評(píng)論
打印
Dialogue
對(duì)話
Jane: Hi, Sam. How's everything?
簡(jiǎn)：你好，薩姆。近來(lái)怎么樣?
Sam: Great to see you, Jane.
薩姆：見(jiàn)到你真高興，簡(jiǎn)。
Jane: I hear you got a new job with Babson Machines.
簡(jiǎn)：聽(tīng)說(shuō)你在巴布森機(jī)械公司找了份新工作?
Sam: Yeah, it's true. I was really lucky. I started about six months ago; they haven't fired me yet. How's the factory?
薩姆：對(duì)，是這樣。我運(yùn)氣還真不賴(lài)。我大約是在半年前開(kāi)始干的，他們還沒(méi)解雇我呢。廠里情況怎么樣?
Jane: Ah, about the same as always.
簡(jiǎn)：咳，差不多是老樣子。
Sam: You mean shirts are still coming out without collars or buttons?
薩姆：你是說(shuō)生產(chǎn)出的襯衫還是缺領(lǐng)子、少鈕扣的?
Jane: Sometimes it's just the collar and buttons without the shirt. The plant isn't famous for its efficiency, you know.
簡(jiǎn)：有時(shí)是光有領(lǐng)子鈕扣沒(méi)有衣片。你知道，這家廠并不是以效率出名的。
Sam: Well, I heard there are some changes at the factory. Something about music and a coffee break in the afternoons.
薩姆：哎，我聽(tīng)說(shuō)廠里起了些變化。像放背景音樂(lè)啦，下午安排工作間喝咖啡休息時(shí)間什么的。
Jane: Music? Oh yeah. Yeah, I guess there is. A lot of good it does, though. The machines make so much noise we can't hear it anyway. And the coffee break! They give us only five minutes. If we run at top speed we can just make it to the coffee machine and back to our worktable.
簡(jiǎn)：背景音樂(lè)？喔，是啊，是啊，我想是有吧。說(shuō)來(lái)那玩意兒好處還真不少。就是機(jī)器聲太吵，我們根本聽(tīng)不見(jiàn)。再說(shuō)工作間喝咖啡休息嘛，他們只給我們5分鐘時(shí)間。要是我們用最快的速度奔跑，從工作臺(tái)到咖啡機(jī)旁剛夠我們跑上一個(gè)來(lái)回。
Sam: I can't believe this. I understood that Mr. Hobbs was all ready to make a lot of big changes down there at the factory.
薩姆：真叫人難以相信。我知道霍布森先生是做好充分準(zhǔn)備，要讓廠子大大改變面貌的。
Jane: Well, a couple of things have changed. We used to have dull gray walls to look at between operations. A couple of weeks ago, some painter came in and painted a huge picture of a perfect shirt ... with all its buttons, sleeves, and the collar. I guess management wanted to remind us of what we are supposed to be producing there. But can you imagine? A shirt! We see enough shirts all day. We don't need to look up from our work and find one painted on the walls.
簡(jiǎn)：唔，是有了點(diǎn)變化。過(guò)去我們?cè)诓僮髦?，只能看到四周黑乎乎、灰蒙蒙的墻。兩三個(gè)星期前，來(lái)了個(gè)油漆工，在墻上畫(huà)了好大一幅完完整整的襯衫——上面鈕扣、袖子、領(lǐng)子樣樣齊全。我想廠方是想提醒我們?cè)谀莾涸撋a(chǎn)些什么東西?？赡隳芟胂駟?？一件襯衫！我們整天看到的襯衫夠多的了。還用得著讓我們一抬起頭，再看到墻壁上有件畫(huà)著的襯衫嗎？
Sam: You mean that big shirt doesn't make all of you want to produce more?
薩姆：你是說(shuō)，這件大襯衫并沒(méi)有讓你們大伙兒想要多生產(chǎn)幾件？
Jane: A lot of pictures might make us want to produce more, but a huge painted shirt? No way! Oh yes, one other change. Remember Big Jim in our math class? He used to work on buttons and he held up half the assembly line. Well, they promoted him from buttons to sleeves, with a raise in pay. Now he sits at the beginning of the line and holds up everybody. There's progress for you.
簡(jiǎn)：多幾幅圖片也許會(huì)讓我們想多生產(chǎn)幾件，可就憑墻上畫(huà)著的這么一件大襯衫？沒(méi)門(mén)！哎，對(duì)了，還有個(gè)變化。還記得和我們一起上數(shù)學(xué)課的大個(gè)子吉姆嗎？他過(guò)去是干縫鈕扣活的，半條流水線上的活都讓他給耽擱了。嗨，他們把他從縫扣工提升為裝袖工，還長(zhǎng)了工資。這下他坐在流水線的最上首，把所有的活兒都給耽擱住了。你把這也叫做發(fā)展。
Sam: Ah, yes, progress: one step forward and two steps back!
薩姆：唔，是發(fā)展：進(jìn)一步退兩步！
