VOA词汇掌故2023 她可能需要"裁减人员"

And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.

欢迎收听VOA慢速英语《词汇掌故》节目。

Spring is a time of the year when many people take time to clean.

春天是一年中许多人花时间打扫卫生的时候。

They straighten up messy areas of their homes. They tidy up!

他们把家里脏乱的地方收拾干净。他们打扫卫生！

Spring cleaning is a popular activity for many people.

对许多人来说，春季大扫除是一项受欢迎的活动。

It is a chance to get rid of unnecessary items and get their homes clean and organized.

这是一个丢弃不必要物品，让他们的家变得干净整洁的机会。

Spring cleaning usually involves big projects, such as taking down and washing curtains, shaking out rugs and cleaning carpets, perhaps clearing out and cleaning up cabinets and closets.

春季大扫除通常包括一些大项目，比如拆卸和清洗窗帘，抖干净地毯和清洁地毯，也许还会清理橱柜和壁橱。

Spring cleaning is a thorough cleaning inside and out.

春季大扫除是一次彻底的大扫除。

So, on today's program we are going to clean house, too!

所以，在今天的节目中，我们也要“打扫房子”！

Daily cleaning tasks like doing the laundry or dishes are not considered spring cleaning.

诸如洗衣服或洗碗之类的日常清洁任务不被认为是春季大扫除。

That is often called housekeeping or cleaning house.

这通常被称为家务。

We use both of these terms in idiomatic¹ ways.

我们习惯上使用这两个术语。

First, let's talk about cleaning house.

首先，我们来谈谈cleaning house。

When an organization, business or other group clean house, it gets rid of people or policies that make trouble or that do not work.

当一个组织、企业或其他团体clean house时，意思是摆脱那些制造麻烦或不起作用的人或政策。

Let's hear an example.

下面举一个例子。

My friend has a company that is suffering from troublemaking² and non-productive employees.

我朋友的公司正饱受制造麻烦和效率低下员工的困扰。

If the owner wants the company to succeed, she may need to clean house and fire anyone not contributing.

如果老板希望公司成功，她可能需要裁减人员，解雇任何没有贡献的人。

Cleaning house can also mean to wipe out corruption³ or inefficiency⁴.

Cleaning house也可以指清除腐败或低效。

When we use it this way, we are often talking about a political party or a governmental office.

我们经常会在谈论政党或政府办公室的时候使用它的这层含义。

Here's an example for that situation:

下面举一个例子：

The city official in charge of education reform made cleaning house on corruption and waste the first item on his to-do list.

负责教育改革的市政府官员将清理腐败和浪费作为他的首要任务。

Sometimes we put words in between "clean" and "house" to make the expression more specific, as in this example:

有时我们会在“clean”和“house”之间加词，使表达更具体，如下例所示：

To help their company succeed, the business partners needed to clean their financial house.

为了帮助他们的公司取得成功，商业伙伴需要清算他们的财务状况。

And that meant hiring a new financial manager – one that wouldn't steal from them.

意思是雇佣一个新的财务经理——一个不会从他们那里偷钱的人。

If you research the expression online, you may find another meaning for "cleaning house" – to punish or to give a beating.

如果你在网上搜索这个短语，你可能会发现“cleaning house”的另一个意思——惩罚或殴打。

For example, the bully⁵ threatened to clean house on anyone who disagreed with him.

例如，恶霸威胁说，如果有人不同意他的观点，他就殴打他。

But this usage is not as common as getting rid of ineffectual, troublesome or wasteful⁶ elements in a group.

但这种用法并不像摆脱团体中无效、麻烦或浪费的元素那样常见。

Now let's talk about housekeeping.

现在我们来谈谈housekeeping。

Housekeeping defines the act of managing a household.

housekeeping定义了管理家庭的行为。

Cleaning, organizing, paying the bills, and keeping food stocked can all be called housekeeping.

打扫卫生、整理、支付账单、储存食物都可以称为家务。

Sometimes we call this putting our house in order.

有时我们也说把我们的房子收拾整齐。

When we put our house in order we make sure it is running smoothly⁷.

当我们把我们的房子收拾整齐，我们确保它运转得很顺利。

It can also mean to organize your finances and other responsibilities, especially when preparing for a life-changing event.

这个短语也表示整理好你的财务和其他责任，尤其是在为改变生活的事件作准备时。

Used as a noun, housekeeping is also the department at a hotel in charge of keeping your room clean and stocked with necessary items like towels and soap.

用作名词时，housekeeping（客房部）也指酒店里负责保持房间整洁并备有毛巾和肥皂等必需品的部门。

Housekeeping also describes any repeated tasks that keep a business or organization running smoothly.

Housekeeping也指保持企业或组织平稳运行的任何重复任务。

So, housekeeping issues for a business could be managing and scheduling resources.

因此，企业的内务管理问题可能是管理和调度资源。

It could also be tasks like keeping your computer up and running or updating staff on events or policy changes.

它也可以是保持你的计算机正常运行或者向员工通报事件或政策变化的任务。

So, think of it this way. Housekeeping issues are the day-to-day, ongoing⁸ tasks and responsibilities that keep a business, home, or organization running smoothly.

所以，这样想吧。内务问题是指保持企业、家庭或组织平稳运行的日常、持续的任务和责任。

And cleaning house is to get rid of anything that is not working or is creating a mess – either literally⁹ or figuratively.

而cleaning house就是清理任何不起作用或制造混乱的东西——无论是字面意思还是比喻意义。

As for usage, both of these expressions can be used in formal and informal situations.

至于用法，这两个短语都可用于正式和非正式场合。

That's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time ... I'm Anna Matteo!

以上就是本期《词汇掌故》节目的全部内容。下次见……我是安娜·马特奥。

1 idiomatic   

adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的

参考例句：

• In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
• In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。

2 troublemaking   

n.捣乱的行为

参考例句：

• But no, says Acheson, troublemaking will continue, and definitely so. 但是不，艾奇逊说，还是要捣乱的，并且确定地要捣乱。 来自互联网

3 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

4 inefficiency   

n.无效率，无能；无效率事例

参考例句：

• Conflict between management and workers makes for inefficiency in the workplace. 资方与工人之间的冲突使得工厂生产效率很低。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This type of inefficiency arises because workers and management are ill-equipped. 出现此种低效率是因为工人与管理层都能力不足。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

6 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

7 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。