时间:2019-01-15 作者:英语课 分类:商务礼节美语


英语课

  项目主管Donny急冲冲地来找老板Simon,因为公司即将竣工的加工厂遇到了麻烦。当地质检官员以不合格为由,索取贿赂。Donny说,

D: I hate to play devil's advocate, but doesn't everyone who does business here pay kickbacks 1? It's a part of the local culture. Maybe it's easier to look the other way this time.

S: Oh, it would certainly be easier to just pay it. That's for sure. We could wrap up this construction ahead of schedule if we can just clear this mess up. But...I'm having a hard time telling my conscience that this is OK.

MC: Donny 说,I hate to play devil's advocate, 我不是要故意唱反调。advocate is spelled a-d-v-o-c-a-t-e, advocate是支持者的意思。to play devil's advocate,扮演魔鬼的支持者,指的是虽然你认同某种看法,但却要故意从反对者的立场出发,提出质疑,以便证明这种看法确实是正确的。

Donny还说,行贿受贿在当地似乎司空见惯,或许最简单的做法是look the other way,睁一眼闭一眼。

Simon承认,这是最简单的解决方式,这样他们就能提前完工,wrap up this construction ahead of schedule, wrap up,是收尾的意思,ahead of schedule,意思是提前。不过,Simon觉得良心上过不去。I'm having a hard time telling my conscience that this is OK. Conscience is spelled c-o-n-s-c-i-e-n-c-e, conscience,意思是良心。

D: I've heard stories about situations like this getting out of hand. Sometimes when you pay the first time, they start blackmailing 2 you for more.

S: Yeah, I'm worried we could end up in jail.

D: The on-site manager says if we don't pay up, the processing plant will be held up for at least six months and we'll end up paying an additional 25% in costs.

Donny说,如果第一次屈于压力给钱了,对方就可能变本加厉讹诈你,blackmail, b-l-a-c-k-m-a-i-l, blackmail,是讹诈的意思,搞不好局面还会失去控制,get out of hand. 但是不付钱,工期就要被拖延至少六个月,让开支平白无故地增加25%。

S: Six months? That's totally unacceptable! We should be on line in three months!

D: I know. That could really set us back. We might not be able to catch up with the orders already coming in.

S: You know what? I'm angry. I'm so angry that I'm going to do something about this!

拖延半年绝对不行,Simon说,we should be on line in three months! 我们还有三个月就应该开工了。这里说的on line,意思时投入生产。如果耽误半年的话,that could really set us back,就会让我们的进度延后。Simon会怎么做呢?我们下次继续听。



n.激烈反应( kickback的名词复数 );佣金,回扣
  • Everyone at City Hall is receiving kickbacks. It's the only way to get anything done there. 市政府里的每个人都收回扣,在那里只有送红包,事情才办得成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • G raft or kickbacks paid to officials or law enforcem ent authorities. 暗中付给官员或执法人员的回扣。 来自互联网
胁迫,尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的现在分词 )
  • The policemen kept blackmailing him, because they had sth. on him. 那些警察之所以经常去敲他的竹杠是因为抓住把柄了。
  • Democratic paper "nailed" an aggravated case of blackmailing to me. 民主党最主要的报纸把一桩极为严重的讹诈案件“栽”在我的头上。
学英语单词
AAP (analyst assistance program)
air operating electric light
airbrushed
albizzin
amberized
antiartillery
autobike
balancing procedure
basal cell carcinoma of face
bearing holder
Bogatyrëvo
boot-leg
British Accounting Association
Brocard point
bucephala islandicas
Camellia parafurfuracea
carbon circuit breaker
centrifugal tar extractor
cinnabar moths
computer literacies
creepage distance
cushioned-seat coach
Darcy law of resistance
denomination currency
diddlysquats
discretionary wiring machine
double break contact
ductile fracture
dynamic balance test
e and m leads
ectopocystis
esophageal sarcoma
feareth
filsting
for-loop block
French type machinist's hammer
full-point
fuselis
hexachaetous
high frequency feeder
home monitoring
honeybush
impracticalities
intrinsicates
jeans' radiation law
kerb-crawlers
Kopites
Kārvāndar, Rūdkhāneh-ye
liability to outsiders
Lumsum
made mountains of molehills
magnetic isoanomalous line
malakoplakia of genitourinary system
male - pattern baldness
Mboula
microdosimetricspectra
microfilariae
Mitsuze-tōge
nasty-looking
non-contact magnetic recording
non-hazardous area
nonsister chromatids
officery
on all sides
opercular fold
perseverances
Piliophen
piquant sauce
Plexus venosus vesicalis
postdiction
precision thermometer
Puccinia scleriae
pulsus aequalis
radio frequency energy
rag-and-bone
reductios
retractable bit
reviviscible
rigger brush
ringing generator
sambas
SearchMash
sequential testing
single-phase three wire system
skandas
solar spectrum
songvid
spatial disequilibrium
squarenesses
stared out
Tar River
td.
think ... up
transabled
translation operation
tubularian
u-shaped adapter
upthrust bearing
vitamin K-1
VSIP
wall gecko
water-rot