Moonlight 兼差

John: Hello, You're listening to Real English from BBC Learning¹ English. I'm John.

Helen: And I'm Helen.

John: Here on Real English, you can learn interesting and fun words which you might not find in your dictionary.

Helen: That's right. 希望您在今天的地道英语节目中能学到一些平时在字典里找不到的英语表达。So, what's our phrase of the day? John?

John: Have you heard of the phrase to moonlight?

Helen: To moonlight? Wow, it sounds really romantic. Moon 就是月亮，light 不就是光吗？月光听起来多浪漫啊！

John: Well, there is another meaning to moonlight.

Helen: 那就听你解释一下吧。

John: It means to work at an additional² job, whilst³ not telling your main employer⁴. It's a secret.

Helen: 啊，是吗？除了正常上班之外，还打了一份零工 an additional job. 而且还得保持秘密 a secret.

John: So, if you're a teacher during the day, but also work as a taxi driver at night to pay the rent, then you're moonlighting.

Helen: I see, 要想同时做两份工作的确不容易。

Example:

A: I’m so tired.

B: What have you been doing?

A: I’ve been moonlighting at a bar for the last few nights.

B: What for? You’re doing so much already during the day.

A: Well, I’m a bit short of money at the moment.

B: You’d better take care. It’s not good for you to work day and night.

John: Poor thing. So have you moonlighted as well Helen?

Helen: Well, when I was at university, I did do two jobs at the same time. I moonlighted as a waitress.

John: Me too. I moonlighted as a storeholder at a market.

Helen: Well, let's recap for today. 我们今天学的表达是 moonlighting, 意思就是打份不想让其他人知道的零工， 也就是兼差。

John: That's all from us. We hope you'll join us for more Real English next time. Bye

Helen: Bye.