1. 1利益交換、硬談判(政治或商業上;不是真的買賣馬)

    Horse-trading is hard bargaining: each side pushes to get more for itself, and nobody gives anything away for free. You hear it most in and business — long talks, deals, swaps of favours. Though actually, it almost never means selling horses any more. Long ago, people who horses were famous for sharp, stubborn deals, and the name stuck. The word can sound a little rough, even a little dirty: it hints that people are playing for advantage, not just being fair. It is not a kind word for a friendly chat.

    horse-trading 說的是強硬的討價還價。雙方都想為自己爭取更多,沒有人會白白讓出什麼。它最常在政治和商業裡聽到,指談很久、達成交易、互換好處的場面。

    它的字面不是買賣馬匹,而是來自以前賣馬的人以精明、固執的交易出名,這個名字就這樣留了下來。現在用的時候,重點仍是交易雙方各自爭取好處。

    這個字聽起來有點粗,暗示大家都在爭利益,不是用來形容友好的聊天。

組成horse + trading. First it meant buying and selling horses; later it kept the idea of a tough deal.

同家族的字

  • horsethe first half of the compound
  • tradetrading is from trade — making a deal

原始詞典資料1 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,摘錄並精簡格式,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形:

  • horsetrading

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary,已精簡格式;依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用,改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。