兩個字。但人腦又不是電腦，怎麼可能永遠備齊所有資訊、精確無誤？遇到不知怎麼回答時，只好說個大概It's somewhere around…，假如正好介於兩者之間，可以說It's somewhere between…。
A: What will the new apartment cost?
這間新公寓要價會是多少錢？
B: Probably somewhere around two-hundred thousand.
大概在二十萬上下。 
今日會話 EZ Talk 
Xiao-ling:　Hey, Marcus, I've been 1)meaning to ask you about Canada.
曉玲：嘿，馬可仕，我一直很想問問你有關加拿大的事情。
Marcus:　Sure. What's on your mind?
馬可仕：好啊，想問什麼？
Xiao-ling:　Well, you guys have a lot of social benefits that US citizens don't, right?
曉玲：嗯，你們加拿大人有很多美國公民沒有的社會福利，對不對？
Marcus:　Yes. Many things like 2)healthcare and education are, if not free, then very cheap.
馬可仕：是呀，像醫療和教育等很多項目，不是免費就是非常便宜。
Xiao-ling:　How does your government afford those?
曉玲：你們政府怎麼付得起那些錢啊？
Marcus:　It's easy. They tax the living hell out of us!
馬可仕：很簡單啊，萬稅萬萬稅啊！
Xiao-ling:　Ha, OK. But, really?
曉玲：哈，好啦，可是真的是這樣嗎？ 
Marcus:　Really, our taxes are like those in much of Europe- somewhere around 30-40 percent. 
馬可仕：真的啊，我們的稅就跟歐洲大部分地區一樣多──百分之三十到四十之譜。
Xiao-ling:　Sounds a bit like what I've heard of Norway and Sweden.
曉玲：聽說挪威和瑞典也是這樣。
Marcus:　Yes, and France, too. Some people say that our economies are somewhere between 1)capitalist and 2)socialist.
馬可仕：對啊，法國也是。有人說我們的經濟結構介於資本主義和社會主義之間。
Xiao-ling:　What are the 3)drawbacks?
曉玲：有什麼壞處嗎？
Marcus:　Well, I already mentioned the high taxes. Plus, many businesses have to comply with extra regulations.
馬可仕：呃，我已經提到稅率很高了，除此之外，很多企業必須遵守額外的規定。 
Xiao-ling:　Such as?
曉玲：比如說？
Marcus:　Well, there are laws in some places, especially France, that make it hard for employers to fire or 1)layoff workers. This makes the business less 2)efficient.
馬可仕：這個嘛，有些地方的法律，特別是法國，讓雇主很難解雇或資遣員工。這會危害企業的效率。
Xiao-ling:　But keeps the government from needing to pay 3)unemployment.
曉玲：但是卻可以讓政府不必付失業救濟金。
Marcus:　Yep, that's how it works.
馬可仕：沒錯，就是這樣。 
今日EZ單字 
 
mean (v.) 想要，意圖
healthcare (n.) 健保醫療 
capitalist (a.) 資本主義(的)
socialist (a.) 社會主義(的)
drawback (n.) 缺點 
layoff (v.) 資遣
EX: The factory had to layoff many employees.
efficient (a.) 有效率的 
EX: Her method of analysis is the most efficient.
unemployment (n.) 失業
EX: Unemployment is an undesired effect of globalization.