Around the table
By Anita
Picture by Zhu Lijun



If eastern people and western people were having dinner together in a western restaurant, what would happen?

One day, there was a small dinner party held for a few artists from several different countries. For most of the guests it was their first time to meet each other. And they were served something like French food.

Some guests from eastern countries did not know much about western food so they were troubled about what to order. They could not imagine what the food might look like because the names on the menu, although very beautiful to the ear, weren't very descriptive. So the atmosphere became a little bit embarrassing. A Japanese guy finally ordered a dish with quite a sweet name. But it turned out to be an entirely huge, steamed fish. The fish was cut into 4 pieces on a large plate. The Japanese guy was freaked out by this and exclaimed with surprise, "It looks like a mountain!"He was so embarrassed that he could not eat it all. The waiter was asked to withdraw the dish shortly after it arrived.

Another guy tried jokingly to comfort the Japanese guy saying, " Luckily it was not a dish called crouching tiger, hidden dragon, which would have turned out to be steamed snake and cat. Oh, of course, what I talked about is not French food, it is from South China."

The Japanese guy still could not imagine that such a large dish could be called such a sweet and tender name. After dinner, he told others:"You could not imagine how much I was missing my little tiny Sushi at that time!" ?

 

看电影,说英语
By Suky

最近学校放电影,是很久以前的经典感人(touching)老片《妈妈再爱我一次》,Suky就想起8岁大的时候看电影,整个电影院千人一哭的壮观场面.电影的魅力让我不禁想在这里谈一谈电影,和各位分享一些实用的关于看电影的英文对话.

1. I've seen every good movie that came out this summer.
我把在这个暑假里上映的每一部好电影都看过了.
Come out 这个词组常用来指电影、音乐、书本或是其它一般商品的发行或是推出上市.

2. "What's the genre of the movie? A romantic comedy?″
那部电影是属于哪一类的?浪漫喜剧吗?
就像我们看到一个电影的片名后通常会问,"这部片子是属于动作片呢?还是文艺片呢?" 美国的电影大致上可以分为 action (动作片)、sci-fi (科幻片)、comedy (喜剧片)、romantic comedy (浪漫喜剧)、thriller (惊悚片) 和 drama (剧情片) 等等.Suky简直是romantic comedy的忠实观众,You've Got Mail (电子情书)、Pretty Woman (麻雀变凤凰),总是让我笑中带泪.

3. The box office took in over 100 million in the first two weeks.
票房在头两周内就突破一亿美元.
如果要提到实际的票房收入,则不妨用 took in 或是 grossed 这两个动词 (均为过去式),例如,"Over the weekend, the top 10 movies grossed over 100 million at the box office." (排名前十名的电影周末票房总收入超过 1 亿美元.)

4. Let's go see a matinee and save a few bucks.
我们去看早场电影省几块钱吧.
有时候老美也会用 flick 这个字来代替 movie,同样指的是电影.例如你可以跟老美说,"Do you want to catch a flick with us?" (你想不想跟我们去看电影啊?)

5. I'd say it's worth renting (on video) but don't see it at the movie theater.
租回来看看还可以,若是去电影院看那就不必了.
聊到某一部电影时,通常最后不外乎会得出三种结论.一是awesome,太棒了,这部电影你非看不可,不然你就枉费此生了.二是 terrible,大烂片,你还不如把钱省下捐给慈善机关.再来第三种结论就是,It's OK. 还可以,但在家里看就可以了!这时你就可以接着说,"I'd say it's worth renting..."

 

Ask the Chef!
By the Chef

Chef's Profile: This chef is not just any chef, not only does he know everything there is to know about cooking, but also he is an absolute guru in Engish writing. Therefore, if you ever feel hungry or stuck in your English writing, you should go ask the Chef!

Last week's assignment:
Write an email to your boss and politely ASK FOR A RAISE!

Alex wrote:
(1)Dear Boss,
After being hard－working for half a year, I find it is appropriate time to ask for a raise of my salary (2)especially I have recently made a significant contribution to our company. I have successfully taken responsibility for the whole Marketing department. The profit has dramatically increased this half year which makes our company more competitive in the foreign and domestic market. (3)So I have been led to believe that you are satisfied with my work, and I may ask for a 10% raise of my salary. That would greatly motivate me. (4)And I will show my professionalism as I did in the past few months. I am looking forward to hearing from you very soon.
Best regards, Alex

Chef commented:
(1)当你觉得必须写信给老板要求加工资的时候,一般有三种情况:A, 老板忽略了你的出色表现.B, 老板不认为你的表现很好.C, 老板很抠门,明知你表现很好,就是不给加工资.但不管是哪一种情况,你的信给老板的感觉都应该尽量的向A靠拢.这样才能让他至少是心平气和地看完你的信.这封信总体上写得不错,框架搭得很好,但细节上有些欠缺,某些词语可能会引起不快.
(2) especially 用得不是很恰当.分号前后两句话应该是因果关系.
(3) 要求加工资是一个很敏感的话题,不但要运用技巧试图说服老板,还要善于运用客观事实,如公司的有关规定等等.
(4) 这句话有点威胁的味道.

Chef revised:
Dear Boss,
I understand you have an extremely busy schedule. However, I hope you wouldn't mind squeezing some time into it to consider the following proposal. After working very hard for the past half year, and adhering to the regulations of the company while keeping my performance level quite high, I am writing to ask for a raise. During the past half year being responsible for Marketing, I have successfully made the profits dramatically increase and have hence made our company more competitive in both the foreign and domestic markets. According to our company's policy, I think I deserve a 10% raise of my salary which I believe will greatly motivate me to work even harder in the future.
Best regards, Alex

This week's assignment:
You are the boss now. And one of your employees just wrote you an email asking for a raise. Please write back and politely decline his request.
Please email your homework to common-talk@fj172.com, thanks

 

 

<世界上最伟大的领袖经>
By 王鸽鹏



就像满纸附庸风雅的现代史册突然吹起一阵苍莽旋风,已成历史的故事席卷着智慧和哲理,在一张古老的羊皮卷上再现.有关奥古拉斯·哈利法酋长和怀特王子的言语被挖掘出土,真实的记录汇集成了这本<世界上最伟大的领袖经>.
自古以来,历史就是后人引以为戒的教训和积累经验的媒介.所以,古代领袖的仁德之治、明智之举和谆谆之策都是今世值得借鉴的管理手段.他们的宏观策论,他们的细微技巧,都成为一种行之有效的领导艺术.书中精美的插图生动表达了老酋长和王子不为人知的内心情感,甚至那种高处不胜寒的苦涩.喜欢管理的朋友可以翻阅一下这本羊皮卷的翻版,相信它会带给你一种全新的管理理念.市内新华书店有售.