常春藤生活英語：A Co-Worker's Bad Habits 同事間的相處哲學

Dialogue A

Burt is in Kate's cubicle.

Burt: Kate, can I ask you…Hey, what's wrong?

Kate: Don't you hear that?

Burt: Hear what? I don't hear anything.

Kate: That loud drumming sound! It's Bob! He is so bothersome. I hate sitting behind him.

Burt: I thought he was a nice guy. Is he really that bad?

Kate: It's not really him that I hate. It's his bad habits. They're driving me up the wall!

Burt: Well, what does he do?

Dialogue B

Kate: He drums his fingers while he's reading. Besides that, he doesn't take out his trash often enough.

Burt: I see what you mean.

Kate: And whenever he comes to ask me questions, he tends to spill coffee on my desk.

Burt: I'm sure that's just by accident.

Kate: I know, but he does it every time and I have to clean it up!

Burt: If you can't tolerate his bad habits, it is best to talk to him about them.

Dialogue A

伯特在凱特的辦公室小隔間里。

伯　特：凱特，借問一下……喂，怎么了?

凱　特：你沒聽到嗎?

伯　特：聽到什么?我什么都沒聽到。

凱　特：那個很吵的敲擊聲!是鮑伯啦!他好煩哦。我超討厭坐在他后面。

伯　特：我以為他人還不錯。他真的有那么糟嗎?

凱　特：我也不是真的討厭他的人啦。我是討厭他的壞習慣。我真的被搞到快要抓狂了。

伯　特：嗯，他會做些什么啊?

Dialogue B

凱　特：他在看東西時會用手指敲桌子。此外，他也不常把垃圾拿出來倒。

伯　特：我了解妳的意思。

凱　特：而且每當他來問我問題時，他往往會把咖啡濺到我桌上。

伯　特：我敢肯定那只是意外而已。

凱　特：我知道，但他每次都這樣，我還得要善后!

伯　特：妳若不能忍受他的壞習慣，就最好要跟他說。

Building Your Vocabulary

1. bothersome　 　a. 討厭的，引起麻煩的

My neighbor is so bothersome. He always parks his car in front of my house.

我鄰居很討厭。他總是把車停在我家門口。

2. spill 　vt. 使?jié)姵?/p>

I'm sorry that I spilled milk on your coat.

不好意思把牛奶濺到你外套上。

3. tolerate　vt. 容忍，忍受

Roger can't tolerate the pain in his back.

羅杰受不了他背上的疼痛。

Phrases for Learning

1. drive + 人 + up the wall　　使某人非常惱火

That smell is driving me up the wall.

那股臭味快把我逼瘋了。

2. tend to + 原形動詞　　易于∕往往會……

Alice tends to forget to turn off the lights.

艾麗絲往往會忘記關(guān)燈。

3. by accident　　意外地;碰巧

Martin cut his finger by accident.

馬丁無意間割傷了手指。

參考字詞

1.　cubicle　n.(辦公室里的)小隔間

2.　drum　vt. 有節(jié)奏地擊打(本文中亦以現(xiàn)在分詞作形容詞用)

drum one's fingers　　某人用手指扣擊東西

Enjoy Box

同事間的相處哲學

許多人一天當中大半的時間都處在職場里，跟同事的互動也自然十分頻繁。然而部份同事的習慣實在令人不敢領(lǐng)教，有些人的缺點是跟工作相關(guān)：沒有時間觀念、不愿意加班或協(xié)助同事、衣著不夠?qū)I(yè)等。有的缺點則屬比較個人方面，如同本篇對話中描述的狀況一樣。一開始我們可能對同事的壞習慣不以為意，但日子久了以后，或多或少就會產(chǎn)生一些抱怨。倘若您能自行釋懷，設(shè)身處地為人著想，或是告訴自己問題其實并不嚴重，這樣的做法固然最好。不過要是同事的壞習慣真的很惱人，并且已經(jīng)嚴重到影響您的工作的話，您可以請那位同事的好朋友予以提醒。若您得親自跟他說，切記要表達得自然且不露痕跡才好，也就是從婉轉(zhuǎn)到正面以對。無論如何，切忌要顧及到同事的自尊，這樣大家日后才能和諧地繼續(xù)共事。

Tips In Use

They're driving me up the wall!

(我真的被搞到快要抓狂了!)

本句詞組"drive + 人 + up the wall"的用法非常生動，把某人逼到想要去撞墻壁的境界也就是『把某人搞瘋了』。以下為各位介紹相似的用法：

drive + 人 + up the wall　　令某人抓狂

= drive + 人 + nuts

= drive + 人 + bananas

= drive + 人 + crazy

= drive + 人 + insane

The screaming baby is driving me nuts.

(這個尖叫的寶寶快把我搞瘋了。)