又中又英 | To tighten your belts | 褚簡寧

　　Many ordinary Americans had to tighten their belts when the US stock market crashed after President Donald Trump began a global trade war. Lower income Americans are also worried the trade war would increase the prices of foreign-made consumer items. That's why they are tightening their belts by cutting back on air travel and eating in restaurants. To tighten your belt means spending less than before because you have less money. The stock market has bounced back a little but Trump's erratic policy on tariffs is making the stock market go up and down like a yo-yo.

　　The word "erratic" means unpredictable or irregular. An erratic policy is an unpredictable policy. The stock market crash has hurt America's billionaires big time, especially Elon Musk, the world's richest person. The expression "big time" can be used in several ways but used this way it means by a lot or significantly. Media reports said Musk lost over US$120 billion because of the market crash and a boycott of Tesla cars caused by his close friendship with Trump. He donated about US$288 million to Trump's election campaign. That may be chicken feed to the world's richest person, but losing over US$120 billion is not chicken feed.

　　Chicken feed is a mixture of different grains made into food for poultry such as chickens. But the expression "chicken feed" also means a very small amount of money. The stock market crash has also hurt my retirement investments. What I lost is pocket change to billionaires, but a lot to me. The expression "pocket change" means a very small amount of money, like chicken feed.

　　在美國總統唐納德．特朗普發動全球貿易戰之後，美國股票市場暴跌，許多一般的美國人都要勒緊褲頭（tighten their belts）。低收入美國人也憂心，貿易戰會抬高外國製消費品的價格，因此他們要節衣縮食（tighten their belts），削減旅遊與在餐廳用膳的消遣。To tighten your belts是指因為荷包縮水而減省日常開支。股市有輕微反彈，但特朗普在關梲上飄忽不定的政策（erratic policy）令股市像搖搖般上上落落。 

　　Erratic是指難以預測或不穩定的，an erratic policy是指難以預測的政策。股票市場暴跌大大（big time）損害到美國的億萬富豪，尤其是伊隆．馬斯克，他是世界首富。習語 big time可以有不同用法，但在這裏是指大幅度或顯著地。傳媒報道指，馬斯克因為股市崩盤以及他跟特朗普的緊密情誼所致的特斯拉汽車杯葛潮，而虧了超過1200億美元。他捐了約2億8800萬美元給特朗普的競選活動，那對於世界首富而言或許只是零錢（chicken feed），但虧損超過1200億可就不是零錢（chicken feed）了。

　　Chicken feed是混合不同穀物，用以餵飼家禽例如雞隻的飼料。但"chicken feed"亦解作極小額的款項。股票市場暴跌，亦損害了我的退休投資。我所損失的對於億萬富豪來說只是 「碎銀」（pocket change），但對我來說則是大數目了。習語pocket change跟chicken feed 一樣，都是指小額金錢，就像口袋裏用來找贖的零錢。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻