Tuesday, June 26, 2007
《双语新闻》女性遭遇歧视和性骚扰
职场调查:女性遭遇歧视和性骚扰
Women face discrimination, harassment at work - poll
[ 2007-06-26 09:29 ]
Women in the survey conducted by Harris Interactive felt they did not receive credit for their work, their concerns were not taken seriously, their ideas or input were ignored and they were being overlooked for promotion.
Haefner said managers need to do more to reduce discrimination, she added women employees also have an important role to play.
"Are we being too passive or are we not showing enough confidence in our ideas and communication style. That seems to be something to work towards," she said in an interview.
Nearly half of women who experienced discrimination did not report it because they did not think it would make a difference. They also did not want to be labeled a troublemaker or to lose their jobs.
在哈里斯互动调查公司开展的此项调查中,女性觉得她们在工作中没有得到过嘉奖、她们所关心的问题得不到认真对待、她们的想法或观点常被忽视、而且在晋升方面也总被忽视。
哈伊弗纳指出,管理人员要多做一些工作,减少歧视现象。她还说女员工也很重要。
她在接受一个采访时说:“是不是我们太被动了,或者是我们对于自己的想法和沟通方式没有表现出足够的信心。这似乎应该是我们需要改进的地方。”
近一半的遭遇歧视的女性没有去反映情况,因为她们认为即便说了也不会有什么改观。而且她们不想被说成是“事妈”,或者因此而失去工作。
Thursday, June 7, 2007
哥呀,路旁的野花不要采
Ruby 发表于 2007-2-7 9:57:00
http://blog.cersp.com/userlog/17504/archives/2007/260862.shtml
陈德彰:北京外国语大学英语系教授。
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中国的一些民族歌舞团到美国演出时,为让美国观众了解歌曲的内容,歌词通常会配以英文字幕,并用幻灯放映出来。比如,有一句关于花的歌词:“哥呀,虽然已是百花开,路旁的野花不要采。”我想,绝大部分中国人都能明白这句歌词的含义。
从字面上看,英文翻译似乎没有错:Brother, though all kinds of flowers are in bloom, please don't pick the wild flowers lining the roads.可是老外看到这句话也许会纳闷:Are we to pick the flowers in the park?(路边的野花为什么不能采?难道去采公园里的花?)在西方人心中,“爱护公物”的意识比较强烈。
其实,用各种花的名字给女孩起名的做法在中国十分普遍。《现代汉语词典》(2005年第5版)里“花”字的第11条定义便是:“比喻年轻漂亮的女子”。形容女子漂亮的说法有“如花似玉””花容月貌”“花枝招展”等。
不过,这种现象在英语中并不普遍。英语中的flower不指代女孩,“flower girl”也不是“漂亮女孩”而是“卖花姑娘”或是婚礼中的“(女)花童”。屈指可数的几个指代女孩的花名不外乎:Lily—百合花,Lilac—紫丁香,Marigold—万寿菊,Rosalie—玫瑰(源自拉丁语),Blodwen—白色的花朵(源自威尔士语),Hyacinth—风信子花(源自希腊语)。
现在,大学里最漂亮的女学生被称作“校花”,英语称“campus belle”;流连于社交场合的女子被称为“交际花”,英语中戏称为“social butterfly”;妓女旧时在我国被称作“烟花女”,英语中委婉地称为courtesan;《三言二拍》中有个著名的妓女被称为“花魁”,用英语可以表达为“Queen of Flowers”。
在汉语中,“花”的比喻用法还同一些性文化联系在一起,如,“花街柳巷” “寻花问柳”“残花败柳”等。旧时“花柳病”是指性病,在英文中是“venereal disease”(常简化为VD)作为一种委婉的表达。
Thursday, May 31, 2007
《双语新闻》伊丽莎白女王成四岁男孩笔友
[ 2007-05-31 16:42 ]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-05/31/content_884605.htm
A 4-year-old boy who released a balloon not long ago with a message hoping to find a pen pal in a foreign land ended up having a correspondence with the Queen.
Tom Stancombe let go of his helium balloon in Hampshire, but rather than flying to France or half way around the world, it ended up just 20 miles (32 km) away, landing inside Windsor Castle, the Daily Mail reported.
The Queen instructed her personal assistant to reply and so the monarch and the boy, helped by his parents, exchanged a series of letters, mostly about the fact that one of the boy's ancestors, an artist, had works in the royal art collection.
"She (the Queen) was delighted to find that your balloon had travelled all the way to the gardens at Windsor Castle," the monarch's assistant wrote.
Asked if he thought his son would be exchanging any more letters with the Queen, Tom's father said: "I don't expect we'll get another one, but I think it's incredible they bothered replying at all."
(AP)
一个四岁的英国男孩不久前放飞了一只带有字条的气球,他希望能找一个外国笔友,没想到最后他竟然收到了女王的回信。
据《每日邮报》报道,这个名叫汤姆·斯坦科姆比的男孩在汉普郡放飞了他的氦气球,但这只气球并没有飞到法国、也没有环游大半个世界,而是落在了20英里(32千米)以外的温莎城堡里。
女王让她的私人助理给汤姆回信,在父母的帮助下,汤姆与女王通了好几次信,信的内容大多与他的一个艺术家祖先的作品曾被收入皇家美术馆有关。
女王的助理在信中写道:“你的这只气球经过漫长的旅程后,落到了温莎堡的花园中。她(女王)发现你的气球后非常高兴。”
当汤姆的父亲被问到儿子是否会继续与女王通信时,他说:“我不指望我们还能收到回信,但是令人难以置信的是,女王竟然给我回了信。”
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
《双语新闻》为希拉里挑选竞选主题曲!
[ 2007-05-29 11:01 ]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn
In a clear appeal to young voters, a YouTube video asks viewers to vote for Clinton's presidential campaign theme song on her Web site. The contest started May 16 and the number of songs was narrowed to 10 on Thursday - five initially suggested by the campaign and five write-in candidates.
"I want to know what you're thinking on one of the most important questions of this campaign," Clinton said in a mock-serious tone during the initial video. "It's something we've been struggling with, debating, agonizing over for months. So now I'm turning to you, the American people."
在视频的开头,希拉里以一种故作严肃的口气说:"我想知道你们大家对本次竞选最重要的一个问题——竞选主题曲怎么看。这几个月来,我们一直在为这个问题努力、争论、挣扎。所以现在我要向大家求助,向美国人民求助。"According to the view counter on YouTube, the video had more than 500,000 views; a more recent post was seen by more than 40,000. Her campaign said it received more than 130,000 votes in the first round. It promises to release the final result "in the coming days."
据 YouTube 网站的点击量统计显示,这个视频的浏览量超过50These are the correstponding paragraphs in the news service article found elsewhere, which were modified slightly with the next paragraph omitted in the CD version:
"I want to know what you're thinking on one of the most important questions of this campaign," Clinton said in a mock-serious tone in the initial video. "It's something we've been struggling with, debating, agonizing over for months. So now I'm turning to you, the American people."
According to the view counter on YouTube, the May 16 video had more than 500,000 views; a more recent post was seen by more than 40,000. Clinton's campaign said it received more than 130,000 votes in the first round. It promises to release the final result "in the coming days."
In both videos, Clinton sports a self-effacing attitude. She mocked her vocal abilities in the first post. The second features clips of people saying "this is ridiculous" and "are you freaking kidding me?" in response to the contest, along with Clinton making fun of some of the videos submitted.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
上班打私人电话?
Think twice about phoning home from work
[ 2007-05-22 08:54 ]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-05/22/content_877618.htm
You might want to think twice before making another personal call during work hours.
Companies can now buy a service that automatically analyses phone calls made by office staff, figures out which are for business and which are personal, and delivers a monthly list of repeat offenders directly to top management.
"If you're making a 30-second call every morning at about 9 a.m. and the number doesn't match those used by your colleagues then we can guess fairly accurately that's your spouse," said Robert Picton, product manager at South African IT firm Dimension Data.
Picton says that although other IT companies offer call analysis technology, Didata is the first to translate that information for managers.
Didata says a company can cut its phone costs by 10-15 percent by using the 'Guardian' monthly service, not to mention hours of manpower saved through increased productivity.
Employees might bristle at the thought of managers monitoring calls. But Didata says the system focuses only on those who run up huge bills or spend hours of work time on personal calls, and says no one listens in to the calls themselves.
"Obviously it is acceptable to make a few calls home," said Picton. "And this is about the minority who are spending 12 hours a month on the phone for non-business purposes and running up bills of $114.7.
(Reuters)
上班时间打私人电话可得“三思而后行”了。
公司现在可以买到一种能够自动分析办公室职员们所打的电话的服务,这种服务可以分辨出哪些是公务电话,哪些是私人电话,而且每月能向管理层提供“屡犯者”的清单。
南非IT公司Dimension Data的产品经理罗伯特·比克顿说:“如果你每天早上9点钟左右打一个30秒的电话,而且你所拨打的号码不是同事们的常用号码,那么基本可以确定,这个电话是打给情人的。”
比克顿说,尽管也有一些其它的IT公司提供这种电话分析技术,但Didata则是首家能将数据信息转化为能直接上报给经理的名单的公司。
Didata说,采用这种“电话监视”月服务可以使公司的电话费减少10%至15%,更不用说工作效率的提高所节省的人力时间了。
雇员可能会对管理层实施电话监控的想法产生不满。但Didata公司称,这个系统仅针对那些电话费狂高及经常在上班时间打私人电话的员工,并称电话的内容不会受到监听。
比克顿说:“很显然,打一些私人电话是可以被接受的。这一措施主要针对的是那些一个月能打12个小时的私人电话,电话费高达114.7美元的少数人。”
Airline Safety Information Card
If you are seated at an exit and are unable to understand the information on this card, please contact a flight attendant.短短一句其实很容易的话,竟然有两个 DIMS 错误,是不是太离谱?
如果您坐在靠紧急出口的位置,听不懂看不懂该卡上的说明,请与空中服务员联络。
环境污染致癌--我国头号杀手
[ 2007-05-22 16:00 ]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-05/22/content_878029.htm
Air and water pollution combined with widespread use of food additives and pesticides made cancer the top killer in China last year, according to a recent government survey.
Air and water pollution combined with widespread use of food additives and pesticides made cancer the top killer in China last year, according to a recent government survey.
Cancer topped the list of the 10 most lethal diseases for urban residents last year, followed by cerebrovascular diseases and heart ailments, according to the survey in 30 cities and 78 counties released by the Ministry of Health.
"The main reason behind the rising number of cancer cases is that pollution of the environment, water and air is getting worse day by day," said Chen Zhizhou, a health expert with the cancer research institute affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
"Many chemical and industrial enterprises are built along rivers so that they can dump the waste into water easily," Chen said. "Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides also pollute underground water.
"The contaminated water has directly affected soil, crops and food," he added.
Air pollution is a major cause of lung cancers, as harmful granules enter the lungs and cannot be discharged. Large amounts of formaldehyde and its compounds used in house renovations and furniture has been blamed for deterioration in air quality.
In addition, farmers use additives on pigs, poultry and vegetables to make them grow faster.
The survey, the first of its kind in recent years, showed that the death rate from cancer has risen to 19 percent in cities and 23 percent in rural areas.
In rural areas, 92 percent of fatalities were caused by 10 illnesses, the first three being cancer, cerebrovascular diseases and respiratory diseases.
Reports on "cancer villages" have popped up frequently in recent years.
An investigative story by Xinhua last June said a high rate of cancer deaths has become a reality in areas where the environment is heavily polluted.
In Shangba Village of Guangdong Province, for instance, more than 250 people died of cancer from 1987 to 2005; while in Huangmengying Village of Henan Province, more than 114 people died of cancer between 1991 and 2005.
Similar cases were also reported in other provinces, with the usage of heavily-polluted water being the common factor.
(China Daily)
近日,政府的一项调查显示,空气污染、水污染及大范围使用食物添加剂和杀虫剂导致癌症成为去年我国的头号杀手。
卫生部共对30个城市和78个县进行了调查,统计数据显示,癌症去年在我国城镇居民的“十大致命疾病”中排在首位,其次是脑血管疾病和心脏病。
中国医学科学院肿瘤研究所的健康专家陈智周说,“恶性肿瘤高发的主要原因是环境污染,空气和水污染正日益严重。”
他说,“很多化工企业都建在河边以便排污。此外,过度使用化肥和杀虫剂也使地下水遭到污染。”
他说,“被污染的水会直接影响土壤、庄稼和食物。”
空气污染是引发肺癌的主要因素,因为有害颗粒一旦进入肺里就无法排出来。另外,用于房屋装修的原料及家具中所含的大量甲醛和甲醛化合物也会导致空气质量变差。
农民在养猪、养家禽和种菜时用于催肥和催熟的添加剂也是一个重要因素。
该调查显示,城镇地区的癌症死亡率已上升至19%,农村上升至23%。这是近年来这一领域内的首次调查。
农村地区92%的死亡主要由10种疾病引起,排在前三位的是癌症、脑血管疾病和呼吸系统疾病。
近年来,关于“癌症村”的报道越来越频繁。
新华社去年六月的一则调查报道称,癌症高死亡率在一些污染严重的地区已成为事实。
从1987年至2005年,广东省上坝村有250多人死于癌症;从1991年到2005年,河南省黄孟营村至少有114人死于癌症。
其他省份也有过类似的报道,其共同原因是饮用了被严重污染的水。
(实行生江巍 英语点津姗姗编辑)