炒股失败的，有的甚至倾家荡产，还欠银行的钱。Billy 就是一个不幸的倒霉蛋。这里还是要告诉大家：股市有风险，入市须谨慎。

Kelly: You'll never guess what happened!

Jim: What? Tell me!

Kelly: You know now I'm looking for a new home?

Jim: Yeah. You said the housing market is thirty to forty percent lower than two years ago.

Kelly: Right. Well, the real estate agent took me to see Billy's old place!

Jim: Wow! He's really hit rock bottom!

Kelly: Yeah. It was almost creepy to see Billy's pad up for sale!

Jim: Oh. Something else a friend of Billy's told me...

Kelly: What's that?

Jim: The banks are leaning hard on Billy to return some unpaid¹ loans.

Kelly: Maybe he left the city - or the country - to escape all this pressure.

Jim: I would too if I had collection agencies breathing down my neck!

Notes:

1. 看来Billy真的是够倒霉的了。Kelly一直在找新房子，因为房市比起两年前，价钱低了三到四成。但是今天房屋中介带Kelly去的就是Billy以前住的地方。看来Billy真的是穷途末路了。Hit rock bottom 是“陷入低潮”的意思。这个短语是用来形容一个人正处于人生的“低潮”，也就是low point，心情跌倒谷底。这时候好像做什么事情都不顺利，好像一瞬间所有坏运气都聚集到他身上，就像中文里面的“屋露偏逢连夜雨”。比如说：

---Tom's wife left him after he lost his job. Tom丢了工作之后，老婆也离开了他。

---Poor guy. He is definitely hit rock bottom.可怜的家伙。真是祸不单行，倒霉透顶。

---Don't let yourself hit rock bottom, turn yourself around before it's too late! 别让自己陷入万劫不复的境地，在一切还没有太晚之前浪子回头吧。

---Thanks for the advice. 多谢你的提醒。

2. Kelly说看到Billy的房子等着被拍卖实在让人心底发毛。Jim还听说银行这个时候也在催Billy还一些未付清的贷款。也许Billy已经离开这里，甚至潜逃出境，来摆脱所有的压力。Jim说，如果讨债公司死缠着我，我也会这么做。Collection agency 的意思是“讨债公司”。

3. breathe down one's neck 表示“紧盯着某人”，小时候，如果你迟迟没有交作业，你的老师会用紧迫盯人的办法要你立即写完。Breath down one's neck 正是用来形容这样的动作，想象一下，如果有人在背后紧盯着你，近到连他的呼吸你都可以感觉到，相信在这样的压迫感之下，被盯着的人应该马上就能把该交的东西交出来吧！我们用一个对话来做例子：

---Are you coming home soon? 你快要回家了吗？

---I can't. The boss is breathing down my neck for this report. 还不行。老板正盯着我要这份报告。