Living on a Shoestring——資金緊絀

** to live or operate within a limited financial budget（在有限的預算中生活或經營）

~~零星預算；資金緊絀；零星資金；資金微薄；小額資本；小本經營 /// 手頭緊；生活拮据；精打細算過日子；省吃儉用；要勒緊褲頭生活；用很少的錢；過得非常寒酸；很艱苦的生活；靠很少錢生活；經濟拮据；量力而行地省錢

~~ on a shoestring // get along on a shoestring // get by on a shoestring // limited means/resources // tight/small/limited/low/tiny/strict/cramped budget // tight as the bark on a tree // as tight as a drum

!! In late 1800s, an illusory allusion surfaced that debtors in British prisons would lower a shoe by its laces from a window in order to collect some money from visitors or passers-by, and use the money to get better treatments.（十九世紀末，一個虛幻典故揭示英國監獄的負債人會利用鞋帶從窗戶吊下一隻鞋，以便向遊客或路人收取金錢，並用這些錢來得到較好的待遇。）

!! A more likely theory is that it alludes to the slender shape of a shoestring, comparing it to slim resources.（一個可能性高的理論是，它暗示了鞋帶的細長形狀，將其比作少量資源。）

>> As the government cuts spending during the severe pandemic, our department has had to work on a shoestring budget.（由於政府在流感嚴重期間削減開支，我們部門不得不以零星預算進行相應工作。）

>> It took three years of operating on a shoestring to break even, and enter the profit cycles.（我們在資金緊絀下，經營三年後才達致收支平衡，進入盈利周期。）

學勤進修教育中心

英語專科導師

李啟文　　教授