我们先来看一段对话：

A: It's my brother's birthday next week and I need to buy him a present.

B: Have you got any idea what to buy?

A: I don't really want to spend more than US$5, so it's quite difficult to find something good.

B: US$5! Don't be such a stinge!

A: Well, he's a bigger stinge than me. Last year, he only spent US$2 on my birthday!

字典里也许你查不到stinge这个词，不过通过上下文一定可以猜到stinge就是“小气鬼”。这是一个英美年轻人常用的口语词，由形容词stingy (吝啬的)派生而来。A stinge指不喜欢花钱的人，买什么东西都捡最便宜的买。请看例句：

A: Her husband's going to take her to McDonalds for their wedding anniversary. That's so stingy.

她丈夫准备结婚纪念日请她吃麦当劳。真小气啊。

B: Yeah, he's a stinge.

没错，那男的就是个小气鬼。

She practices economy without being stingy.

她节俭但不吝啬。