【新唐人2012年10月25日訊】 (美国之音電)
- 禮節美語222: Office Gossip (2)
Sally 跟同事Lisa和Mary議論辦公室裡關於Tom的傳聞，說Tom 大搞婚外情，被老婆發現。Mary覺得，在辦公室裡議論這些不好，而且並不知道消息是否屬實。Mary 問Lisa小時候玩沒玩過一個叫“打電話的遊戲”，玩的人坐成一圈，把一句話從第一個人用耳語的方式一直傳下去，看傳到最後一個人會是甚麼樣子。Lisa 說，
L: Oh, yes! I’ve played that game! By the time you come to the end of the circle the original sentence has been completely mangled.
M: Right! “John hates chocolate cookies" gets transformed into something like, “James likes monkey pudding."
S: Ok, I get your point. What you mean is that when information gets passed around, often times it becomes corrupted and incorrect, right?
M: Exactly. Also, I think there is a difference between office gossip and commenting on someone’s private life.
Lisa 記得，小時候確實玩過這個遊戲。一圈人，等傳到最後一個人，最開始那句話，已經徹底走樣了。她在這裡用到的一個動詞mangle is spelled m-a-n-g-l-e, mangle, 意思是被肢解，破壞得不像樣子。換句話說，一件事一傳十，十傳百，是很難保證準確無誤的。Mary 還說，她覺得，大家議論辦公室裡發生的事情，跟討論別人的私生活也是有差別的。
Mary: If the boss was hard on you today and you tell your colleagues about it, well….maybe that’s just part of office life. But Tom’s private life is no concern of ours.
L: But people have been gossiping since the dawn of time! It’s sort of a way for people to bond.
M: Yes, I understand that. But I worry about spreading personal attacks or revealing secrets about someone’s private life.
L: You might be right. For one thing, the person we’re talking about isn’t here to defend himself, and that’s not really fair. And like you mentioned, we don’t even know if the story is true.
Mary說，如果是老闆對你過於嚴厲，if the boss was too hard on you. 你回來跟同事抱怨，這可能是辦公室生活很正常的內容，但 Tom 的私生活 is no concern of ours. 完全不是我們應該關心的範疇。Lisa覺得很有道理，而且，被議論的對像現在不在現場，所以無法為自己做出辯解，而且大家也並不知道傳聞是否屬實。Sally 說，
S: Those are good points. Tom is actually a really nice guy. I’ve worked with him for five years and he’s always been a good friend.
L: For us, if Tom is a good co-worker that’s all that really matters.
S: All right….I’m not going to discuss this rumor any further. Let’s leave it alone.
L: Good idea.
M: I think we all hope Tom and his wife can work out any troubles they might be having. Let’s wish them the best.
Sally跟Tom共事過五年，覺得Tom是個很好的人。Lisa說，對我們來說，Tom只要是個好同事就足夠了，其他都不重要。Sally保證，不再去議論Tom的事，Let’s leave it alone. 不要再去管這些流言蜚語。Mary 補充說，希望Tom夫婦兩人能 work out any troubles they might be having. 妥善解決兩人之間的問題。
