Replying to invitations
By Yuan Yuan

Foreign custom is much stricter than Chinese custom in the matter of replying to invitations.
Receiving an invitation obligates you to reply. When you receive an invitation you should answer it immediately, saying definitely whether you are able to come or not. This is because the hostess probably wants to have a certain number of guests at her table, and if you cannot come she will want to invite someone else.

Telephone invitations are a fast, easy way to organize small, informal parties. When you receive a telephone invitation, do not engage the caller in a long conversation. If you cannot give a definite answer on the spot, you should call back later to confirm. Never reply at the last moment.

Sometimes you will be invited to a large gathering by invitation cards. If a great many people are invited, it is not necessary to reply to the invitation unless it bears the letters "R.S.V.P." (French, meaning "please respond"). When you receive an invitation with this on it, you must respond. All responses should be returned within 48 hours of receiving the invitation because your hostess may need to know this for good preparation. You may find some invitations have "regrets only" written on them. This means your host or hostess is already planning on your attendance; if you can't be there, let the host or hostess know.

Many formal invitations may not contain a telephone number to respond to. If this is the case, you must write a reply and send it to the host.

 

 

见面知冷暖
By Suky

美国人并不渊博, 但是见面聊天必然涉及一些伟大的学科. 人体学: How are you doing?统计学: We haven't seen each other for three months, right? 气象学: What is the weather like? 最后就是政治学: I don't like Bush, what about you? Oh, you support him? OK, byebye! 于是两人就分手各忙各的去了, 而今天我们要说的就是气象学.

1. How is the weather out there?
外面的天气如何?
如果想问未来的某一个时间会不会出太阳或是下雨, 就可以说Is it supposed to rain on Monday?
be supposed to这种讲法是老美最喜欢的. 又如, 假设明天有什么活动, 常常会要求别人先看看明天的天气, Why don't you check and see if it's sunny tomorrow? (你何不看看明天是不是晴天呢?)

2. It rained cats and dogs last night.
昨晚雨下得很大.
Rain cats and dogs 是一句受欢迎的俚语, 一般大家都知道用来形容雨下得很大. 当然如果你不想用俚语的讲法, 你可以单说, It's raining really hard. (雨下得很大) 或是, We had a downpour.(我们刚遇到一场倾盆大雨. )
雨下得很大, 即使有伞也很容易淋成"落汤鸡". 落汤鸡只能用 I am soaked. (我湿透了) 来形容.

3. It's just sprinkling.
只是毛毛雨而已.
英文里不管下毛毛雨还是毛毛雪都可以用 drizzle 和 sprinkle 这两个动词来表示. Drizzle 这个字就是气象术语里下毛毛雨的意思. 而 sprinkle 则是一个动词, 表示撒, 但也常被用来形容毛毛雨.

4. We can't play tennis today because it's too windy.
今天没法打网球, 风太大了.
老美通常用形容词 windy来形容"刮着风". It's windy. 简单明了. 如果是刮着微风, 还可以用 It's breezy. 来形容. 如果没有风, 天气很闷热, 则是 muggy.

5. It's burning up out there.
外面热得跟火炉似的.
可以说热得跟地狱一样, It's hot as hell. 俚语的讲法是It's hot as Hades. Hades 在这里也是指地狱 (hell) 的意思. 这两天, 厦门的天气我们就可以用It's hot as hell.来形容啦!

 

 

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:
Many of your colleagues have been watching Euro 2004 late at night, hence the low spirit during daytime work. Please work out a solution to this problem and email all your colleagues.

Lily wrote:
Dear all,
These days many of us have been watching the Euro Cup late at night, even to dawn sometimes. (1)That's no good I have to say. Exciting games are kind of relaxing, but it also can be another kind of stress. We know that till the next work day.
(2)Health is the most important thing for everybody, and we'll have to work efficiently on weekdays. If we have fun at night but the price is the loss at daylight, I don't think it's worth it. I sincerely suggest all of you not staying up too late.
(3)And how about a meet－up at weekend? We can watch the matches together…
Have a nice sleep
Yours,
Lily

Chef commented:
首先声明一点, 最近的欧洲杯chef一场也没落下, 看得我白天无精打采, 浑浑噩噩. 但是, 还是觉得非常值. 特别是捷克面对橙色军团从容不迫反败为胜, 葡萄牙与英荷之间扣人心弦点球大战, 还有希腊, 这匹黑马的出色表现...实在是让我过足了瘾, 当然老板对此也向我提出了警告, 但chef只有八个字: 义无反顾, 继续看球!坏了, 老板来了, 我们快开始上课.
这封email从个人角度讲明工作与足球的利害关系, 使人感到亲切, 但是有些句子的逻辑不是非常清楚, 如: (1) That's no good I have to say… 这几句话给人的感觉有点武断. 还有(2)这一段的逻辑也不是非常地严密, "the loss at daylight"和"Health"搭配得不好, 我建议你更多地从工作和看球的矛盾上入手, 给大家一些压力, 从而达到更好的效果. 除此之外, 我认为第三段(3)的建议非常好, 工作中当你需要批评或阻止某种现象的时候, 提出一个新的有益于大家的主意或仅仅简单地说几句好话来缓和大家的抵触情绪是非常必要的.

Chef revised:
Dear all,
As most of us probably know, recently the exciting games of the Euro Cup have been taking place very late at night. And some of us have been staying up really late to catch them. Exciting as the games are, they have also been causing low spirits at work and are harmful to our health and are probably an annoyance to our families as well. As the manager of this company, I suggest you try to watch these late games as little as possible to avoid serious damage to our work.
And also, as a football fan myself, I suggest that we meet up in a bar altogether to watch the final. All the beers will be covered by the company. Thank you and sleep well tonight!
Sincerely yours,
Lily

This week's assignment:
Next week's class is a review class. Please take a look at all the email assignments we have covered. Send your comments or suggestions to thecommonchef@yahoo.com. Everyone has a chance to win a free ticket to City Trend Fitness Center if they participate in our column.
参与本栏目者将有机会获得都市风健身中心提供的复活瑜伽、腰腹操、杠铃操等价值50元的体验券一张.

 

 

Crossword Puzzle



ACROSS
1. To pursue food.
5. Place of little light.
9. A great Greek philosopher.
11. Birds' clothing.
13. Hot, appealing, attractive.

DOWN
2. Unchangeable.
3. A tool for fishing.
4. One plus one.
6. A mood, also an important member of the Common Talk club.
7. To show, manifest.
8. A four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle.
10. A branch of mathematics.
11. A real occurrence.
12. A short literary composition.

The following people have won free movie tickets: 蔡莉,邓世平,谢明仪,邱荣健,王武,曾利红,林玉培,陈思蜜,黄青,孙凌滨, 叶海波. Please go to the Jinying Cinema (世贸金鹰影院) within two weeks. 欲知上期答案, 请登录http://www.common-talk.com.

 

 

<鸡蛋后面的故事>
王鸽鹏



有时成功是一种机遇, 可难题恰恰是, 究竟是好的"遇"还是坏的"遇"?似乎只有一纸之隔, 当它来临时, 就要靠自己去把握了. 有"遇"在手, 却只是成功的起点: 靠什么策略招来好运?如何获得持续性的战略成功?你有足够的理性, 但有足够的热情吗?企业成功的优势在何处?市场空间在何处?你有独特的商业模式进行市场运作吗?成功的品质究竟是何物?
OK, 你暂时成功了, 之后呢?对许多人来说, 这是个不甚清晰的问题. 就像一颗漂亮的鹅卵石和一只鸡蛋, 你选择哪一个?别小看这个看似简单的心智游戏, 它可以测试你的拓展性战略眼光和思维. 想知道这个选择意味着什么哲理吗?还有精彩绝伦的阿拉伯故事"石头汤", 你知道它的真正内涵吗?到市内新华书店找一本书, 名叫<鸡蛋后面的故事>.