“We had no money. And the price of his silence was that we work for him for nothing. We were slaves.”
我们没钱。而换他闭嘴的代价,就是白白替他干活。我们成了奴隶。
用三个短句把勒索说成一场交易,最后一句把一个体面人打回原形。
The price of X was that we ...
讲述被迫付出的代价时用;正式的陈述里这样讲仍很有力。
His silence cost us everything we earned. / We paid for it with free work.
中性
We had no money 放慢加重,结尾 slaves 压低声。
The price of his help was that we worked all summer. 换他帮忙的代价,是我们干了一整个夏天。
