商務禮節美語第64期:說出自己的觀點
A: Hey Sarah, are you all right? You look upset.
S: As a matter of fact, I am a bit upset. I just came out of a meeting and it didn't go very well.
A: What happened?
S: No one would listen to any of my suggestions. Instead, they just kept arguing with each other.
A: Who was chairing the meeting?
S: Bob.
A: Well, I can tell you from experience that Bob might come off a little strong sometimes.
S: That's exactly what happened! He kept interrupting everyone with his own suggestions and did not want to hear what others had to say. Then he expected everyone to agree with him.
原來，Sarah不高興是因爲剛纔開會時，沒人願意聽她的建議。Amanda說，根據她的經驗，主持會議的 Bob有時會顯得過於強硬，come off a little too strong。come off 是表現出，顯得的意思。Sarah 說沒錯，開會時Bob不停地打岔，kept interrupting everyone. Interrupt is spelled i-n-t-e-r-r-u-p-t, interrupt, interrupt指打斷別人的談話。Amanda說，
A: What was the meeting about?
S: We were trying to come up with ideas to streamline the office's workflow to make it more efficient.
A: It's ironic that the meeting was anything but efficient.
S: Exactly. I had tons of ideas that I wanted to share, but they just wouldn't let me finish. What should I have done to get my point across?
這次開會目的是討論如何簡化工作流程，streamline the office's workflow. streamline意思是精簡，目的是提高效率，make it more efficient. workflow是工作流程。Sarah問Amanda, What should I have done to get my point across? 我該怎麼做才能把我的想法傳遞給別人呢？to get something across在這裏意思是把自己的想法告訴給別人。Amanda有什麼好建議嗎？
A: You have to keep things short and sweet. When you get a chance to speak, try not to get into too many unnecessary details.
S: Short and sweet? But what if I have to explain something complicated?
A: You can always bring up the main points during the meeting and speak to those who are directly involved after the meeting. Not everyone needs to know all that information.
S: That's a good idea, I think I will try that at the next meeting.
Amanda告訴Sarah, 話要說得 short and sweet。Short and sweet 是個習慣用語，意思是簡單明瞭。Amanda建議，開會的時候，應該揀主要的說， bring up the main points, 不用加太多不必要的細節，unnecessary details. 這樣別人纔會比較容易瞭解並接受她的意見。
