打了个市话 又不是长途 还两块 一块
“It was a local call, not long-distance. Two yuan? Make it one.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
多少钱嘛 两块
“How much is it? Two yuan.”
打了个市话 又不是 长途 还两块 一块
“It was a local call, not long-distance. Two yuan? Make it one.”
你说你这
“Come on.”
“You're ripping me off for a simple local call! I'm only giving you one yuan.”
Before mobile phones were ubiquitous in China, neighborhood shopkeepers operated public landline phones and charged per call based on whether it was local or long-distance, often leading to petty haggling.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
local telephone call
Abbreviation for a city-wide local call, contrasted with long-distance calls.
long-distance (call or travel)
Commonly used for both long-distance phone calls and long-distance buses.
it's not even / it's not like
Essential rebuttal structure used to refute someone's unreasonable expectation or demand.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“I need to take a call from the provincial authorities.”
“Comrade. I'd like to make a long-distance call.”
“Do you know how expensive a phone call is?”
“you can just call me. You don't have to come in person.”
“I'm gonna take a call. It's too noisy here.”
“Why call when there's nothing? Phone bills are pricey.”