商務禮節美語第181期:節能環保 Go Green(4)

公司總裁Tim召集部門經理開會，討論節能措施。

F: I know it might sound like an old-fashioned idea, but what about some kind of a carpooling program?

T: You know, that just might work for a few of our departments. I know a few of the marketing guys live pretty close to each other.

H: Ah! But now we come to a problem. How do we convince people to sign up for a program that will—at least mildly—inconvenience them?

D: I have to confess, if you asked me to volunteer, I'd turn you down.

H: Sure. So would I. So we can't rely on the kindness of people's hearts. We're not bad people, we're just busy people.

Faith提議，可以考慮拼車計劃，carpooling program。Henry指出，拼車會給大家帶來不便，inconvenience them, 問題是如何說服大家加入。Sign up for something，是報名參加的意思。

T: I think I get your point. You're talking about a fundamental motivator. What Henry's saying is that people need an incentive.

H: Bingo! For the past few years, several companies have been experimenting with paying employees a tiny fee to carpool, use public transport or cycle. One organization in Florida pays twenty cents a mile.

D: Huh. I'd consider riding my bicycle if I was getting paid. That's like getting paid to work out!

總裁Tim說，I get your point. 我明白你的意思了。Henry是說要給大家一些好處，incentive。Henry說，Bingo! 這在口語裏很常用，意思是沒錯！對了！

H: Yeah! The company has to consider the fee as an investment in carbon reduction and in workers' health. Less driving means less stress.

T: It's a very interesting idea. But I think you're out an incentive, it's doomed to failure.

H: It might seem like a lot of hassle and in the end you might only get a few people to change their commuting habits, but just to put it into perspective, here's a fact from : If every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person, the nation would save 8 billion gallons of gas.

T: It really adds up, doesn't it? Thanks for the tips, Henry. I think we got a lot of food for thought today.

公司要把這筆錢看成是減少廢氣排放，促進員工健康的投資。總裁Tim表示贊同。Henry說，雖然聽上去好象挺麻煩，但如果美國每輛上班用的車裏都多坐一個人的話，美國就能節省80億加侖的汽油，It really adds up.