396. Dealing in the Black Market - Review

English Corner

Learning Focus

1. Business fields and goods use fixed chunks Form: be in + field/business / deal in + goods Use: English often names a profession or a shady trade with a fixed preposition chunk, not a literal verb like do. Example: He’s in the import/export business. / He deals in stolen goods.

2. Routine meals usually drop the article Form: have lunch/dinner/breakfast Use: For ordinary meals, English usually says have lunch, not have a lunch. Add an article only when the meal is a specific event. Example: He and I had lunch today to talk about some business opportunities.

3. Use to + verb to show the purpose of a meeting Form: have lunch ... to talk about ... Use: When the meal is the occasion for a discussion, to + verb clearly shows purpose. A past-tense verb like talked can work only if you rewrite the sentence as two coordinated actions. Example: He and I had lunch today to talk about some business opportunities.

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Important Idioms

• on the up and up (正当的，合法可靠的) Literal Image: Something keeps moving upward in a clean, honest direction. Meaning in Dialogue: Jasinda is asking whether Mitch’s business is legitimate and not shady. Tone/Force: Informal, slightly old-fashioned, and strongly conversational. Example: If the deal is really on the up and up, nobody needs to hide the paperwork.

• Let’s just say … (这么说吧；我只能这样说) Literal Image: The speaker chooses one careful version of the truth and stops there. Meaning in Dialogue: Thomas avoids a direct answer while hinting that Mitch’s business is questionable. Tone/Force: Evasive and guarded. Very common in spoken English when someone does not want to be fully direct. Example: Let’s just say the meeting did not end well.

• set in stone (板上钉钉；确定不变的) Literal Image: Words carved into stone are hard to erase or change. Meaning in Dialogue: The business idea is still tentative and could change later. Tone/Force: Very common spoken idiom for plans, rules, and decisions. Example: The schedule is not set in stone yet, so we can still move it.

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Translation Difficulties

• “What line of work is he in?” Context: A natural spoken way to ask about someone’s profession or business area. Chinese Mapping: 他是做哪一行的？ / 他是做什么工作的？ Why Not Literal: line here is not a physical line. The whole chunk line of work means a type of job or field.

• “It gets people what they want.” Context: Thomas is defending the underground economy by saying it helps people obtain desired goods. Chinese Mapping: 它能让人弄到自己想要的东西。 Why Not Literal: get people here means “help people obtain,” not “把人弄过来” or “得到人”.

• “It was just talk.” Context: Thomas is downplaying the lunch conversation as informal discussion, not a real agreement. Chinese Mapping: 只是说说而已。 Why Not Literal: A literal version like “只是谈话” misses the dismissive tone. just talk means “not serious” or “not committed.”

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Vocabulary and Collocations

• line of work (行业；工作领域) Pattern/Collocation: be in a line of work, what line of work are you in? Example: What line of work is your brother in?

• deal in (经营；买卖) Pattern/Collocation: deal in + goods/products/securities Example: That company deals in imported electronics.

• take full advantage of (充分利用) Pattern/Collocation: take full advantage of + opportunity/system/resource Example: She took full advantage of the free training program.

• stolen goods (赃物) Pattern/Collocation: buy / sell / deal in stolen goods Example: The police recovered stolen goods from the warehouse.

• smuggler (走私者) Pattern/Collocation: a drug smuggler, a cigarette smuggler Example: Border officers arrested a smuggler carrying fake passports.

• counterfeit /ˈkaʊntərfɪt/ (假冒的；伪造的) Pattern/Collocation: counterfeit money, counterfeit bills, counterfeit goods Example: The market was full of counterfeit designer bags. Pronunciation Tip: Stress the first syllable: COUN-ter-feit.

• pirated goods (盗版商品) Pattern/Collocation: pirated software, pirated DVDs, pirated goods Example: Importing pirated goods can lead to serious legal trouble.

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First Review

Error Analysis

Tense choice for a just-finished moment

• J: Is Was that your friend~~,~~ Mitch? Is that your friend Mitch? can be fine if the person is still right there. In this dialogue, Was fits better because Jasinda is reacting to someone who has just passed by. English often shifts to the past when the moment is already over, even if it happened one second ago.

Meal nouns and purpose infinitives

• T: Yeah, I had a lunch with him today and talked to talk about some business opportunities. For ordinary meals, English usually says have lunch/dinner/breakfast with no article. Also, to talk about ... shows the purpose of the lunch. Your talked is not wrong by itself, but it would need a different sentence frame, such as I had lunch with him today, and we talked about .... In this line, the infinitive matches the original structure better.

You're not telling me ... , are you?

• J: You don’t want to are not telling me is he selling he deals in stolen goods, are you? The high-value pattern here is You're not telling me + statement, are you? After telling me, English keeps normal statement order: he deals in ..., not question order like is he .... The tag question at the end carries the shock or disbelief. This pattern is common when reacting to bad news: You’re not telling me he quit, are you?

Fixed follow-up question: Is that it?

• J: Is he a pirate smuggler? Is he selling countifeit counterfeit or pirated goods? Is that it? Is that it? is a fixed spoken question meaning “Is that the whole explanation?” or “So that’s what you mean?” Without it, Is that? sounds incomplete. This line also gives you two useful crime words worth keeping active: smuggler and counterfeit.