商務禮節美語第240期:Vacation 休假(下)

Jerry跟同事Paula和Will聊天，說到telecommuting遠程上班。

Paula說：

Paula: Twenty years ago, many people thought that by this time, no one would be working in offices and everybody would have a more flexible schedule.

W: Well, that certainly hasn't happened.

J: Not it could still be the wave of the future. Then again, you know the famous saying: "Old habits die hard." Most bosses like to keep tabs on their employees and they think the best way to do that is by having them come into an office.

Paula說，20年前，很多人都以爲社會發展到今天，大家都不用去辦公室，可以在家上班了，and everyone would have a more flexible schedule. 大家都有更靈活的工作時間，但這種情況顯然沒有出現。Jerry 說，It could still be the wave of the future. the wave of the future 意思是未來的發展趨勢。不過，老話說得好，"Old habits die hard." 積習難改。Jerry說，Most bosses like to keep tabs on their employees 大多數老闆都想嚴格控制員工，to keep tabs on someone or something 是密切注意某人某事的意思。要想控制員工，最好的辦法當然就是讓他們來辦公室上班，在老闆眼皮底下工作。

J: I have to say I'm looking forward to my long vacation. I think you need at least three or four weeks of doing nothing before you can truly relax.

W: I thought you said you had months and months of vacation time available. Why are you only taking five weeks off?

J: Five weeks was the best I could negotiate with my boss. She says she knows I've earned the time, but she begged me not to take more than five weeks.

P: Five weeks should be long enough! Who knows? Maybe you'll get bored and come back early!
J: (laugh) I doubt it.

Jerry雖然有好幾月的假期，但老闆最多隻讓他休五個星期， 看來他一定是很能幹。Paula開玩笑說，五個星期也足夠了，搞不好用不了五個星期Jerry就覺得實在無聊，提前回來上班了呢！Jerry休假準備到哪裏去呢？

W: So, where are you going?

J: I can't decide if I want to go with a more relaxing trip, or if I want to explore cities.

W: If you were to choose the more relaxing option, where would you go?
J: I'm thinking of the island of Bali in Indonesia. I hear it's a very relaxing and cheap vacation destination.

P: And what's your second option?

J: I was thinking of traveling around Europe, starting with Paris. I could take trains and visit other nearby major European cities as well. It's a tough call.

W: I'm so jealous of you!

P: Me too! Don't forget to bring us back some souvenirs!
J: I won't!

Jerry說，他有兩種選擇，一個是印度尼西亞的巴厘島，去那裏更放鬆 more relaxing, 另外一種選擇是去歐洲，第一站是巴黎，然後可以從巴黎坐火車到其他歐洲城市去玩。Jerry 說，It's a tough call. 意思是他很難在這兩種選擇之間做出決定。Will 和 Paula 都很羨慕 Jerry, 提醒他一定要帶 souvenirs 紀念品回來送給他們。