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Shall We Dance? Meeting for Beginners 新手上场：开会ABC

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

A meeting is like a dance: Success requires the finesse to maneuver successfully, and a knowledge of decorum to avoid stepping on someone’s toes.

开会就像跳舞：要会议开得成功需要娴熟地掌握技巧，和会议礼仪的知识，以免踩到别人的脚。

The meeting’s chaperone is “the chair. “ He or she is there to enforce rules designed to keep the boardroom from descending into a rabble of argument. At the schedule time, “the chair” calls the meeting to order and invites discussion on each point of business on the agenda. In this way, the agenda is something like a dance card: each item is ticked off as the meeting rolls along.

会议中具监护之责的是「主席」。主席必须确实执行议事规则，以避免流于一场口水战。「主席」就排定的时间，召开会议，并指示和征求各方讨论议程表上排定的议题。如此看来，议程表就像是一份舞会邀请卡：各项事件依序进行下去。

Just as cutting in at a dance can inspire rancor. Likewise, interrupting somebody at a meeting is bad form. Only one person at a time may speak; one must ask the chair for permission to speak, or “take the floor.” However, this permission is tempered by the chair’s privilege of cutting that speaker off should they digress.

会议里打断别人发言就像跳舞抢别人舞伴一般会引起不快，也是一种恶劣行径。会议里一次只有一个人发言；发言必须得到主席的同意，或称为「取得发言权」。但是万一那个人的发言离题，主席有权打断他的发言。

If a motion to vote is presented, someone will be asked to second – or endorse – the motion. Often the chair has the privilege of casting the deciding vote in the event of a tie. The secretary counts the raised hands indicating “aye” and “nay,” and also counts the wallflowers: those who simply observe the dance floor, or abstain from voting.

如果有提议要求表决，就需要有人附议－或是背书－该项提案。通常在正反双方表决打成平手时，主席有权投下决定性的一票。秘书人员会计算举手表示「赞成」和「反对」意见的票数，同时也会清点那些做壁上观、或表示弃权的票数。

－by Sandra Walker

Vocabulary

单词发音

finesse [fəˋnɛs] n. 技巧；手段；手腕

maneuver [məˋnuvɚ] v. 巧妙地操纵（或处理）

decorum [dɪˋkorəm] n.【正式】端庄得体﹐ 有礼

chaperone [ˈʃæpəˌron] n.（尤指儿童表演时的）保护人；监护人

boardroom [ˋbord͵rum] n. 会议室

descend [dɪˋsɛnd] v. 屈尊；堕落[（+to）]

rabble [ˋræb!] n. 乌合之众；乱民；暴民

agenda [əˋdʒɛndə] n.〔会议的〕议程

tick off  用记号勾出  to mark with a tick

rancor [ˋræŋkɚ] n.【正式】积怨﹐ 深仇

at a time 依次, 逐一, 每次

take the floor 起立发言或演讲  to rise to deliver a formal speech, as to an assembly

floor [flor] n.（会议上的）发言权

temper [ˋtɛmpɚ] v.【正式】使缓和; 使容易接受

privilege [ˋprɪv!ɪdʒ] n.（议会内部享有的言论自由等）议会特权

digress [daɪˋgrɛs] v.【正式】〔说话或写作时〕偏离主题﹐转移话题

motion [ˋmoʃən] n.（会议上的）动议，提议

second [ˋsɛkənd] v. 支持，赞同

tie [taɪ] n. 得分相等，平手

aye [aɪ] n. 赞成票；投赞成票者；肯定的回答

nay [ne] n. 反对票；投反对票的人

wallflower [ˋwɔl͵flaʊɚ] n.【非正式】壁花〔譬喻在聚会﹑舞会中没被邀请跳舞或参加活动的人〕

abstain [əbˋsten] v. 弃权﹐ 不投票[(+from)]

Sentence of the Day

There's method to this madness.

这样疯狂是有理由的。

there's a method to somebody's madness:  something that you say which means that although someone seems to be behaving strangely, there is a reason for their behavior

课文讲解

Patty meets Roger, her office colleague, by the water machine after a meeting in their government department:  派蒂和同事罗吉都是公职人员，一场会议之后他们在服务单位的饮水机旁边碰面了：

P: Hi, Roger. Steaming mug of green tea will beat SARS, huh?

嗨，罗吉，喝杯热腾腾的绿茶帮忙抗SARS吗？

R: So they say. Speaking of SARS, how’s that meeting of the department’s SARS Action Committee go?

是有此一说。提到SARS，我们部门的抗SARS行动委员会的会开得怎么样？

P: Well, it was a bit of a mess. First, a number of committee members didn’t receive the memorandum about changing the meeting time, so we almost couldn’t call the meeting to order.

有点乱。起先有些委员没收到会议时间更改通知单，会议差一点开不成。

R: It’s unusual for a committee to be in absence of a quorum?

委员会因为出席人数不足而流会，不常见吧？

P: Yeah, but some last minute calling got just enough members there. After reading the minutes of the last meeting, the first item on the agenda was the vote we had postponed.

是啊，还好最后一分钟的点名凑足了法定人数。读完上次的会议纪录后，这回议程上第一件事就是上回延期的投票。

R: The proposal you couldn’t agree on last meeting? Did it go to a vote and deadlock this time?

上次会议里没能达成共识的那个提案吗？这次投票结果又平手吗？

P: Nearly. At one point, I had the floor and this other member – who shall remain nameless – kept interrupting me. Arrgh, you’d think he hadn’t read Robert’s Rules of Order.

几乎平手。有一次我取得了发言权，但是却有另一位老兄－他的名字我不该提－总是打断我发言。简直没读过议事规则【注】。

R: The chair must have called him to order, though?

主席总有请他遵守规则吧？

P: Yeah. The proposal still would’ve tied, but the chair used its casting vote in favor of the proposal.

有，但是提案付诸投票还是平手，结果主席投下他那决定性的一票，赞成这提案。

R: What was the proposal, anyways?

究竟是什么提案？

P: Free green tea. Otherwise, you’d be paying for that hot mug.

免费供应绿茶啊！否则你现在喝这一杯就需要付费了。

－by Iain Ferguson

Vocabulary

单词发音

mug [mʌg] n.（有柄）大杯子；一大杯的量

memorandum [͵mɛməˋrændəm] n.【正式】公务便条

quorum [ˋkwɔrəm] n. 法定最低人数

minute [ˋmɪnɪt] n. 会议记录

postpone [postˋpon] v. 使延期，延迟

proposal [prəˋpoz!] n. 建议，提议；提案

agree on  就...取得一致意见, 商定

deadlock [ˋdɛd͵lɑk] v. 陷入僵局，停顿

casting vote  决定票（赞成票和反对票相等时，主持会议者所投的决定性一票）

Sentence of the Day

You must mind your p's and q's at a meeting.

在会议里你必须遵守规定，注意礼节。

mind one’s p's and q's   谨言慎行