Change‏

Dan McDonald is a project
manager at Normark, a large
printing company. He figures
out how much each printing job will
cost. Normark then uses this
information to prepare bids for
customers.
丹‧麥當勞是諾馬克公司的一位企
劃經理，那是一個大規模的印刷公司。
他的工作就是計算出每一筆印刷訂單的
成本是多少，然後諾馬克公司利用這個
的資訊來向客戶出價。
Dan: Dan McDonald speaking.
Rob: Hi, Dan. This is Rob Ward in
Accounting.
Dan: Hi, Rob. What’s on your mind?
Rob: Well, it’s about that health
booklet project. I need to check
your estimates before our bid
goes to the government.
Dan: What? Since when are you
supposed to check my
estimates?
Rob: Since about a week ago. Didn’t
M r. Teeter tell you? It’s a new
policy.
丹：我是丹．麥當勞。
洛伯：嗨，丹，我是會計部的洛伯．瓦
德。
丹：嗨，洛伯，有什麼事嗎？
了。競爭非常激烈，因為利潤很
少，所以我們經不起一點點錯
誤。你知道這個情形的。
丹：對啊，太清楚了——工作時數增
加、工作人員減少，而現在連會
計師也看緊我。
洛伯：嘿，我不過是在盡我的責任罷
了。
Dan: Nobody told me anything. What
new policy?
Rob: Well, Mr. Teeter wants me to
double-check all cost estimates.
If they’re too high, we won’t win
contracts. If they’re too low, we’ll
win contracts but lose money.
Dan: I know that. The printing
business has always been that
way.
丹：沒人告訴我任何事。什麼新政
策？
洛伯：是這樣的，提特先生要我再查對
一次所有的成本估價。如果太
高，我們沒法贏得合約；但如果
太低，我們即使贏得合約，也會
賠本。
丹：我知道。印刷業本來就是那樣。
Dan: Nobody told me anything. What
new policy?
Rob: Well, Mr. Teeter wants me to
double-check all cost estimates.
If they’re too high, we won’t win
contracts. If they’re too low, we’ll
win contracts but lose money.
Dan: I know that. The printing
business has always been that
way.
丹：沒人告訴我任何事。什麼新政
策？
洛伯：是這樣的，提特先生要我再查對
一次所有的成本估價。如果太
高，我們沒法贏得合約；但如果
太低，我們即使贏得合約，也會
賠本。
丹：我知道。印刷業本來就是那樣。
Dan: Nobody told me anything. What
new policy?
Rob: Well, Mr. Teeter wants me to
double-check all cost estimates.
If they’re too high, we won’t win
contracts. If they’re too low, we’ll
win contracts but lose money.
Dan: I know that. The printing
business has always been that
way.
丹：沒人告訴我任何事。什麼新政
策？
洛伯：是這樣的，提特先生要我再查對
一次所有的成本估價。如果太
高，我們沒法贏得合約；但如果
太低，我們即使贏得合約，也會
賠本。
丹：我知道。印刷業本來就是那樣。

Rob: Well, times are getting tougher.
Competition is fierce. Profit
margins are so tight that we can’t
afford a single error. You know
how it is.
Dan: Yeah, only too well—longer
hours, fewer support staff, and
now, accountants looking over
my shoulder.
Rob: Hey, I’m just doing my job.
Later, Dan goes for his regular
Wednesday pizza lunch with two of his
co-workers, Jim and Mark.
洛伯：沒錯，但是生意愈來愈不容易做
了。競爭非常激烈，因為利潤很
少，所以我們經不起一點點錯
誤。你知道這個情形的。
丹：對啊，太清楚了——工作時數增
加、工作人員減少，而現在連會
計師也看緊我。
洛伯：嘿，我不過是在盡我的責任罷
了。

Dan: I just can’t get over Teeter
making a policy change like that
without informing me.
Jim: He probably just forgot. He’s
facing a lot of changes himself
these days.
Mark: He sure is. I hear the board
members are putting pressure on
him. They want to see more
profit and higher share value.
There is even talk of showing
Teeter the door.
Dan: Boy, what happened to the good
old days, when people trusted
you to do a decent job?
丹：提特在政策上做了那樣的改變，
而不通知我，真是讓我無法釋
懷。
吉姆：他大概忘了，最近他自己也是面
對許多的改變。
馬克：那倒是真的，我聽到董事們對他
施壓，他們希望看到更豐厚的利
潤和更高的股票面值，甚至有傳
說要掃提特出門。
丹：天啊，過去的好時光那兒去了？
那時人們還會信任你能做好你的
工作。

Dan: I just can’t get over Teeter
making a policy change like that
without informing me.
Jim: He probably just forgot. He’s
facing a lot of changes himself
these days.
Mark: He sure is. I hear the board
members are putting pressure on
him. They want to see more
profit and higher share value.
There is even talk of showing
Teeter the door.
Dan: Boy, what happened to the good
old days, when people trusted
you to do a decent job?
丹：提特在政策上做了那樣的改變，
而不通知我，真是讓我無法釋
懷。
吉姆：他大概忘了，最近他自己也是面
對許多的改變。
馬克：那倒是真的，我聽到董事們對他
施壓，他們希望看到更豐厚的利
潤和更高的股票面值，甚至有傳
說要掃提特出門。
丹：天啊，過去的好時光那兒去了？
那時人們還會信任你能做好你的
工作。

Dan: But seriously, how do we handle
all this change? Nothing stays
the same for very long anymore.
For example, look at the new
“improved” e-mail software that
the computer department just
dumped on us. We’d only used
the previous system for six
months. Now we have to learn
something totally new.
丹：可是說真的，我們如何應對這些
變化呢？再也沒有什麼可以長久
保持原樣了。舉例來說，看看電
腦部門丟給我們的那個新的「改
良式」電子郵件軟體，前一個系
統我們才用了六個月而已，現在
我們又要學習完全新的東西。
馬克：但想想，丹，新的電子郵件系統
可以讓我們共享照片、圖案、甚
至是電視影像。
丹：電視影像？只要它能傳遞有關新
政策的簡單資訊，我就很高興
了。

Mark: But think, Dan. The new e-mail
system will let us share photos,
drawings, even video!
Dan: Video? I’d be happy if we could
just share simple information
about new policies.
Jim: Aw, Dan, don’t be such a
spoilsport. Technology is the
wave of the future. Better get
your surfboard!
Dan: Surfboard? I need a life
preserver!
吉姆：噢，丹，別那麼掃興。科技是未
來的浪潮。最好準備好你的衝浪
板。
丹：衝浪板？我需要一個救生圈。
會話六

Mark: I suppose there are two ways of
dealing with change. You can try
to hide from it. Good luck. Or
you can accept it and make the
most of it. Change can be
exciting, and it often brings
opportunities.
馬克：我猜只有兩種方法可以應付這些
變化：你可以試著躲避它，那麼
祝你好運；或是你可以接受它，
並且從中獲得最大的利益。改變
可以是令人興奮的，而且往往會
帶來些機會。

 

 

 

 

@Word Bank
bid (n)
出售；投標
estimate (n)
估價
policy (n)
政策
contract (n)
合約
contract (n)
合約

contract (n)
合約

dump (v)
傾倒；丟棄

spoilsport (n)
掃興的人

 

 

 

 

 

 

@The Day's Phrase

Businesses have schools to train their employees their way
公司行號設立學校，以自己的方式訓練員工

I am sure Denise is going to go places. She has great skills as an actress and musician, and she makes friends easily.
我相信狄妮絲會成功的。她有很棒的演戲和音樂天份，而且她很容易交朋友。

I'm getting by.
還過得去
I just finished listening to Evelyn tell her story at great length. She didn't leave out any details.
我才剛聽完艾芙琳鉅細靡遺地說她的故事。她一點細節都沒有遺漏。

This colorful, tasty fruit deserves its own festival
這種色彩鮮豔的美味水果當然應該有自己的節日

Fred really has a way with words. He can convince anyone to do anything for him.
弗瑞德說話真是有一套。他可以說服任何人為他做任何的事。

Talking is easy, but having a colorful conversation takes practice
講話很簡單，但是要聊得精彩可不容易

Greg doesn't have his feet firmly planted on the ground. He is always daydreaming about getting rich.
葛瑞格並不腳踏實地。他總是在做白日夢，想著怎樣可以發財。

Follow this simple advice and feel more energetic
遵守以下簡單建議，就能感到更有活力

You can't become a dancer. You have two left feet.
你當不了舞蹈家的。你的動作太笨拙了。

As soon as hail started falling from the sky, we all had to run for cover or we'd be hit by the hail.
當天空開始下冰雹時，我們都得去找個遮蔽的地方，否則會被冰雹打到。

Stupid is as stupid does.

傻人有傻福

Bedbugs have found a new home - yours
臭蟲找到新家啦──你家是也

Ian is a lone wolf. He prefers to do things by himself.
伊安是個孤僻的人。他喜歡自己獨自做事。

How necessary are credit cards?
信用卡有多必要？

When I told Janet I had damaged her car, she was hopping mad.
當我告訴珍娜我弄壞了她的車時，她氣得跳腳。

 Kids are using cameras to earn an education
孩子藉由攝影獲得教育機會

It's a small world. When I was on vacation in Tahiti, I met my friend Karen from high school.
這世界真小。當我在大溪地度假時，我遇到我的高中同學凱倫。
I'm stuck
我沒輒了

If you would stop making a fool of yourself, maybe the class would respect you, instead of just laughing at you.
如果你可以停止把自己搞得很可笑，或許班上的同學會尊重你，而不嘲笑你了。

One man's efforts bring education to the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan
憑一己之力帶給巴基斯坦、阿富汗民眾受教育的機會
Love is blind. I realized that when I saw how mean Mike's girlfriend is!
愛情是盲目的。當我看到麥可的女朋友有多惡劣時，我就了解了！

Rivera joins 600-save club - Yanks closer Mariano Rivera notched his 600th save on Tuesday.