Obscenity in the Office
辦公室里不文明的話

陳豪在北京的ABC美國公司工作，今天他開完會出來，剛好遇到美國同事Amy.

(Office ambience)

C: Hi Amy, 你有時間嗎？

A: Sure. Come into my office and tell me what's on your mind.

C: 剛才開會的時候，我們的老板Mr. Jones對年終報表上的數字大發雷霆，說財會部門沒有好好追查公司的欠款。

A: I can understand why Mr. Jones was upset. What did he say?

C: 他說的不少詞我都沒聽懂，后來Todd告訴我，這些都是American obscenities, 是不是就是英語里的臟話啊？

A: That's right. Obscenities are not nice words. They are curse words. When some people get mad, they resort to using bad language to express their anger.

C: 在辦公室里罵人可不怎么樣，結果弄得大家特別不自在，低著頭都不說話，特別是不敢看那個挨罵的人。

A: Swearing, which is another word for cursing, is never effective. It only makes the person who is cursing look badly and is awkward for everyone else.

C: 我們下午還要開會，希望Mr. Jones能冷靜下來。

陳豪下午在走廊上又遇到Amy。

A: How did it go this afternoon at your meeting?

C: Mr. Jones不僅冷靜了下來，而且還跟我們所有人道歉。他承認自己上午開會時非常失態。

A: What did he say?

C: 他說自己這么做很不得體，冒犯了大家。

A: Did he say anything else?

C: 說啦。他說，在任何情況下，所以他也不準備為自己的錯誤提出什么辯解。

A: Cursing has become all too common these days. So much so that some people think nothing of it.

They don't realize the negative effect it can have on their careers or business relationships.

C: 那如果不是罵人，能用這些字眼嗎？我上次去看球，那些球迷都是滿嘴臟話，也沒人介意。

A: No, it is never appropriate to curse in public. You have no idea of the effect you'll have on others. Besides you can't predict who may be present and will recognize you later as the foul-mouthed person at the baseball game.

C: 如果別人當著我的面說臟字，我該怎么辦呢？是表現得無所謂，還是表現得受了冒犯呢？

A: If you are around total strangers whom you are not likely to see again, ignore them and move on. If you are with co-workers, suggest that you are willing to meet with them and discuss issues with them, but not when they use obscene language.

C: 我可以讓他們消了氣再來找我。

A: That's a good idea.