本篇文章引用凱文先生留學生日記的文章

前幾天,剛好有人在問我一些職場的英文~~
但是~~本人~~有點懶~~
剛好看到凱文先生的英文教室~~
所以就引用一下凱文先生留學生日記的文章
希望對一些人有幫助!
大家也別忘記去一下凱文先生網誌鼓勵一下!
以後大家可以多去凱文先生的英文教室,收獲會很多的!


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[英文教室] 職場升遷篇

馬立殺與霉雞兩位已婚婦女在茶水間相遇,打開話夾子,閒聊之餘談到了公司裡新的人事升遷公告,也聊起了個自對升遷這等事的看法。

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馬立殺:你看到公司新的人事公告了嗎? 樓上第二事業部的豬痢安即將被升遷成top dog了,哀~~ 我們都算同期進公司的,他現在都已經開始賺 big bucks 了,我們卻還在領 chicken feed.

霉雞:我實在不喜歡 bad-mouth 別人,但是說到他,我也挺厭惡的,之前跟他同一個事業部時,我們PM部門2個跟他合作過的同事也曾經被他 backstabbed過,此人真的很陰險,加上沒有真材實料,常常演出一些讓人笑掉大牙的dog-and-pony show,卻總以為自己是 big shot,一天到晚都在 on his ego trip,還好我當初眼明手快,馬上跟我們的大頭講才把他 got off my back,不然我也是受害者了。

馬立殺:沒錯沒錯,我從 the grapevine這聽來的傳言是,他的工作倫理很差,過去有好多次 went over his boss' head ,也時有而聞 stepped on people’s toes,他這個升遷主要是靠 brown-nosed高層主管得到的,一天到晚找 fast track,真是夠低級了,聽你這樣一說,原來傳聞真的不假,這種人能被升遷,真的實在是太沒天理了。

霉雞:我同意,像閹冬泥這樣有能力的 big gun反而沒有被提升上去,我覺得很沒道理,Well, 如果我們 knuckle down 並且 work around the clock,也許我們也有機會 climb the corporate ladder.

馬立殺:話這樣說是沒錯啦,可是我真的厭倦了 daily grind,況且我還有兩個小鬼頭要照顧,我不想 burn the candle at both ends,我還是想要有平衡點的生活,誰願意花一生的時間不停地工作呢? 上個月,已經為了趕個緊急的案子而 burn the midnight oil整整快兩個星期,我幾乎已經 burned out

霉雞:我們都有相同的境遇,算了,我們還是當個小小上班族平穩開心地過日子就好,我們今天早點下班然後去對街的酒吧輕鬆一下吧,今晚是他們的 happy hour呢。

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Top dog :有權力的經理/高階主管。
例句:It took Leslie six years of hard work to become top dog of his company.

Big bucks :a lot of money,很多錢,美國人喜歡用bucks來代表多少錢。
例句:The reason Leslie can make big bucks is that he works very hard

Chicken feed :a small amount of money,小雞只吃很少的飼料,以此延伸。
例句:I work six days a week, but I only earn chicken feed.

Bad-mouth someone :say negative things about someone,望文生義,講別人閒話、壞話。
例句:I don’t like Ann in Accounting but I would never bad-mouth her.

Back-stab someone : to sabotage someone else’s career intentionally,stab當動詞是(用刀)刺、戳的意思、stabbed是過去式跟過去分詞,就是從背面捅某人一刀,應該很容易望文生義吧?
例句:Carlos backstabbed Mary by telling her boss that she didn’t give him the important report on time.

Dog-and-pony show :a simple presentation which often insults the intelligence of its audience.這俚語的起緣是美國流行在19世紀末20世紀初馬戲團的一種,專遊走在小鎮中演出,pony是小馬的意思,一個馬戲團只有小狗跟小馬的表演,會有多精采呢? 延伸到現在的用法就是說用很陽春簡單、很不怎樣的方法(手段)來獲得認同(核准),有點愚弄輕視聽眾的程度,如用一個狗屁不通的presentation來獲得公司的預算核准,但是不能用來形容一個人的才藝表演很陽春很不怎樣喔。
例句:I can’t believe the boss liked Jack’s dog-and-pony show. He didn’t give any details and completely ignored all the important issues.

Big shot :an important person,凡是很重要的人都可以是big shot,像是VIP、公司裡的executives等等。
例句:Scott was just recruited for 3 months, but he acts as if he is a big shot.

On an ego trip :to love drawing attention to one’s own importance,總愛招惹注意來突顯自己的重要性。
例句:All Diane does is talk about her accomplishments. She is on an ego trip.

Get off one’s back :to stop harassing someone,停止騷擾打擾某人、或是擺脫(某人的)對誰糾纏,文中用過去式的動詞got off。
例句:I want Hannah to get off by back. I told her I will give her the report by 3PM.

The grapevine :informal transmission of information, gossip, or rumor from person to person or throughout an office,這個字很傳神很有意思,grapevine的原意是葡萄藤,現在引申為謠言、小道消息等等像藤蔓一樣地(有支架有牆縫)就到處攀、在辦公室裡或是人與人之間散播開來,若是以謠言解釋的話,注意都要加the。
例句:I heard through the grapevine that the boss wears women’s underwear.

Go over someone's head :to go to the person above one’s direct superior with a problem or concern,文中用過去式went,就是我們中文講的越級報告。
例句:If my boss won’t give me a raise, I’ll simply go over his head.

Step on people’s toes :trespassed into a lot of other people’s area of authority,越過某人的職責權力…而(擅作怎樣的事情),文中用現在式stepped,像之前凱文的公司跟RD共事時,有自以為是big shot的年輕R&D(研發人員)會跳過跟他們team裡面的PM,直接找到我們的老板或是其他本該由我們PM聯絡的人並擅自做了一些決定,這都是step on PM's toes的例子,不過,可完全沒有『踩著別人的屍體向上爬』的意思喔。
例句:Dave really stepped on Carrie’s toes when he called a meeting with suppliers without informing her. Keeping connection with suppliers is Carrie’s responsibility.

Brown-nose :to try shamelessly to earn the favor of someone,過去式brown-nosed,這是非常負面的字,簡單地講就是為了某種目的而逢迎諂媚拍馬屁,還有一個比較不雅但是很傳神又普遍的講法是ass kisser。
例句:Kyle laughs at all of the boss’s jokes because he wants a promotion. I could never brown nose like that.

Fast track :a career path which leads to rapid advancement,我們常說像坐直升機一樣獲得快速的升遷。
例句:Pete works hard and people like him. He is definitely on the fast track at this company.

Big gun:a very skilled person. 指工作上的專業能力很強的人。
例句:The project isn't going well, so management is hiring some big guns to help us.

Knuckle-down :to work very hard (like a slave),(像個奴隸一樣地)賣命地認真地工作。Knuckle 是手指上的關節部份,當我們握起拳朝人的臉上揍過去時,這就是賞了對方一記knuckle sandwich,電視中還很常聽到這樣的用法。
例句:We have to really knuckle down in order to finish our project on time.

Work around the o’clock :to work all day and night,日夜不停地工作。
例句:I’ve been working around the clock for 3 days. I can’t wait to go home and see my family again.

Climb the cooperate ladder :to get promoted,一步步地獲得升遷向上爬。
例句:I am promoted to be the new manager in the office. I’m finally starting to climb the corporate ladder.

Daily grind :daily work routine,grind在美語的口語是單調的工作,每天都是重覆一樣的單調工作
例句:I’m tired of daily grind. I need a new challenge or maybe a new job.

Burn candle at both ends :to work on too many tasks at once. 望文生義就是中文蠟燭兩頭燒的意思,同時間做太多事情而把自己搞得很累。
例句:Carol’s been burning the candle at both ends in order to get promoted. She looks exhausted.

Burn the midnight oil :to work late into the night,中文有相同的意思,可以解釋成焚膏繼晷、辛苦地工作到深夜。
例句:There is a big meeting tomorrow, so we need to burn the oil in order to finish the reports in time.

Burned out :to be exhausted, especially as a result of long-term stress,在連續burn candle at both ends以及midnight oil之後,你真的已經是完全地筋疲力盡、氣力消耗殆盡,尤其是指在一陣時期的壓力之後,注意,一定要用過去分詞burned out不能用現在式的burn out,因為這是人的心情、感覺、情緒等等的感官動詞,比如I'm satisfied. I'm delighted. I'm excited. I'm exhausted. 都是用過去分詞,在這邊特別提醒一下。
例句:I am completely burned out after working on this project for two months.

Happy hour :酒吧在下班時間或是特定時段都有特價的酒類或是飲料來做促銷,這個在台灣也是有的。
例句:Let’s go happy hour. I had a terrible day at the office and could get drunk easily.

P.S. 以上的字大多數都可以用在日常生活中,除非是很特別屬於職場情境中的比如dog-and-pony show或者是climb the cooperate ladder等等,上面的字都可以用在職場商業上是無庸置疑的。

凱文在出國前的工作是當PM(Project Management),主要是要跟R&D共事開發新產品,遇到認真負責的R&D,就算累得跟條狗一樣依然是心甘情願,但遇到擺爛耍油條的R&D,簡直是像永遠醒不來的噩夢一樣,Lucy妹子你應該很有同感吧?

以上的對話都是凱文自己編的劇情,除了花時間找俚語成語的資料之外,還要把很多原本不相關的俚語在自己發揮想像力後一個個挑出來,然後串聯出相關主題的對話內容,其實真的花了很多時間,所以真的希望對大家有幫助。

請眾家兄弟姐妹給凱文一點意見吧,看是喜歡什麼不喜歡什麼,太難還是太簡單? 太枯燥還是很有趣? 目前是計畫一個星期固定一天(時間可能暫定星期三)發表英語教室,一次的份量大概是20個俚語成語上下,這樣的份量會不會太多或是太少? 這些等等意見都非常歡迎留言。

真的超喜歡跟大家分享的感覺,然後聽到大家說你們有在利用這些資源來學習,那個成就感跟滿足感真的很大的。當然,有解釋錯誤的地方也一定要不吝指教,凱文不是專業美語教師,有錯誤絕對在所難免,教學相長,教學相長!!
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凱文先生寫的很仔細~所以就不多補充的!
但是要請大家注意的是~~有些其實是美式用法..不一定"每一個"在英國或加拿大適用,還是要看場合!


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