轻松日记商务职场篇32:见机行事

 　　核心句型：

　　With things as such, let's play it by ear.

　　事到如今，我们就见机行事吧。

　　play it by ear直译过来就是：“玩耳朵”，这个短语的正确意思是：“随机应变，见机行事”。因此，当美国人说"With things as such, let's play it by ear."时，他/她要表达的意思就是:"Under the circumstances now, let's trim¹ the sails."、"Things have come to such a pass, let's play to the score."。

　　情景对白：

　　Terry: We have no choice but to wait for the boss' instruction.

　　泰瑞：除了等待上级的命令，我们也没别的办法了。

　　Benjamin: With things as such, let's play it by ear.

　　本杰明：事到如今，我们就见机行事吧。

　　搭配句积累：

　　①We have no time to consider more.

　　我们没有时间考虑那么多了。

　　②I don't know whether the contract should be signed.

　　我不知道这份合同到底该不该签。

　　③We've messed all things up. How can we explain to our boss?

　　我们把一切都搞砸了，怎么向老板交代啊？

　　④There are so many customers outside complaining about the quality of our products. What shall we do?

　　外面有好多顾客在抱怨我们的产品质量问题，我们该怎么办？

　　单词：

　　1. circumstance n.情况，境遇

　　I wish we could have met under happier circumstances.

　　我真希望我们是在更愉快的情况下相识的。

　　Hundreds of people had died there in terrible circumstances during and after the revolution.

　　在革命期间和其后的恶劣形势下，那里有成百上千的人死去。

　　2. trim the sails 随机应变

　　Angus met with success by trimming² the sails.

　　由于安格斯随机应变，他获得了成功。

　　Trim the sails to the wind.

　　看风使舵。

　　3. play to the score 随机应变

　　Teach the children to regulate³ their own emotions: kids are mutable and difficult to control; so parents should play to the score, and train elder children to control their own emotions.

　　幼儿情感易变，难于控制，家长应见机行事，对年龄稍大的孩子，要训练他自己控制情绪。

　　When you are there with them, play to the score. Never act on impulse⁴.

　　到那儿，你要见机行事，千万不要由性子来。

　　4. contract n. 合同，契约

　　He was given a seven-year contract with an annual salary of $150,000.

　　他签下了一份为期7年的合同，年薪为15万美元。

　　We have made a contract.

　　我们已签了合同。

1 trim   

vt.修剪；装饰；n.修剪；adj.修长的；整齐的

参考例句：

• We shall have to trim our spending down to fit our income.我们只得削减开支以使收支平衡。
• You must trim your costs if you want to make bigger profits.如果你想获得更大的利润，就必须削减开支。

2 trimming   

n.整理；修剪；装饰品；配料v.整理(trim的现在分词)；削减；装饰

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Weeks of exercise succeeded in trimming down her waistline. 几个星期的锻炼使她苗条多了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 regulate   

vt.管理，控制，调节，调校，调整

参考例句：

• This system can regulate the temperature of the room.这种系统能调节室内温度。
• They regulate the flow of water by the sluice gate.他们用水闸门控制水的流量。

4 impulse   

n.（一时的）冲动，冲力，脉冲，神经冲动

参考例句：

• She wrote that letter on impulse.她一时冲动写了这封信。
• I don't know how to resist my impulse.我不知道怎样抑制自己的感情冲动。