A：Hey, look at the offer I got in my e-mail. It says that I can get rich quickly while working at home!

嘿，看我電子信箱里別人寄過來的郵件。上面說我在家工作也能快速致富。

B：Do you also believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy?

你也相信圣誕老人和牙齒仙女?

A：What do you mean?

你什么意思?

B：I mean that you're gullible. You shouldn't believe everything you read, especially on the Internet.

我是說你很容易受騙。你不應該相信所有你看到的，尤其是在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上看到的。

A：But it seems like a good idea. All I have to do is first send some money to the person who sent me the letter. After that he'll tell me how to earn much more money.

但是看起來好像是個好主意。 我所要做的就是先給發(fā)給我這封信的人寄一些錢。 然后他就告訴我怎樣去掙更多的錢。

B：Sounds like a pyramid scheme. Have you heard of those before?

聽起來像是傳銷。你以前聽過那些東西嗎?

A：Pyramid scheme? What is that?

傳銷?是什么?

B：It's a scam7 that's based on a hierarchy, like a pyramid. The person at the top asks the people below him for money, and then tells them to go and ask other people for money while sending some of it back to him.

它是一個以等級為基礎的詭計，像一個金字塔。上層的人向他下面的人要錢，然后告訴他們?nèi)ハ騽e人要錢并同時把一部分返回給他。

A：Sounds good to me. The guy at the top gets money and so do the people below him.

聽起來不錯。上面的人得到錢，而且他下面的人也得到錢。

B：Not exactly. The scam keeps on going, with the people at the bottom paying more and more money until they reach the very bottom.

并不如此。詭計一直玩下去時，底部的人付的錢越來越多，直到他們成為最底部的人。

A：What happens then?

那會怎么樣?

B：Nothing. The people at the bottom give their money to the people above them, and they get nothing. They end up losing. That's why it's a scam.

不怎么樣。底部的人把他們的錢給他們上面的人，他們自己什么也得不到。他們最終遭受損失。這就是為什么它是個詭計的原因。

A：I see. I guess I should be more careful about what I read, especially on the Internet where you have no idea who anybody is.

我明白了。我想我應該對我看到的要多加小心，尤其是在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上的，你都不知道誰是誰。