美國習(xí)慣用語：915 worth one's while 值得的

我有個(gè)朋友的女兒喜歡彈鋼琴，小小年紀(jì)就表現(xiàn)出非凡的天分。這個(gè)朋友要給她找個(gè)出色的鋼琴老師，找了快半年終于找到了，我們都覺得她太挑剔。

可前幾天我去她家聽了她女兒彈琴，簡直可以說是有本質(zhì)上的飛躍! 看來，辛苦找老師是沒錯(cuò)的! 就像我們今天要說到的這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語：worth one's while. Worth one's while, 意思是在某人或某事上花的錢、時(shí)間或努力是值得的。我朋友的故事告訴我，為了孩子，耐心細(xì)致地挑老師是絕對(duì)值得的! It was totally worth its while!

鋼琴老師是努力找到的，可有時(shí)候，能改變你未來命運(yùn)的人可能會(huì)是碰巧遇到的。我們來聽聽下面這段話：

例句-1：Maggie was just hired as the VP of marketing. She got the position after meeting the company's CEO at a party a few months ago. Although she hadn't planned on going at all, it turned out to be worth her while. She couldn't be happier with how that casual encounter resulted in making an important business contact.

這段話是說：麥琪得到了這家公司營銷部副經(jīng)理的職位，這要?dú)w功于她幾個(gè)月前在一次聚會(huì)上遇到了該公司的首席執(zhí)行官。她本來根本沒打算去參加那個(gè)聚會(huì)，可事實(shí)證明，她去對(duì)了，太值了!那次巧遇讓她建立了一條重要的事業(yè)人脈，她高興極了。

這真是遇到貴人了! 我們一般人很難有這種運(yùn)氣，所以要靠勤找機(jī)會(huì)，努力工作，自我提升來獲得事業(yè)上的發(fā)展，不過這些努力當(dāng)然也是worth their while， 很值得做的。

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在下面這段話中，一個(gè)人正在考慮是不是要自己給汽車換機(jī)油，咱們來聽聽：

例句-2：If I wanted to, I could change the oil in my car. But I'd have to go to an auto supply store and buy the oil, an oil filter, a special wrench and a bucket to drain the oil. Then, I'd need to find a place to dispose of the oil. When I consider all the money, time and effort I'd be spending, I realize doing the job myself wouldn't be wroth my while. I'd rather pay a mechanic to do the work for me at a garage.

這段話的意思是：如果我愿意，我可以自己給車換油?？梢沁@樣，我就得到汽配商店去買機(jī)油、過濾器、專用鉗子和瀝油的桶，然后還得找個(gè)地方把廢油處理掉。想想我要花多少錢、時(shí)間和精力去做這些事，我意識(shí)到，自己換油不值得。我情愿付錢請(qǐng)機(jī)械師在修車行里給車換油。

請(qǐng)機(jī)械師固然省事，但美國有許多人是do it yourself， 也就是自己動(dòng)手，DIY一族。他們圖的就是不省事，要享受親自上陣的樂趣。