常春藤生活英語：A Co-Worker's Bad Habits 同事間的相處哲學(xué)
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(gè)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(cuò)。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(xí)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(shí)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(dāng)他來問我問題時(shí)，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(xí)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?fù)舸?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(xué)
許多人一天當(dāng)中大半的時(shí)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(xí)慣實(shí)在令人不敢領(lǐng)教，有些人的缺點(diǎn)是跟工作相關(guān)：沒有時(shí)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(diǎn)則屬比較個(gè)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(xí)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(shí)并不嚴(yán)重，這樣的做法固然最好。不過要是同事的壞習(xí)慣真的很惱人，并且已經(jīng)嚴(yán)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(dá)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(gè)尖叫的寶寶快把我搞瘋了。)
