陳豪在北京的ABC美國(guó)公司工作，他在休息室里遇到了美國(guó)同事Amy。
　　(Office ambience)
　　CH：Hi Amy, how are you?
　　A：I'm fine, thank you. And you?
　　CH：還好。
　　A：So why the puzzled look on your face?
　　C：今天早上接到我的同事Sue的電子郵件，說(shuō)想給另外一個(gè)同事Lyn開(kāi)40歲的birthday party，生日派對(duì)。
　　A：Oh, how nice. What are the details of the party?
　　C：Sue要組織大家星期五在樓下的意大利餐館吃飯，而且還得帶個(gè)禮物去。
　　A：How do you feel about that?
　　C：我覺(jué)得有點(diǎn)尷尬。我跟Lyn并不熟，不知道該給她買點(diǎn)什么，另外我也不知道花多少錢合適。
　　A：I agree that these occasions can be uncomfortable, especially when you don't know the person well or you are asked to buy a gift.
　　C：那我是不是應(yīng)該給Sue發(fā)個(gè)email回絕算了呢？
　　A：This is not the time to send an e-mail. Your words might be misunderstood. You need to discuss this and e-mail does not lend itself to discussion.
　　C：要不我就說(shuō)星期五已經(jīng)安排了其他事兒？
　　A：That's not a good idea, especially if everyone else in your department is participating. Talk to Sue.
　　C：那好吧。
　　******
　　第二天，陳豪在辦公室走廊上遇到了Amy.
　　A：Hi, Chen Hao. How did it go? Did you talk to Sue?
　　C：我昨天下午去找Sue，跟她說(shuō)了我的顧慮。
　　A：I'm curious to know what happened.
　　C：談得還不錯(cuò)。她說(shuō)另外還有幾個(gè)人找過(guò)她，提出了各種問(wèn)題。
　　A：Like what?
　　C：有的人說(shuō)跟Lyn不熟, 買禮物好像不太合適。但是大家并不介意湊份子，一起給Lyn買個(gè)像樣的禮物。
　　A：Sometimes with these events, people aren't sure how much to spend, like you, and they don't want to come off looking stingy or cheap. Occasionally someone just doesn't have any extra money to spend on an unanticipated expense.
　　C：其實(shí)我手頭也有點(diǎn)緊。
　　A：So did you work things out?
　　C：Sue決定大家一起湊錢給Lyn買禮物，每人只要交幾塊錢就行了。她還說(shuō)，如果有人不愿意，也沒(méi)有關(guān)系。
　　A：That sounds like you all came up with the perfect solution. It is always nice to recognize special occasions in the office, like birthdays, weddings and the arrival of babies.
　　C：不過(guò)我覺(jué)得，辦公室里遇到這種事情，應(yīng)該有一個(gè)大家都覺(jué)得合適的做法。
　　A：I agree. These occasions are opportunities to build relationships with our co-workers, get to know each other outside the office and have some fun together. B if everyone is not in agreement, you'll create ill will instead of good will.