时间:2019-01-12 作者:英语课 分类:2013年VOA慢速英语(五)月


英语课

 



Words and Their Stories: Get Your Act Together


I'm Susan Clark with the Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.


A woman from Japan was telling a friend about her trip to the United States. The woman had visited major businesses and investment 1 companies in New York City and Chicago.


"I studied English before I left home," she said. "But I still was not sure that people were speaking English."


Her problem is easy to understand. Americans in business are like people who are in business anywhere. They have a language of their own. Some of the words and expressions deal with the special areas of their work. Other expressions are borrowed from different kinds of work such as the theater and movie industry.


One such saying is get your act together.


When things go wrong in a business, an employer 2 may get angry. He may shout, "Stop making mistakes. Get your act together."


Or, if the employer is calmer, he may say, "Let us get our act together."


Either way, the meaning is the same. Getting your act together is getting organized. In business, it usually means to develop a calm and orderly 3 plan of action.


It is difficult to tell exactly where the saying began. But, it is probable 4 that it was in the theater or movie industry. Perhaps one of the actors was nervous and made a lot of mistakes. The director may have said, "Calm down, now. Get your act together."


Word expert James Rogers says the expression was common by the late nineteen seventies. Mister 5 Rogers says the Manchester Guardian 6 newspaper used it in nineteen seventy-eight. The newspaper said a reform policy required that the British government get its act together.


Now, this expression is heard often when officials of a company meet. One company even called its yearly 7 report, "Getting Our Act Together."


The Japanese visitor was confused by another expression used by American business people. It is cut to the chase 8.


She heard that expression when she attended an important meeting of one company. One official was giving a very long report. It was not very interesting. In fact, some people at the meeting were falling asleep.


Finally, the president of the company said, "Cut to the chase."


Cut to the chase means to stop spending so much time on details or unimportant 9 material. Hurry and get to the good part.


Naturally, this saying was started by people who make movies. Hollywood movie producers believe that most Americans want to see action movies. Many of their movies show scenes in which the actors chase each other in cars, or in airplanes or on foot.


Cut is the director's word for stop. The director means to stop filming, leave out some material, and get to the chase scene now.


So, if your employer tells you to cut to the chase, be sure to get to the main point of your story quickly.




n.投资,投资额;(时间、精力等的)投入
  • It took two years before I recouped my investment.我用了两年时间才收回投资。
  • The success of the project pivots on investment from abroad.这个工程的成功主要依靠外来投资。
n.雇用方,雇主
  • My employer deducted ten pounds from my wages this week.我的雇主从我本周的工钱中扣除了十英镑。
  • His monthly salary is paid into the bank by his employer.他的月薪由雇主替他存入银行。
adj.有秩序的,整齐的,一丝不苟的,和平的;adv.有秩序地,有条理地,依次地;n.勤务兵,(医院的)勤务工
  • It's an orderly room.这是个整洁的房间。
  • The books are in orderly rows on shelves.书籍整齐地排列在书架上。
adj.可能的,有望发性或实现的
  • It is probable to finish the job before dark.天黑之前有可能完成这项工作。
  • It is hardly probable that he will succeed.他不会成功。
n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生
  • Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
  • He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者
  • The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
  • The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。
adj.每年的,一年一度的;adv.一年一次地
  • The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
  • The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
vt.追逐,追赶,追求;n.追赶
  • The police grabbed the robbers after a long chase.警察经过长距离追赶后逮住了抢劫犯。
  • Would you chase me if I did?如果我逃开了,你会来追吗?
adj.不重要的,无意义的
  • Let's not quarrel about such unimportant matters.我们不要为这些小事争吵了。
  • Money seems unimportant when sets beside the joys of family life.与天伦之乐相比,金钱显得微不足道。
学英语单词
acoustic organ
age of phase inequality
animadverted
animal cage
ann-thennaths
antihyperlipoproteinemic
AOS
Aphaedo
applicatior
asplenium rutamuraria l.
average daily sol-air temperature
bechamp reduction
Binpur
biting my tongue
blue-screen
box barrage
brise soleil
cairhienin
capuchin
Carbenin
carels
carsal graph model
Chranak
circular form tool
CLIP-170
Conandron ramondioides
copper wafer bonding
creep strain
cultural wealth
cybers
dauphinoises
delayed entry program
dependovirus goose & muscovy duck parvovirus
derogatori ness
djp
Douglas Cape
dynamic free variable
Earth Station-Kenya
essential factors of production
exert oneself to the uttermost
feeding device
frequency-domain model reduction method
Ganelon
gavurin
general francoes
graphical integral
Hareth
heterogamety
hippuric
hydrological station for specific purpose
Illinoian
incomplete mixing
inessential
invariant lattice structure
jacket loading hole
kinetic energy thickness
leucocythemia
lowi
Maxwell's hypothesis
melanocratic dike
modulus in unloading
multifunction array radar
ordered branch
oven hearth
overtype
Pauli vector
Pedetidae
percussion of precordial area
phototransect
pick a row with
platinum catalyst
polyslot winding
Populus purdomii
propelling/steering unit
re-proofs
rectangular survey
reyal
ring diseases
rise in the net output value
satisfy a debt
scrotitis
soap albumin
social theory
sound pressure method
spherical reflecting system
starobelsk
statistical equilibrium
stretchably
stumble over
sucker-rod string
system of astrono-mical constants
tableware
thrombocytopoenia
thyroid seeker
transrectal
unbirdlimed
unplaceable
unpleasant connotation
vojvodina (voivodina)
Weygand
with expedition
yang water