禮節(jié)美語(yǔ):201 Getting the point across
A: Hey Sarah, are you all right? You look upset.
S: As a matter of fact, I am a bit upset. I just came out of a meeting and it didn't go very well.
A: What happened?
S: No one would listen to any of my suggestions. Instead, they just kept arguing with each other.
A: Who was chairing the meeting?
S: Bob.
A: Well, I can tell you from experience that Bob might come off a little strong sometimes.
S: That's exactly what happened! He kept interrupting everyone with his own suggestions and did not want to hear what others had to say. Then he expected everyone to agree with him.
原來(lái)，Sarah不高興是因?yàn)閯偛砰_會(huì)時(shí)，沒人愿意聽她的建議。Amanda說，根據(jù)她的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，主持會(huì)議的 Bob有時(shí)會(huì)顯得過于強(qiáng)硬，come off a little too strong。come off 是表現(xiàn)出，顯得的意思。Sarah 說沒錯(cuò)，開會(huì)時(shí)Bob不停地打岔，kept interrupting everyone. Interrupt is spelled i-n-t-e-r-r-u-p-t, interrupt, interrupt指打斷別人的談話。Amanda說，
A: What was the meeting about?
S: We were trying to come up with ideas to streamline the office's workflow to make it more efficient.
A: It's ironic that the meeting was anything but efficient.
S: Exactly. I had tons of ideas that I wanted to share, but they just wouldn't let me finish. What should I have done to get my point across?
這次開會(huì)目的是討論如何簡(jiǎn)化工作流程，streamline the office's workflow. streamline意思是精簡(jiǎn)，目的是提高效率，make it more efficient. workflow是工作流程。Sarah問Amanda, What should I have done to get my point across? 我該怎么做才能把我的想法傳遞給別人呢？to get something across在這里意思是把自己的想法告訴給別人。Amanda有什么好建議嗎？
A: You have to keep things short and sweet. When you get a chance to speak, try not to get into too many unnecessary details.
S: Short and sweet? But what if I have to explain something complicated?
A: You can always bring up the main points during the meeting and speak to those who are directly involved after the meeting. Not everyone needs to know all that information.
S: That's a good idea, I think I will try that at the next meeting.
Amanda告訴Sarah, 話要說得 short and sweet。Short and sweet 是個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)，意思是簡(jiǎn)單明了。Amanda建議，開會(huì)的時(shí)候，應(yīng)該揀主要的說， bring up the main points, 不用加太多不必要的細(xì)節(jié)，unnecessary details. 這樣別人才會(huì)比較容易了解并接受她的意見。
