商務禮節美語第102期:眼見爲實

The Eyes Have It 眼見爲實

陳豪在北京的ABC美國公司工作。他和美國同事Amy剛剛開完會。

(Office ambience)

A: 陳豪，Do you have a few minutes to talk?

C: Sure, 有什麼事嗎？

A: I noticed something in our meeting just now. 做爲朋友，我覺得應該告訴你。It has to do with good etiquette.

C: 我有什麼地方做得不對嗎？西方禮節對我來說還有些陌生，你可得隨時提醒我。

A: It has to do with body language, specifically eye contact.

C: 肢體語言？Amy, 你能說得具體點兒嗎？

A: We send nonverbal messages with our arms, our legs, our posture, our gestures and most often with our eyes.

C: 你是說能從我眼睛裏能看出我的想法嗎？

A: 沒錯。比方說，今天開會時，your eyes said more than your words or your facial expression. Todd 介紹提案時，我能看出你不同意他的意見。

C: 奧，你從我眼睛就能看出來？我真的是有異議。可你看出來的？我可是一字都沒說呀。

A: You didn't have to. You rolled your eyes.

C: 我翻眼睛了嗎？我怎麼一點兒都沒覺得。

A: 你是下意識的。You were not aware, but several people at the meeting noticed.

C: 那就是說雖然我嘴上沒表示反對，其它人還是能夠看出來。Was there anything else that I did with my eyes?

A: Unfortunately, yes. You looked away several times while Todd was speaking.

C: 這有什麼不好嗎？他說的我都聽過好幾遍了。

A: 沒錯。By not looking at Todd, you gave the impression that you had heard it all before and were not the least bit interested in hearing more.

C: 這我可沒想到。我一直在努力管住自己的嘴巴，不要亂講話。

A: Well, your eyes did that for you.

C: Amy, 你還從我的眼神兒裏看出什麼了？

A: When you lost complete interest in what Todd was saying, you just stared at him blankly. It was that old "deer in the headlights" look.

C: “車前燈裏的鹿”是什麼意思啊？

A: For the deer facing the headlights of an oncoming car, its expression is one of looking, but not seeing.

C: 你是說我的眼睛雖然看着Todd，但是別人能看出來，我其實並沒有聽進去？

A: That's right. The courteous professional is as conscious of his body language as he is his spoken language.

C: Amy, 你能不能再提醒我一下，以後要怎麼做，省得我的眼睛把我的想法都泄漏出去了。

A: 記住，眼睛是心靈的窗口。Learning to control the message that your eyes send is the key to courteous communication.