2014年MBA英语阅读加强练习资料(27)

　　hit the nail on the head 正中要害

　　木工敲钉子得正敲在它扁平的顶上，才能钉得恰到好处。当然hit the nail on the head是用来作比喻的。我们要看的例子里说话的人正感谢他的朋友在股票买卖上给了他十分中肯的劝告。

　　Thanks, Joe - you hit the nail right on the head when you warned me to sell the stock right away. Just in time I sold it at $ 60 a share before it dropped down to 18.

　　Joe多谢，你提醒我赶快抛售那股票的话真是恰到好处。我刚以六十美元一股抛出。它的价格马上就下跌到十八美元一股了。

　　所以hit the nail on the head用来表示说话行事恰到好处、正中要害或者十分中肯。

　　Jobsworth 工作按部就班的人

　　"I can't do that; it's more than my job's worth". 早上办事，需要复印材料，大厅里的复印机坏了，得到的答复是“机器中午才能修好，办公室内的打印机不能给外来人员使用。”生活中碰上诸如此类在自己的工作岗位上严守工作职责和规章制度，死板得一点不愿帮助别人的人，你是不是很发火?

　　Few stereotypes are hated more than a jobs worth. Everyone has met one at one time or another. To many people's minds, the term conjures images of small-minded, petty individuals, exercising their authority unreasonably.

　　What's a jobsworth? A jobs worth is a person who only does the work they're supposed to do and nothing else. A jobs worth 做事情完全是按部就班，一点儿周转的余地都没有。It often refers to people who have bureaucratic jobs and they never seem to want to help you! 这个词经常用来描绘那些在官僚政府机构工作的人，很死板，很不愿意帮人。

　　"Jobsworth" 是个贬义用语，同时也是英国一个特有的词汇。这个词的起源是什么呢?"Jobsworth" 来自于job's worth——The person won't help you because they think that to be helpful is more than their job's worth，就是说这种人不愿意帮助别人，因为他们认为帮人是超出了他们的工作范围。这种人常常挂在嘴边的就是这两句："Rules is rules" and, inevitably, "It's more than my job's worth." 。

　　为什么会有那么多的jobsworth?If you have a real fear of losing your job, why should you risk making an unnecessary mistake for someone who has not played by the rules? Following a clear rule is always going to be easier than exercising a difficult discretion. 按部就班工作，不犯错就不会惹麻烦的想法让人们做起事来显得死板而麻木。

　　对话1

　　A: I waited in a queue at the post office for an hour earlier for my stamps and then the man behind the desk told me I had to stand in a different queue to buy an envelope.

　　B: No way, what a jobs worth!

　　对话 2

　　A: So Helen, have you brought the script to the studio?

　　B: No, that's not part of my job. I'm not responsible for the scripts.

　　A: So come on Helen, where are those scripts?

　　B: I told you, it's not my job to bring the scripts to the studio.

　　A: You really are a jobsworth, aren't you?

　　B: Only joking! I've got the scripts right here.

　　Don't be such a jobsworth! 少一些officious and inflexible的职员，少一些petty rule-following and excessive 的职能部门，多一点付出，多一丝关怀，大家一起在互帮互助的社会氛围里享受和谐社会的温暖。

　　说到这里，Jeremy Taylor的歌声在耳际回荡：Jobs worth, Jobs worth, Its more than me job's worth, I can keep you waiting