Anne: Where were you this past weekend? I tried calling you on Friday to see if you wanted togo to the movies with me.
过去的这个周末你在哪里?我周五给你打电话，想知道你是否想和我一起去电影。
Jurgen: I was in Chicago for a long weekend.
我在芝加哥度过了一个长周末。
Anne: Chicago? I didn’t know you were planning a trip. I thought you were pretty strapped thismonth. A ticket to Chicago would set you back at least $300.
芝加哥?我不知道你的规划行程。我以为你是相当拮据本月。到芝加哥的机票至少得花费300美元。
Jurgen: I am pretty strapped, but I wanted to go to my friend Rachel’s wedding. I was able touse my frequent flyer miles to get a ticket. I was lucky that those weren’t blackout dates.
我是非常拮据，但我想参加我朋友Rachel的婚礼。我能够使用积累飞行里程来得到一张票。我是幸运的，飞行里程没有日期限制。
Anne: Oh, that explains it. You’ve been traveling a lot using your frequent flyer miles. How doyou rack up so many miles? I’m enrolled in the frequent flyer programs of three differentairlines, but I never seem to have enough miles to redeem them for a ticket or even anupgrade.
安妮：噢，那能说得通。你经常用积累飞行里程旅行。你怎么获得这么多里程?我参加了三个不同航空公司的飞行里程积累，但我似乎从未有足够的里程来兑换一票，甚至是升级。
Jurgen: The trick is to get a credit card that gives you miles. For every dollar I charge on mycredit card, I get one mile. Since I use my credit card for a lot of business purchases, the milesadd up pretty quickly. I also use a lot of the hotels and restaurants that partner with theairlines, and doing that gives me bonus miles.
关键是要用信用卡。刷卡消费的每一美元中，我都得到一英里。由于我经常用信用卡来购买商业出差的票，里程积累得很快。我还去和航空公司合作的酒店和餐馆去消费，那样做又给了我额外的奖励里程。
Anne: Aren’t there a lot of restrictions? Do you ever have problems redeeming the miles?
不是有很多限制吗?兑换的里程你没遇到困难吗?
Jurgen: Yeah, there are some restrictions, but I work around them. There are fewer restrictionsif you have elite status, but I’m a long way from that.
是的，有一些限制，但我经常和他们接触。有较少的限制，如果你有精英的地位，但我是我还有很长的路要走。
Anne: So I need to get a credit card that gives me frequent flyer miles.
安妮：所以，我需要信用卡来增加给飞行积累里程。
Jurgen: Yeah, but a word to the wise: spend carefully. You don’t want to rack up credit carddebt for the sake of racking up frequent flyer miles!
是的，明白人不用多说：要仔细花。你不想仅仅为了积累飞行里程而悲伤信用卡中的债务!
Anne: Point taken. Thanks for the tip.
安妮：知道了。感谢您的提示。
set back 使花费 frequent flyer miles积累飞行里程 blackout dates 不得使用 rack up 获得;赢得 aword to the wise 明白人不用多说 point taken 知道了