2015年ESL之商务英语 19 Dealing With a Language Barrier

Dealing¹ With a Language Barrier

Carol: Send another memo² to the Gibberese office. I think we have our wires crossed again. 

Art: Don’t you think it would be better to call the office and speak to someone there? You might be able to get to the bottom of the misunderstanding more quickly. 

Carol: I don’t speak Gibberish and we don’t have anyone bilingual in the office to act as an interpreter. 

Art: Which means there’s no one who could translate our correspondence into Gibberish to make things easier. 

Carol: That’s right. And plus, leaving a paper trail is better. 

Art: You mean in case we have to cover our asses³. 

Carol: I wouldn’t put it like that, but breakdowns⁴ in communication are inevitable⁵ and it’s always helpful to be able to trace their source. 

Art: Right. Okay, I’ll draft a memo and pass it by you before I send it, okay? 

Carol: Sounds good. 

Art: What I don’t understand is why we don’t simply hire people for this office who are fluent in Gibberish. 

Carol: Do you know anyone who speaks Gibberish? 

Art: Plenty! 

 

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse 

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

3 asses   

n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人

参考例句：

• Sometimes I got to kick asses to make this place run right. 有时我为了把这个地方搞得像个样子，也不得不踢踢别人的屁股。 来自教父部分
• Those were wild asses maybe, or zebras flying around in herds. 那些也许是野驴或斑马在成群地奔跑。

4 breakdowns   

n.分解( breakdown的名词复数 )；衰竭；（车辆或机器的）损坏；统计分析

参考例句：

• Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤，一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
• How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障？ 来自辞典例句

5 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。