佛羅里達(dá)州的碰瓷事件

Angela： Hello there， and welcome to Direct Line Insurance. My name is Angela， and I will be your agent this afternoon.①So， how can I be of assistance？

Marvin： Good afternoon Angela. My name is Marvin Martindale and I was just in a 1）humdinger of an accident a few klicks south of here.

Angela： Oh my！ Well， Mr. Martindale， I’m glad to see that you appear to have escaped the， um， “incident” 2）unscathed.

Marvin： From God’s hand to your mouth.

Angela： Now， in your own words， can you tell me exactly what happened out there？

Marvin： Who else’s words do you think would be coming out of my mouth？

Angela： Funny you should ask， since the state of Florida ranks first in the country in staged automobile accidents. Though， you can’t really call something an accident if it’s deliberately 3）concocted， as part of an elaborate 4）ruse staged by a gang of local 5）thugs， repairmen and 6）medical personnel. Marvin： Excuse me miss， but are you 7）insinuating that I crashed my car on purpose， under the employ of some 8）unsavory gang of criminal characters？

Angela： I’m so sorry sir， no， not in the slightest. ②I only thought you should know what’s what， with all the tricksters and fraudsters out there trying to make a quick dime off good honest folks like you and I.

Marvin： Well， in that case， I appreciate your 9）candor and…Come to think of it， there was something awful 10）fishy about the events leading up to the accident， or incident， as you referred to it.

Angela： Is that so？ Would you care to elaborate？

Marvin： Alright. ③It might be nothing， but I was just driving along， minding my own business， when this beat-up car， with three or four fellas in it， 11）swerves into my lane， cuts me off and hits the brakes full-bore. So I slam on my brakes and try to avoid hitting the sucker， but ended up giving him a little tap on the passenger side of his back bumper. Angela： Certainly sounds like it must’ve been a 12）harrowing experience for you.

Marvin： It weren’t all that bad.④After serving proudly in our nation’s military for the better part of one’s life， little dustups like this are just a bump in the road， so to speak.

Angela： Well Mr. Martindale， ⑤it sounds to me like you fell victim to the classic “swoop and squat” 13）maneuver， which is actually the most common of all staged accidents.

Marvin： You don’t say？

Angela： Now， what I’m gonna need from you is any and all relevant materials 14）pertaining to said accident. We already have all your information on file， so what we really need is more info on the other driver， his car model， license plate， insurance info and the like. Though I must warn you that your 15）premium is probably gonna rise no matter what. Marvin： Yep， I suspected as much…

安吉拉：你好，歡迎光臨直線保險公司。我的名字叫安吉拉，今天下午我是你的服務(wù)專員。那么，我能幫什么忙嗎？

馬文：下午好，安吉拉。我叫馬文·馬丁代爾，我剛才遭遇了一場非同尋常的車禍，就在距離這里以南幾公里的地方。

安吉拉：哦，哎呀！呃，馬丁代爾先生，很高興看到你毫發(fā)無損地逃離了這場“意外”。

馬文：謝天謝地，承你貴言。

安吉拉：現(xiàn)在，你能否用自己的話告訴我，那里究竟發(fā)生什么事了？

馬文：你認(rèn)為出自我嘴里的還會是誰的話？

安吉拉：你這么問真有趣，因為佛羅里達(dá)州在全國機(jī)動車碰瓷事件中名列第一。然而你不能真的把某件事稱作意外，如果那件事是由一幫當(dāng)?shù)氐谋┩健⒕S修人員和醫(yī)護(hù)人員故意制造，精心策劃的陰謀。

馬文：打斷一下，小姐，你是在暗示我受雇于一些可惡的犯罪分子，故意毀壞我自己的車嗎？

安吉拉：很對不起，先生，不是，我絕沒有這個意思。我只是認(rèn)為你應(yīng)該了解事情的真相，因為所有的騙子都企圖從像你和我這樣的誠實好人身上賺一筆快錢。

馬文：嗯，如果這樣，我欣賞你的坦誠和……回想起來，有些非常蹊蹺的事情導(dǎo)致了這場意外，或正如你所指的是“事件”。

安吉拉：是這樣嗎？你愿意詳細(xì)描述嗎？

馬文：好的。本來沒什么事，我只是沿路開著車，做好自己的事，這時一輛里面有三四個人的破車突然轉(zhuǎn)到我的車道，截斷我的去路，并且緊急剎車。于是我急剎車，避免撞到那輛車，結(jié)果把它乘客側(cè)的后保險杠輕輕碰擦了一下。

安吉拉：當(dāng)然這聽起來一定是你一次可怕的經(jīng)歷。

馬文：沒有那么慘。為了人民更美好的生活，我光榮地服完了兵役，像這樣的小波折可以說是公路上的一個小顛簸而已。

安吉拉：嗯，馬丁代爾先生，在我看來，你似乎是典型的機(jī)動車碰瓷伎倆——截道并急剎車——的受害者，這種伎倆確實是所有碰瓷事件中最常見的。馬文：真沒想到。

安吉拉：現(xiàn)在，我需要你提供跟這場事故任何及所有的相關(guān)資料。我們的檔案里已經(jīng)有你的全部信息，所以我們真正需要的是另外一位司機(jī)更多的信息：他的車的型號，他的車牌號碼，保險資料等等。然而我必須提醒你，你的保險費無論如何都極有可能上漲。馬文：好的，我想也會……

Smart Sentences

① So， how can I be of assistance？ 那么，我能幫什么忙嗎？

How can I be of assistance？： used when intending to offer help， a polite usage（在有意提供幫助時的用語，禮貌用語）。例如：

—Good morning， ma’am， how can I be of assistance？

早上好，女士，我能幫什么忙嗎？

—Oh， do you have the latest model of electrical bike？

哦，你們有最新款的電動自行車嗎？

② I only thought you should know what’s what， with all the tricksters and fraudsters out there trying to make a quick dime off good honest folks like you and I.

我只是認(rèn)為你應(yīng)該了解事情的真相，因為所有的騙子都企圖從像你和我這樣的誠實好人身上賺一筆快錢。

what’s what： the truth of sth.（事情之真相）。例如：

A good reporter will go beyond the known facts and find out the what’s what.

一個優(yōu)秀的記者不會止于已知事實，而是要找到事情的真相。

make a quick dime： quickly make some money（賺點快錢）。例如：

Stanley was planning on making a quick dime by selling mooncakes， but the frugality drive brought him a heavy loss.

史丹利原本想靠賣月餅賺點快錢，但節(jié)儉之風(fēng)讓他損失慘重。

③ It might be nothing， but I was just driving along， minding my own business， when this beat-up car， with three or four fellas in it， swerves into my lane， cuts me off and hits the brakes full-bore. 本來沒什么事，我只是沿路開著車，做好自己的事，這時一輛里面有三四個人的破車突然轉(zhuǎn)到我的車道，截斷我的去路，并且緊急剎車。

mind one’s own business： attend to one’s own affairs（管好自己的事情）。例如：

Everyone was minding their own business in our dorm when the earthquake hit last night.

昨晚地震發(fā)生的時候，我們宿舍里的人都在忙自己的事。

④ After serving proudly in our nation’s military for the better part of one’s life， little dustups like this are just a bump in the road， so to speak. 為了人民更美好的生活，我光榮地服完了兵役，像這樣的小波折可以說是公路上的一個小顛簸而已。

a bump in the road： a minor problem（小問題）。例如：

Cindy is just a bump in the road， but John is the real problem here.

辛迪只不過是小問題，約翰才是真正的障礙。

⑤ It sounds to me like you fell victim to the classic “swoop and squat” maneuver， which is actually the most common of all staged accidents. 在我看來，你似乎是典型的機(jī)動車碰瓷伎倆——截道并急剎車——的受害者，這種伎倆確實是所有碰瓷事件中最常見的。

fall victim to sb./sth.： suffer or get hurt because of sb./sth.（成為某人/某事的犧牲品）。例如：

My wife fell victim to dengue during her trip overseas.

我妻子在國外旅行時患上了登革熱。

swoop and squat： a car quickly cuts in front of another one and makes a sudden stop（一輛車迅速切到另一輛車的前面，并突然停下來）。例如：

Chris loves to play the swoop and squat trick when there’s a girl sitting in his car.

如果有女孩子坐在車?yán)铮死锼瓜矚g玩把車切到另一輛車的前面，并突然停下來的花樣。