專四聽力第3課：Big Gun；To Quarterback

　　Michael是紐約大學(xué)的美國學(xué)生，他同時(shí)也在一家建筑公司實(shí)習(xí)。他的中國同學(xué)李華今天要去他的公司看他。Michael聽得懂中文，但是說還有點(diǎn)困難。Michael和李華在今天的對(duì)話里會(huì)用兩個(gè)常用語，一個(gè)是：big gun;另一個(gè)是to quarterback。Michael現(xiàn)在在辦公室門口和李華打招呼。

　　M：Hey, Li Hua, Come on in. How're you doing?

　　L：我挺好。你怎么樣?對(duì)了，你下午想干什么?

　　M：Ah, I've got a meeting with the big guns this afternoon. They want to talk to me about continuing to work here after graduation.

　　L：我聽懂了你后面的一句話，他們要跟你談關(guān)于畢業(yè)后回來工作的事。那真是太好了。可是，你剛才說今天下午要跟誰開會(huì)?

　　M：Yea, I 'm meeting with my bosses. Sometimes we call them the big guns of the office.

　　L：噢，你要跟你的幾個(gè)老板開會(huì)。你們把老板叫做the big guns。

　　M：It's an expression that can be used to describe powerful people.

　　L：噢，那是指權(quán)力很大的人，也就是大人物。那么，總統(tǒng)的顧問能，稱為big guns嗎?

　　M：Yes, a president's advisors are big guns. But it can also be used in sports. In soccer the stars of a team are the big guns.

　　L：Big guns還能用在體育方面。

　　M：OK, let me show you around the rest if the office.

　　L：你要帶我去看看這公司的大樓，那太好了。Let's go!

　　M：This is the conference room. We had a meeting here yesterday on our plan for a new building. The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.

　　L：等等，你說這是會(huì)議室，你們昨天在這里開了一個(gè)會(huì)，討論蓋一棟新樓的計(jì)劃?？墒牵氵€說那項(xiàng)目主任是踢美式足球的，是quarterback，四分衛(wèi)，對(duì)不對(duì)?

　　M：No, no, no! Quarterback here is a verb, meaning to lead. The word quarterback is borrowed from American football, where the quarterback leads the team.

　　L：噢，quarterback在這里是動(dòng)詞，意思是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。你說這里的quarterback是從美式足球里借來用的，因?yàn)閝uarterback在球隊(duì)里是主力。你剛才是怎么說的?

　　M：The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.

　　L：現(xiàn)在我聽清楚了，你剛才說的是：項(xiàng)目領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人主持會(huì)議。那么，to quarterback還能用在別處嗎?

　　M：To quarterback is business slang. If someone is responsible for a group working on a new project that individual is quarterbacking the team.

　　L：知道了，to quarterback 是用在商業(yè)方面的。要是某人負(fù)責(zé)一個(gè)新項(xiàng)目，這個(gè)人就是在領(lǐng)導(dǎo)這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的小組。要是某人在一個(gè)法律事務(wù)所主持會(huì)議，那該怎么說呢?

　　M：Someone quarterbacked the meeting at the law firm.

　　L：你們公司的一位重要領(lǐng)導(dǎo)主持會(huì)議，討論公司的收入報(bào)告，這又該怎么說?

　　M：The company's big gun quarterbacked the meeting about their revenue report. Hey, I need to get back to work. I'll call you later.

　　L：好吧，那就再見吧!希望你將來成為a big gun.

　　M：Oh, yea, I'm sure soon I'll be quarterbacking every meeting and every project.

　　L：你真的當(dāng)真吶!還想主持所有會(huì)議，總管所有項(xiàng)目。得啦，再見吧!

　　Michael 和李華在對(duì)話中用了兩個(gè)常用語，一個(gè)是：the big guns，意思是大人物，對(duì)決策有重大影響的人;另一個(gè)是：to quarterback，意思是主持會(huì)議，或總管項(xiàng)目。