Reader's question:  If I may put my two cents in, that hat doesn't do you any favors. Could you explain “my two cents”?

My comments:

“Two cents” here represents a small bet…

In the above line, one person is giving his opinion on a friend’s hat. He means to say: I bet you two cents that you won’t look very good wearing that hat.

In other words, if you ask for my humble opinion, that hat is no good.

And, to put it bluntly, I think that hat is ugly.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.