向前一步:第103期 如何找到你的人生导师(17)

 As an associate at McKinsey & Company, my first assignment was on a team that consisted of a male senior engagement manager (SEM)  在麦肯锡公司工作时，我所在的团队里有一位男性高级项目经理，

and two other male associates, Abe Wu and Derek Holley. 还有两位男同事亚伯·吴和德里克·霍利。

When the SEM wanted to talk to Abe or Derek, he would walk over to their desks. 当那位经理想和亚伯或德里克说话时，他会径直走到他们的桌前；

When he wanted to talk to me, he would sit at his desk and shout, "Sandberg, get over here!" with the tone one might use to call a child or, even worse, a dog. 而当他想找我谈话时，便会坐在自己桌前大喊一声：“桑德伯格，到我这里来！”那语气就好比招呼一个孩子，甚至像在召唤一只狗。

It made me cringe every time. 每次我都会吓得哆嗦，不敢出声。

I never said anything, but one day Abe and Derek started calling each other "Sandberg" in that same loud voice. 有一天，亚伯和德里克开始用同样大的音量，开玩笑地叫对方“桑德伯格”，

The self-absorbed SEM never seemed to notice. 而这位经理似乎从来没注意到这个变化。

They kept it up. When having too many Sandbergs got confusing, they decided¹ we needed to differentiate². 他俩一直这样做，直到太多的“桑德伯格”引发了混乱，我们才决定要稍作区别。

Abe started calling himself "Asian Sandberg," Derek dubbed³ himself "good-looking Sandberg," and I became "Sandberg Sandberg." 亚伯称自己是“亚洲的桑德伯格”，德里克叫自己“帅气的桑德伯格”，而我成了“桑德伯格·桑德伯格”。

My colleagues turned an awful situation into one where I felt protected. 我的同事们把一个原本很糟糕的环境变成了一个让我感觉受到了保护的环境。

They stood up for me and made me laugh. 在那段日子里，他们给予我支持，让我开怀大笑。

They were the best mentors⁴ I could have had. 他们才是我最好的导师。

Since when it rains, it pours, on that same project, the senior client leader wanted to fix me up with his son. 那年的雨季之后，我的一位高级客户领队想撮合我和他儿子私下交往。

He declared this intention in front of his team over and over. 他在他的团队成员面前反复提起这件事，

I knew he meant it as a compliment, but it undermined my professional authority. 我知道他认为这是种恭维，但这样做却会削弱我的专业威信。

1 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。

2 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

3 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网