[漫畫]解決問題最好的方法就是---MONEY!! 哪怕是不肖子不小心把人家肚子弄大了,還是小老婆吵著一哭二鬧三上吊,甚至是企業中各種問題的解決方案,金錢似乎都是列位前幾項的解決之道。
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俺竭力拉:I really can’t get the hang of this new project,雖然馬立殺已經跟我交接過該怎樣做了,可是對一個新手來說還是太難了,面對一直層出不窮的狀況,It seems that I always fly by the seat of my pants,挫折感真的很重,Could you please give me some pointers?


閹冬泥: 好的,雖然As a rule of thumb是,I don’t like to talk shopon my lunch break,不過我可以為你開個先例,誰叫我們是同部門的苦命PM呢? Let’s get down to business吧。


閹冬泥: In a nutshell,我最衷心的建議是,Do not have any knee-jerk reaction. 也就是說,在你沒有得到從各方面得到足夠的資訊之前,別做任何 snap judgments

閹冬泥: 遇到狀況時,Do not jump to a conclusion right away,妳要先分析問題的來源,Try to get to the bottom of the problems,你可以先問一下工廠相關人員、你team 裡面的R&D、甚至是我們其它PM是否有相關狀況發生,多方收集資訊後再來做判斷,If you off the cuff,you may worsen the problem。


閹冬泥: 你還是新手,You probably will not be able to nip the problems in the bud,但是你要先去了解產品開發流程,這有一定的先後順序,Do not put the cart before the horse,也盡量避免 do things quick and dirty,這樣就能減少很多出狀況的機率了。


俺竭力拉: 哇~~ You are such a big gun,你的經驗談真的點醒了我很多,You are really the cream of the crop,真是太謝謝你了。你今天教我的I will go over it in my head.
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Get the hang of something (to) :to learn the proper way of doing, using or handling something and become proficient學習做怎樣的事情之後變得很熟練了。這句在電視影集裡面聽過很多次了,趕快學起來。
例句:I finally got the hang of this computer program.


Fly the seat of someone’s pants:to compose and perform or deliver without previous preparation, improvise. (毫無事先準備)就即席、即興的演出。
例句:Matthew never spends enough time checking facts or researching. He always flies by the seat of his pants when he makes decision.

Give someone some pointers (to) :to give someone advice. 給予某人一些建議。Pointer是老師或講師上課時手上拿的小長棍或是雷射光點筆。

例句:If you need help to write this report, you can ask Albert to give you some pointers.




Rule of thumb :a rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior. 一個大原則、做事的準則依據或是經驗法則。

例句:As a rule of thumb, you should never lock horns with your boss Alex unless you want to get fired.




看了很多篇網站的文章都有在rebut(駁斥)一個說法,那就是rule of thumb的起源是古早以前有一個法令(rule)規定丈夫可以用不超過他們大拇指寬的竹棍來鞭妻,以訛傳訛下到了今日成了挺多人相信的說法,聽起來很不合理也很誇張,幸好這是錯誤的。但rule of thumb的起源也眾說紛紜,莫衷一是,比較可信的說法都是跟丈量長度有關(ruler的意思是丈量長度的尺),裁縫師有一個axiom(格言、原則)是說:”twice around the thumb is once around the wrist”,大拇指兩倍的長度就是手腕的寬度,同時,有有木匠是用一根大拇指的長度來取大約是一英吋(inch)。



[延伸說明]Thumb是大拇指,我們通常會說 thumbs-up,這有兩個意思,一個是表示准予、批准;另一個是(翹起大拇指) 表示稱許讚賞,比如說: We turned thumbs up to his excellent performance. 相反的說法就是 thumbs down. 所以we turned thumbs down to Chen. 這大家都很清楚就是倒扁的手勢。



Talk shop:to talk about one's work, profession or business. 談論有關工作、商業等專業性教高的話題。

例句:After dinner we all sat around the table and talked shop.



[延伸說明]另外有一個長得很像的字是talking shop,這是一個貶抑的說法,指的是;毫無成效且官僚的組織、政治的委員會,所以台灣的立法院is a talking shop.



Get down to business :to apply oneself to serious matters; concentrate on work: 專注在正事、工作上。

例句:They finally got down to business and signed the contract.



[延伸說明]另外,我們最常用有關business這個字的口語還有business is business (商業或是各種利益該凌駕在個人的考量上),如:You have to fire your poorly-perform brother, business is business. 另外一個就是mind your own business 或者說none of your business. 不管你的事,管好你自己的事情吧。



In a nutshell:in very brief form; in a few words: 非常簡潔簡要的形式,用很簡單的少數一些字,nutshell是核桃的外殼或者是指小容器,裝滿一個小容器的文字語言是很簡短很少的。

例句:Just tell me the executive summary of your business plan in a nutshell.



Knee-jerk reaction:a reflex extension of the leg resulting from a sharp tap on the patellar tendon,簡單地講,就是拿著小槌子往膝蓋上敲時,小腿會自己有反射性的向上踢的反應,這是反射性的反應,用到我們人的身上就變成說是不假思索就立即做出的反應。

例句:When David found out that he didn’t get the promotion, he started screaming. It was a knee-jerk reaction and now he regrets it.



就像媽媽在你晚歸時會唸怎都這樣晚才回家,一般人的knee-jerk reaction就是怎這樣愛碎碎念會覺得很煩很生氣,可是有沒有想過其實為人父母會碎碎念的背後動機是出自於關心,也擔心晚歸可能會有潛在的不安全性,所以大家在心覺不爽不耐之前,請先靜下心來想想,若對你不聞不問完全地放牛吃草會讓你覺得比較舒服高興的話,那再來有reaction也不遲。



這一個俚語非常常用喔,前兩天看電視喜劇 “Will and Grace” 時,就聽到了這一個俚語,那個情境是,男主角只要聽到他的朋友跟他建議要如何改變他公寓裡的擺設時,他連想都沒想地就馬上說No,這就是knee-jerk reaction. 還有,You are a jerk就是我們常用來罵人的,你是個混蛋。






Snap judgments: a hasty decision made without having all the necessary facts. 在未得到完整必須的事實/資訊前所做下倉卒的決定。

例句:I hope Ralph would stop making snap judgments. He should listen to all the necessary opinions from his team member before reaching a conclusion.



[延伸說明]snap是quick的意思,所以常聽到的snap shot就是快速照相,像大頭貼就是snap shot,然後如果想利用午休時間小睡個10分鐘的話,就說I want to take a nap. Take a nap 就是小睡、打個小盹的意思,跟snap沒啥關係但市長得很像,所以就插個花提一下。



Jump to a conclusion :form an opinion or judgment hastily, 過早下定論、評論。

例句:Wait till you have the facts; don't jump to a conclusion.



Get to the bottom of something:find the origin or cause of something, 找出事情/(問題)的根源。

例句:The previous proposal couldn't resolve the efficiency of IT department. We have to get to the bottom of this.



[延伸說明]另外我們也常說 bottoms up, 也就是乾杯,若說 bet one’s bottom dollar, 意思(因為是非常確定)而賭上了你最後一塊錢,如:You can bet your bottom dollar that something will prevent us from leaving on time.而非常重要且常用的相關說法是 bottom line,是指底限、最基本的要求,如:I don’t care the quality of your report, the bottom line is you have to turn in that report by 5PM tomorrow.



Off the cuff:without really thinking about it. not prepared in advance; impromptu. 不多加思考地,沒有多做準備,跟fly by the seat of someone’s pants 有異曲同工之妙,cuff是袖口的意思。

例句:I don’t know the answer, but off the cuff, I’d say we should hire someone new.





[照]記得有一個節目是有五位專門改造不修邊幅的異性戀男的Gay men嗎? 其中一位男主角出了這本書是關於男士的穿著品味,書名就叫off the cuff,Amazon.com有在賣。



Nip something in the bud:to stop (something) in the beginning of its development,就是中文所說未雨綢繆,防患於未然。Nip 是阻斷、剪斷、阻止的意思;而bud是嫩芽,萌芽的意思,在嫩芽剛剛長出來時就把它剪斷,就阻絕了將來繼續發展的機會,所以就是在事情發展發生前就已經阻止了。Nip the problems in the bud這個俚語我在看”Frasier” (Dr. Crane的歡樂一家親)時也聽到了喔,是很生動很常用的一個俚語。



例句:Our CEO is going to nip the rumor in the bud. We all heard that our company is going to lay off hundreds of employees.



[延伸說明]另外有一個用詞是 nip and tuck,tuck當動詞的意思是把…塞進去、把…藏入,美國有一部非常受歡迎的影集叫做nip and tuck,台灣的片名翻成『整形春秋』,聽說超好看,可惜電視兒童如我都還沒看過。而 nip and tuck也有它自己的意思,是指在比賽中的競爭者都勢均力敵的狀況,It was nip and tuck as to which sailboat would reach port first. 所以nip and tuck這部電視劇應該是有雙關語,是整形師或者是去整形的人之間勢均力敵的競爭狀態,應該不免會牽扯到一些名利的糾葛吧。




[照]Nip and tuck的電視劇照,很像俊男美女雲集的007電影吧? 只是手上的槍便成注射矽膠或是肉毒桿菌的針筒了,很有諷刺的意味在。



Put the cart before the horse:to do or place things in improper order; be illogical. Cart是馬拉的二輪貨車,把小貨車放到馬的前面那如何能前進呢? 解釋成本末倒置,順序顛倒不恰當。

例句:Don’t put the cart before the horse. We have to make our budget plan first before we go to GM for approval.





[照]這則漫畫超可愛的,看這兩隻馬兒臉上逗趣的表情跟對話。



Do things quick and dirty: to complete a task quickly but not necessarily correctly. 事情做得快但不見得做得正確。

例句:Jessica does everything quick and dirty. She can finish her work on time, but I have to go back and fix all the problems.



[延伸說明] quick-and-dirty是相當常見到的說法,意思是(因為時間壓力下)而有出品質低落的產物,像是說quick-and-dirty report.



有一種叫做 quick-and-dirty的解決方案,這種解決方案(solution)就像是頭痛醫頭腳痛醫腳,只能暫時解決眼前的問題,而不能夠通盤地get to the bottom of the problems來解決問題,也可以說是治標不治本,企業界也還挺常用quick-and-dirty solutions來解決問題,通常真要通盤地連根來解決,是要花很多錢的。

例句: "I can have a quick-and-dirty fix in place tonight, but I'll have to rewrite the whole module to solve the underlying design problem."



另外,quick-and-dirty常常都用來指那種教人很快速上手使用某些工具或是會做怎樣事情的文件或是使用說明,但這樣的文件或手冊通常都沒有對why or how it works有太多細節上的著墨,你可以說那是quick-and-dirty handbook/document,比如像妨間有很多類似 ”5分鐘好菜端上桌” 呀 “ 3分鐘快速完成簡報製作” 等等概念的產物都是。



Big gun:在第一篇Promotion篇學過了,有記得嗎? 注意Big gun跟Big shot是不一樣的,big gun(a skilled people) 不一定是big shot(an important people),big shot 也不一定是big gun,但big gun 同時也有可能是big shot,兩個字的解釋要分清楚。



Cream of the crop:the best, most desired people. 簡單來說就是最好的。Cream是奶油,crop是穀物、收成的農作物,whipped cream就是蛋糕上或是咖啡冰沙上那一陀發泡奶油,美國人真的超愛吃whipped cream,第一次點了一塊看起來美美又可口的蛋糕,結果端上來的時候蛋糕上一陀白色奶油,蛋糕頂端在盤子上又一陀,兩大陀奶油完全地破壞畫面也真把我當場看傻了眼。美國人會胖真的不是沒有道理,他們的廚房還有專門像是霜淇淋機的發泡奶油機呢。

例句:This company accepts only applicants who are the cream of the crop.



[延伸說明] cream one's jeans 是一個很vulgar(粗俗的;下流的)的俚語,是指have an orgasm, esp. to ejaculate in one's underwear (or pants),凱文不多做解釋,請望文生義一下,會想介紹這個用法是請女性讀者小心避免言語上被吃豆腐了而渾然不知,這個用法可以適用在男女雙方,如果凱文我自嘲說I just creamed my jeans. 那只會跟熟識的好朋友私底下三八,這可不是啥正經的用語喔! 例句: Sam creamed his jeans when he saw the nude photo of Pamela Anderson(那位奶霸潘蜜拉安德森).





[照]猜猜這位大名鼎鼎的歌手是誰?? 看那個臉上的妝跟身上的裝恐怕很難認出來吧? 這可是名滿天下的女伶Diana Rose(黛安娜羅斯),這張是在1969年發行片名為"Cream of the crop"的專輯,她的歌聲真的很棒,唱起爵士樂超有味道的。



Go over something in one’s head to:to think about something carefully. 小心地思考某事。Go over的意思是repeat, review, examine. 如::The mechanic went over the car but found nothing wrong.

例句:If I have to fire someone, I’ll fire Ted. I’ve gone over it in my head several times.
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