disappointed是什么意思新职业英语(2)Unit 2

2021年1月19日发(作者：bra是什么)

Unit Two

Business Meeting
Meetings Are a Matter of Precious Time
会议关乎宝贵的时间


1


The meeting spills over into its second hour. We are discussing a productivity initiative. At this
moment, our most talkative member
chimes in
with the idea that we need some kind of system to
reward employees. This is the same solution he offers for every problem at every meeting. Then,
another member cuts in with a long story
—
just to make the point that we are not the proper entity
to recommend the kinds of changes we are
proposing
. I, meanwhile,
contribute
nothing useful.
Finally, the woman who set the meeting calls it quits and tells us we’ll continue next week. We
drift back to our offices, wondering how to make up for the wasted time. This meeting occurred
many years ago, but similar ones happen at companies everywhere every day

会议已经拖拖拉拉开了 一个多小时，
我们正在讨论如何提高生产效率的提案。
这时，
最能言
善道的同 事插话说需要某种制度来激励员工。
每次会上，
不管讨论什么问题，
他都会提出同一个方案。
紧接着，
另一位同事长篇累牍地说明我们都不是提出这些建议的合适人选。我也
没说啥有用的。
最后，
召集会议的女同事宣布散会，
并告知下周继续 开会。
我们游荡回各自
的办公室，
盘算着怎样才能把浪费的时间补回来。
这是 多年前的一次会议，
但类似的情景仍
然随时随地在不同公司上演

chime in:

to join in or interrupt a conversation; to agree with something

e.g.
Her expectation chimes in with the belief of













many others.
Tran
：
他总是插话表达自己的看法。







He kept chiming in with his own opinions.

Propose
: v.
to suggest a plan or idea, etc. for people to think about or decide on
e.g. The government proposed changes to the voting system.

Tran:
她建议封杀那个作者的著作。








She proposed that the books written by the author should be banned.

Proposal
: n. = suggestion


Contribute
v.

to speak during a meeting or a conversation, or write things for a newspaper, magazine, etc.

e.g. We hope everyone will contribute to the discussion.
Tran
：他给这家杂志写了很多文章。


He contributed a number of articles to the magazine.














2




Part of the
problem at such meetings is that the leader has not set clear objectives or an
agenda,
and
didn’t
assign
pre
-meeting
preparation
tasks. Instead,
the
leader
seems
to
hope
that
magic will occur, producing solutions to the problems. Of course, that doesn’t ha
ppen.
2


这种会议的问题部分在于会议召集人没有 明确的目标或议程，
也没有布置好会前的准备
工作，而是寄希望于奇迹发生，带来解决问题的方 法。当然，奇迹从未发生。


assign

v.


to give someone a particular job or responsibility; to give money; equipment, etc. to someone to use

e.g.

The teacher assigned a different task to each of the students.

e.g.


I was assigned a pleasant room to work in.
Tran
：
我们可以指派他完成一项重要任务。







We can assign him an important mission.

3





The main reason we don’t make meetings more productive is that we don’t value our time
properly. The people who call meetings and those who attend them are not thinking about time as
their most valuable resource. But time is the most perishable good in the world. Y
ou can’t earn an
extra hour to use on a busy day. Nonetheless, we usually have a vague feeling that there is plenty
of time
—
somewhere in the future
—
so we waste it now and carelessly steal time from our families,
friends or ourselves.
3


会议之所 以效率不高，
主要是因为没有很好地珍惜时间。
召开和参加会议的人都没有将
时间当做 最宝贵的资源。
但时间是世上最易逝的东西。
忙碌的一天中你无法得到额外的一个
小时 来做事。
尽管如此，
我们还总是依稀觉得未来有大把时间，
故而不珍惜当下，
漫不经心
地把家庭、朋友和自己的时间浪费掉。

vague

a. of an uncertain, indefinite or unclear character or meaning

e.g.
They were vague about their backgrounds.

Tran:
协议的条款故意含糊不清。












The terms of the agreement were left deliberately vague.

4





I used to be the disengaged participant
—
one who had good ideas about how to solve a
problem,
but
didn’t
contribute.
I
now
take
a
more
active
role,
aiming
to
make
meetings
more
effective. Here are three simple principles I use. First, whoever calls a meeting should be explicit
about its objectives. This means specifying tangible goals and assigning responsibilities. Second,
everyone
should
think carefully
about
the costs
of
a
meeting:
How
many
participants
are
really
needed?
How long should the meeting last? Finally, after meetings, assign credit or blame to the
person in charge. If people have records of leading
ineffective meetings, they are not allowed to
lead future sessions.

4


过去，
我开会时参与度不高，
对要解决的问题有好想法却不说。
现在，
我采取更积极的
态度，希望会议能更有效。我遵循以下三个简单的原则。第一， 无论谁召集会议，都必须明
确目的。
这意味着说明会议的切实目标并将任务布置下去。
第二，
每个人都要仔细考虑会议