討價還價

David：Bargaining at shops in China is very interesting. 在中國，在商店里買東西的時候能討價還價，挺有意思。

You：并不是所有的商店都能。

David：And not all people like to bargain.也并不是所有的人都愛討價還價。

You：Yes, for some people if the price is right and they are satisfied with the quality, they may not feel like bargaining and just buy it. But when the price is too high, people might feel like they should bargain. 對，有的人覺得如果價位合理，質量也不錯，就用不著討價還價。但如果價格遠遠超出自己對商品的估價，人們一般就會討價還價。

David：I noticed bargaining is popular with some street vendors like those on the Silk Street. I learned to bargain there. In fact, some foreigners feel uncomfortable to bargain, but I overcame this. Sometimes after I have bargained down the price on something, the shop owner would praise me for my bargaining abilities. I hear you are supposed to haggle the price down to half of the original price. 我發現，人們更習慣于和街頭小店討價還價。像秀水街，我就是在那兒學會的。很多外國人買東西時不習慣討價還價，但我已經習慣了。有時候我砍完價后，店主們還會對我大贊一番。我聽說，所有的東西的價格都能砍到一半。

You：我聽說是三分之一。They told me one third of the price.

David：One third of the price?! What? 三分之一?不會吧?!

You：I guess you didn’t catch that one. Well, do you think it is difficult for foreigners to bargain with Chinese? 沒人告訴過你，是吧?不管怎么樣，你覺得作為外國人講價難嗎?

David：Yes. Many westerners think it is impolite to bargain. Some believe the initial price is fair and feel like bargaining would cheat the shop owner. 難。很多外國人認為討價還價很不禮貌。一些人還認為原價就是合理的價格，講價就等于欺騙店主。

You：But some foreigners might regard the RMB value of the item in dollars and consider it a good deal so they don’t bargain. 或許有的外國人總是將中國商品的價格折合成美元來看，覺得其實也不貴嘛，所以就不講價。

David：This is more the case for foreign tourists but students and foreigners who live here are already used to the standard prices and the cost of living so they know better.到中國來的游客也許會那樣做。但在這里生活和學習的外國人對這兒的物價及生活費用一清二楚。