當失業率節節攀高，當媒體間競爭越發激烈，不停的新人換舊人以求發展的時候，就算你是拼命三郎，或是操著賣白粉的心，掙著賣白菜的錢，被炒魷魚都不算多意外的事兒。電視節目制作人Becky Fuller，盡管從小立志做電視，做新聞，也拼了命地干好自己的工作，卻也成了最新的失業青年之一。更讓人尷尬的是，被叫去辭退之前，你還在做著升遷的美夢。

Becky: What? What's going on? What is that? 怎么了？這是啥？

Colleague: We thought you might need this. 我們覺得你需要這個。

Becky: That better not be a box of condoms again and I didn't even use the old one. 別再送我一盒避孕套了，上回的還沒用完。

Colleague: No, you're gonna use this. 不是，這個你會需要的。

Becky: Oh, my God. 天哪！

Colleague: Congratulations. 恭喜。

Colleague: Congrats. 恭喜。

Becky: That's so sweet. 你們真貼心。

(YES!I ACCEPT! 襯衫上：“好的！我接受！”)

Becky, we have to let you go. I'm really sorry about this, kiddo. Corporate wants us to ①reduce our overhead. We're having to ②make big cuts and they want me to hire a senior producer with more business experience to manage the contraction of the show. 貝琪，我們不得不辭退你了。很抱歉這么做。公司讓我們削減開銷。我們不得不下狠心了。他們讓我雇傭一個高級編導，更有經驗，能夠解決節目合同的問題。

Becky: But wait a second. You told them you can't do that, right? Because I... I've been here so long and I've worked so hard. 等等，你跟他們說過不會這么做，對吧？因為我在這兒工作了這么久，比誰都努力。

His name is Chip. He's... Chip starts Monday. He has an M.B.A. And a journalism degree from Columbia. They're grooming him to run the whole station in a few years. ③In the meantime, I can't afford to keep you both. Becky, look, I'm really... 新來的叫切普。他周一就上班。人家有工商管理碩士學位，哥倫比亞大學新聞專業畢業。公司希望培養他幾年后做臺長。現在的情況是，錢不夠你倆同時開工資。貝琪，我很…

Becky: Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit. Shitty... 我靠！靠，靠，靠，靠，靠，靠……

Becky, I... I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. 貝琪，我真的很抱歉。

Becky: I fought them as hard as I could. There's lots of terrific opportunities out there, you know? I mean, look at Chip. He got one. So maybe this is just the push I need, you know? So it can get me to the next level, maybe even to a network or... Yeah. I mean, it's not like it's my whole life. It's only work, right? 我盡力爭取了。外面肯定會有更好的機會，對吧？看看切普，人家就找到了一個。可能這還算幫了我一把，這樣我能再上一個臺階兒，說不定是甚至是一個大的電視網。沒錯，這又不是我的一輩子，只是份工作，對吧？

雖然憤怒，但是Becky依舊樂觀。我們先來看一下文中幾處用法：

1. reduce our overhead. Overhead. 有“經常開支”的意思。復數形式意思是“管理費用”。Reduce overhead, 也就是“削減開支”。

2. make big cuts: 和上面的短語意思相近。也是要“大幅削減”。不過對象既可以是人，也可以是資金。

3. in the meantime. Meantime, “與此同時；其間”，in the meantime, 也是“在此期間”的意思。再比如：The next programme starts in five minutes: in the meantime, here's some music. 下一節目五分鐘後開始，現在先播放些音樂。

如同對白中所說，被辭退可能正是the push I need, 一個省略了關系詞的定語從句，“我需要的推動力。”大家猜也猜的到Becky未來一定會得到新的工作機會。不過，遵循著所有的發家史背后都可能有一部血淚史這樣的原則，Becky未來的工作歷程一定是跌宕起伏，麻煩不斷的。別說同行對這個資歷不深的女孩兒無法給予應有的信任，就是自己的母親也將Becky的熱忱看做是盲目的樂觀加以批評了。好了，下期，我們繼續“早間主播”，關注Becky新工作中的表現吧。