地道美语
A: Welcome Mr and Mrs Carnwell, please take a seat.

B: Thank you.

A: So I understand that your family spending has skyrocketed and you want to start budgeting.

C: Yes that’s correct. Frankly speaking our household income is relatively high and we have never had any money problems, but I think this is the main reason as to why our spending has gone out of control.

B: We have two kids and with allowances, paying their credit cards, ours and not to mention our mortgage and car payments. With the recent economic downturn, my husband’s business has suffered and now we need some advice as to how we can prepare a family budget.

A: I see. Well you have come to the right place. First what we need to do, is determine your cash flow. Knowing how much money is coming in will help us allocate spending to different categories such as mortgage, education, groceries, etc.

B: Yes，that makes sense.

A: Secondly, I need you to bring all of your receipts for the last two to three months. That way, we can determine what your average expenditures are and see which category you are spending money on the most. Usually, your fixed costs are higher and we cant do much about that, but we can usually trim your variable costs such as entertainment or clothing.

C: Great! We will do that then! Now how about we treat you to a nice dinner?

A: That’s another thing. If you really want to stop spending so much money, throw away at least half of your credit cards!
词汇注释
skyrocket vi. 陡升, 猛涨
Prices skyrocketed.
物价猛涨。

budget vt.为 ... 做预算
Congress has approved the new educational budget.
国会通过了新的教育预算。

out of control 失控
The bus got out of control and ran into a wall.
公共汽车失去控制而撞到墙上。

allocate vt. (常与to连用）分配； 配给
We must allocate the money.
我们必须分好这笔钱。

frankly speaking 坦率地说
Frankly speaking, he is not so bad as you might think.
坦白讲，他没有你想像中的坏。

【拓展词汇】
capital n.资金

finances n.资金

to bring in the dough 来挣钱

breadwinner n. 养家糊口的人

to itemize 分条详述, 详细列举

参考译文
A: Carnwell夫妇，欢迎你们来。请坐。

B:谢谢。

A: 我理解你们的家庭开销飞涨，你们要开始预算。

C:是的，你说得对。坦白地说我们的家庭收入还是很高的，我们从未有过钱方面的问题，但是我认为最主要的原因是花费为什么超过了控制。

A: 我们有2个孩子，都有津贴，要支付他们和我们信用卡上的花销，更不用提抵押和车贷。由于经济下滑，我丈夫的生意受到重创，我们需要征询下一件来制定家庭预算。

B:我明白了，你们算来对了。我们首先要做的是，确定你们的现金流动。知道有多少收入能帮助来如何将钱花到不同的方面，比如抵押贷款，教育，日用品，等等。

A: 有道理。

B:其次，我需要你们将前2，3个月所有的发票都带来。那样的话，我们就能确定你们每月的平均开销和那方面你们花钱最多。通常，你们固定的花费较高，在那方面改变不了多少，但是我们减少可变的花费，比如娱乐和买衣服。

A: 是的，我们会照做的。我们请你吃一顿晚饭如何？

B:那是另回事。如果你真的想停止花这么多钱，至少要将你的信用卡扔掉一半。