轻松日记商务职场篇134:保持中立

 　　核心句型：

　　In order not to offend either of them, I prefer to sit on the fence.

　　为了不冒犯他们其中任何一人，我选择保持中立。

　　sit on the fence原来是指“在分家产的时候，骑在分割家产的篱笆上，不知应该选择哪一边”，现在这个短语常用来表示：“保持中立，采取骑墙观望的态度”。因此，当美国人说"In order not to offend either of them, I prefer to sit on the fence."时，他/她要表达的意思就是:"In order not to annoy either of them, I took a neutral stance on this issue."、"I'd remain neutral in the event so as not to displease¹ either of them."。

　　情景对白：

　　Benjamin: Why not express your opinion? Which side are you on?

　　本杰明：你怎么不发表意见呢？你支持哪一方？

　　Terry: In order not to offend either of them, I prefer to sit on the fence.

　　泰瑞：为了不冒犯他们其中任何一人，我选择保持中立。

　　搭配句积累：

　　①What do you think of their suggestions?

　　你认为他们的提议怎么样？

　　②I don't really know what happened.

　　我确实不清楚究竟发生了什么。

　　③Both of them are reasonable, but also one-side.

　　双方都有道理，但他们都是片面的。

　　④What's your opinion?

　　你怎么看？

　　单词：

　　1. neutral adj. 中立的

　　Let's meet on neutral territory.

　　我们在中立地区会面吧。

　　Those who had decided² to remain neutral in the struggle now found themselves required to take sides.

　　那些先前决定在争斗中保持中立的人现在发现他们需要表明立场了。

　　Switzerland seems to be a permanently³ neutral state.

　　瑞士似乎是一个永久中立国。

　　2. stance n. 立场

　　The Congress had agreed to reconsider its stance on the armed struggle.

　　国会已同意重新考虑其对武装斗争的态度。

　　They have maintained a consistently neutral stance.

　　他们一直持中立态度。

　　His stance towards the story is quite similar to ours.

　　他对该报道的态度和我们很相像。

1 displease   

vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气

参考例句：

• Not wishing to displease her,he avoided answering the question.为了不惹她生气，他对这个问题避而不答。
• She couldn't afford to displease her boss.她得罪不起她的上司。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。