商業英語世界觀-世界公民文化中心

先不要往下看答案，一定要先講講看自己會不會這句辦公室常用英文，之後再核對答案進步才會快：
＂別把那桌上型電腦扔了，可能以後還會派上用場。＂
 
 

Do you ever get the feeling some companies just have too much money for their own good? And that maybe they could be using it to better purpose than lining lawyers' pockets?

你有沒有覺得有些公司就是錢太多。難道沒有把鈔票花在律師身上更好的方法嗎？

Microsoft and Apple are currently embroiled in a fairly ridiculous court case over whether Apple should be allowed to trademark the phrase "App Store".

微軟和蘋果最近捲入一場荒謬的官司：蘋果能不能拿"App Store"這個詞註冊商標？

In the latest salvo, Microsoft has continued its opposition to Apple with testimony from linguist, Dr Ronald R Butters, PhD, arguing that app store just means "store at which apps are offered for sale". Butters has been employed to refute testimony for Apple by Dr Robert A. Leonard, PhD, who argued App Store was a proper noun that had become associated with Apple. Or something like that.  It's all a bit complicated, semantic even.

微軟引用語言學家Ronald R Butters的意見，稱"App Store"這個片語意為“出售應用軟體的商店”，是通用詞彙（就跟“五金行”一樣，沒人會用這種詞來註冊商標），不能用來當商標的名字。蘋果則聘請Robert A. Leonard教授辯護，認為App Store是專有名詞，而且一說就使人聯想到蘋果，當然可以拿來做商標名。從語義學上看的確蠻複雜。

繼續閱讀內文與關鍵用字…

單字是用想的，不是背的。
許多人問，到底怎麼做才能增加自己的英文字彙？單字背了也記不起來，勉強記起來了，也未必說得上，說上了又不見得說對，天吶？
要讓自己的字彙更多，靠創意，不要靠苦力。
現在告訴你一個方法，就從我們已知的單字開始；以前背過的很多單字，久了不用，你就覺得自己不會，其實它們都還存在你的腦袋資料庫裡，來一次brain storm，重新給英文單字生命！

這是這次"世界之窗"單元的主題，日本震災後問題仍在延燒，歡迎點選連結閱讀全文後，再點選右上角字詞圖型，學習這篇文章的三個關鍵新聞字詞！
Japan rebuild could take five years, World Bank says
Japan may need up to five years to rebuild from the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that has caused up to $235bn of damage, the World Bank said in a report.
世界銀行的一份報告顯示，日本可能需要長達五年的時間來重建被地震和海嘯毀壞的地區。此次地震造成的損失高達2350億美元。
However, it expects growth to pick up again in the second half of the year.　The 11 March earthquake and tsunami, disrupted production networks in the automotive and electronic industries. "Damage to housing and infrastructure has been unprecedented," The World Bank said. "Growth should pick up through subsequent quarters as reconstruction efforts, which could last five years, accelerate," it said. The bank estimates the damage to be between $123bn and $235bn.
世銀期待下半年市場會有起色。311地震及海嘯打亂了日本汽車及電子工業生產系統。世界銀行說，房屋及基礎建設的損毁前所未有。重建工作加速後，接下來成長便可預期，但這起碼需要五年的時間。銀行估計損失大約在1230到2350億美元。

繼續閱讀與字詞解析...

找出英文錯誤，像擦掉眼鏡上的一層霧水！

還沒試試看上週在世界公民網路上的Debug嗎? 題目在這裡，每一句都有一個錯誤，看你能找出幾個！
1. Mandy will be in the hospital for two weeks. I will fill in for her while she's gone. (Mandy會住院兩周，她不在期間我會代理她的職務。)
2. The mother got angry and hit the boy. (媽媽很生氣就打了小孩。)
3. I'm tired. It's time I went to home. (我很累了，要回家了。)
4. I have so many work to do today. (我很今天有多事要做。)
5. I want to know how to do. (我想知道怎麼做。)
6. The car is hurrying through the street. (車輛急駛過街道。)
7. I have finished my work just now.  (我剛剛已經完成工作了。)
寫好後再點這裡看答案，記得要先登入會員喔！(還不是電子報會員的朋友歡迎訂閱，就能享有會員專屬的Debug線上英文測驗題庫！)


*每期電子報Debug的解答目前只會在當週刊出，記得每週都要回來作測驗喔！ 

Mistakes that can kill your career：It takes anywhere from three to 15 months to find the right job -- yet just days or weeks to lose it. Here are 10 traits that are career poison:
找到一個合適的工作可能要3到15個月時間——丟掉飯碗只要幾天或幾周。下面是10種職場毒藥的特點：
1. Possessing Poor People Skills
A little likeability can go a long way. Studies by both the Harvard Business Review and Fast Company magazine show that people consistently and overwhelmingly prefer to work with likeable, less-skilled co-workers than with highly competent jerks.

英語常常會讓native speaker和non-native speaker同樣感到困惑。很多人常抱怨：學到的單詞越多，遇到的生詞也就越多。語言是活的，就看你怎麼用。帶著興味，下點功夫，用對資源，字彙、片語越學越有趣！ 
1. stealth-call

當你不得不給誰打電話，但是又真的不想和那個人講話時，你就算準時間，在一個他不可能接電話的點打過去，這樣直接在語音信箱留言就行。
"I don't want to tell Karen I can't make it tonight, so I'll Stealth-call her when she's on her flight and has her phone shut off.""我不想親口跟Karen說我今晚不能去，所以趁她還在飛機上的時候打電話過去。"
2. pen you in/into
英語中有pencil you in這個片語，最初表示"臨時、隨手記錄一下"，因為非正式的記錄是用鉛筆的，可以事後擦掉。而pen you in就表示是很認真地把你的要求記錄下來。
Hey, wanna join the party tomorrow?明天來參加派對嗎？
I will pen you into my schedule.行，我安排在我行程裡面了。
3. your other left
對左右不分的人說的話，讓他們知道，方向又錯了。
"Raise your left hand."舉起左手
Directionally Challenged Guy: (raises right hand)左右不分的人把右手舉起來了
"No, your other left."不是這只，是另一隻"左手"。
4. virgin ears

用來形容一個很少接觸到負面訊息，像性、毒品、褻瀆，單純天真的人。
Susie has a pair of virgin ears.蘇茜還是個很單純的孩子。
5. beer thirty

一天中（通常是下午到傍晚的時候）某個需要喝啤酒的時段。
Hey, looks like its beer thirty, better grab me a cold one.呀，啤酒時間到了，趕緊給我來罐冰的。可以舉一反三，什麼coffee thirty、tea thirty、milk thirty都可以。
6. recrap
用來總結一個全是廢話的討論，是從recap(重述要點)來的。crap意為廢話，那麼recrap自然表示把廢話再講一遍。
"Tell me how the staff meeting went."全員會議開得怎麼樣？
"Allow me to recrap..."會議很無聊，容我再扯一遍吧......

 

 繼續閱讀…

 

一項有關肢體語言的研究發現，政治領袖在傳達好消息時喜歡用慣用手來做手勢……
If you want to know when a politician is burying bad news, here is a handy hint.(1)  A study of body language has found leaders tend to signal good news by pointing with their dominant hand – but gesture gloomy tidings with their weaker hand. It means a right-handed politician, such as Nick Clegg, will wave his right hand when passing on positive news, while a left-hander – such as David Cameron – will gesture with his left.
你知道政治人物什麼時候是在隱瞞壞消息嗎？告訴你一個小竅門。
繼續閱讀...

辦公室裡每天都有大大小小的事，難免遇到不如意，適當的表達是減輕壓力的方法。今天來看看老美在office裡怎麼吐苦水的。  

 

I am picked on all the time. =People pick on me all the time. （人們老愛找我麻煩。）
I try to be thoughtful, but he calls it manipulative. （我想表答關心，但他認為是操控。）
He is wrong, dead wrong ! （他是大錯特錯！）
He almost chewed me out ; I cannot seem to please him.（他把我罵了一頓；我無法讓他高興。）
His response to me was rude and insensitive. （他對我的回應粗魯，一點都沒人情味。）
He was so wishy-washy that drove me nuts. （他優柔寡斷，真令我難受。）
His response is fine, but his tone was belittling. （他說的沒錯，不過口氣瞧不起人。）
Sometimes he is completely overbearing. （有時他過分傲慢專橫，盛氣凌人。）
He missed the bull's eye. （他搞不清楚重點。）( bull's eye 意思是 main point )
He is immature, whiny and egotistical. （他幼稚、嘮叨而自大。)

 

繼續閱讀...

這次日本強震，和外國朋友溝通時如何用英文表達這句?先試講再看答案。
"日本上周發生芮氏9.0的地震。"
答案:

An earthquake with a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale hit Japan last week.
練習更多範例，請連結：世界公民weekly

 

在日常會話中恰到好處地使用成語或俚語，語言會另具風味。一起來看看"nail"這個字。它作名詞時的意思是"釘子"，作動詞時意為"用釘子釘"。

1. nail down　敲定
字面上看，nail down意思是"釘下去"或者"釘牢"。如果把什麼東西往下釘在地板上的話，那它的位置就固定不變，成了定局，可以引申為"敲定"，例如：

I have good news: I nailed down a contract to sell a thousand vacuum cleaners. The customer signed all the papers and I've already faxed them back to you.有個好消息，我敲定了一個出售一千個吸塵器的合約。顧客簽了所有的文件，我已經把文件用傳真發回給你了。

2. as hard as nails　難相處
As hard as nails字面意思是"像釘子一樣硬"。如果一個人像釘子一樣硬的話，那人想必既頑固強硬又無情無義，是個很難相處的人。例如：
They offered me a good job at that company but I hear that the boss is as hard as nails: one little mistake and you're out on the street the next day looking for a new job.他們給我一個很好的職位，但是我聽說那家公司老闆是個很難相處的人：只要你犯一個小錯，他馬上把你踢出公司，讓你另謀生路。

3. hit the nail on the head　一針見血
木工敲釘子得正敲在它扁平的頂上，才能釘得恰到好處。所以hit the nail on the head用來表示"說話行事恰到好處、正中要害或者十分中肯"。例如：
Your analysis really hit the nail on the head.你的分析確實一針見血。

閱讀更多內容…

Global celebrity culture is fuelling our crippling "fear of insignificance"
A generation ago young people aspired to become lawyers and doctors. Now they yearn to be the next Oscar winner or celebrity pop star. But one university psychologist has warned this is wreaking havoc with our self-image and undermining our sense of self-worth. Over recent years people around the world have been suffering from an increasing fear of their own 'insignificance', according to Dr Carlo Strenger of Tel Aviv University.
上一代的年輕人多半渴望當律師或者醫生。現在的年輕人則夢想成為下一位奧斯卡獎得主或成為流行歌星。一位大學心理學家警告說，名人崇拜將會嚴重干擾人對自我形象的認識、破壞我們的自我價值感。近年來，全世的人都害怕越來越感覺到自己微不足道。以色列特拉維夫大學的卡羅•史春格博士說。
He began an interdisciplinary project on the phenomenon 10 years ago, after noticing a surge of this fear in his own patients. His findings, presented in a new book, notes hundreds of research projects that have charted an unprecedented increase in levels of anxiety and depression. By using a wide-ranging framework Dr Strenger thinks he has pinpointed the cause. "The impact of the global infotainment network on the individual is to blame," he said.
十年前，史春格博士發現他的病人中有越來越多的人陷入對自身渺小的憂慮之後，他就該現象展開了一個跨學科研究項目。他分析了上百研究個案後發現，人們的焦慮和憂鬱程度都以超已往的速度攀升。這一研究成果發表在他的新書上。從這個跨領域的研究中，史春格博士認為他找到導致該現象的原因。他說：全球化的資訊娛樂網路對個人的影響是罪魁禍首。

繼續閱讀內文與關鍵字解析…