商务礼节美语第118期:幸存的性别鸿沟

　　Surviving the Gender¹ Divide
幸存的性别鸿沟
陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作。他有事去找美国同事Amy。
(Office ambience)
A: Hi Chen Hao, how are you?
C: 我有个问题，要请教你。你有时间吗？
A: Sure. I don't have anything on my calendar for another hour. What's the matter?
C: 我们正在做一个新项目，宣传最新的客户服务计划。
A: That sounds like a good idea. We can always improve customer service. Why is that a problem?
C: 我们成立了一个小组，包括三男三女，以前互不相识，结果沟通上出现了问题，影响了项目进度。
A: What kind of communication issues?
C: 事先声明，我可没有大男子主义，但我觉得那三个女的浪费了很多时间。
A: How?
C: 她们喜欢谈私事。好不容易谈到主题了，她们又没完没了，直到大家都对方案满意了才肯罢休。
A: It's good to be sure that you are all in accord.
C: 可凡事都要有节制啊。有几次我为了推动进度，打断了她们，结果她们特不高兴。
A: I understand what is happening. You have a gender issue.
C: 什么？性别问题？
A: This is going to take a bit more time to explain. Can we continue our conversation over lunch?
Amy和陈豪午饭时继续上午的话题。
C: 我想了一上午，怎么也想不通早上我们说的事怎么会跟性别有关。
A: Remember that you started off by telling me that there were some problems in the group and you immediately zeroed in on the women.
C: 没错，进度慢，就是那几个女同事的责任。
A: Men and women have different approaches to communication that both need to understand.
C: 男性和女性交流的方式，可能是不一样。我们几个男的都觉得可以行动了，但那几个女的老觉得太仓促。
A: As with all conflict, you need to take time to address this. You should talk about what is happening, attempt to understand each other and resolve the issue in a cooperative manner.
C: 加深相互理解？那具体该怎么做呢？
A: Tell the women you appreciate their opinions and expertise². Ask them to focus more on business conversation and less on personal. Next consider how you men are behaving.
C: 难道说我们这些男的也有做错的地方吗？
A: You admitted that you interrupted in an effort to move things along. I bet that you are also trying to dominate and give the women as little chance as possible to speak up.
C: 我承认，我们确实有控制会议之嫌。一般情况下，听完她们的意见，我们就不再去看她们，生怕她们没完没了地说下去。
A: To avoid additional strife³ and accommodate each other, you need to stop interrupting and trying to dominate.
C: 我知道了，男性希望马上找到解决问题的办法，而女性喜欢先花时间，建立关系，因此双方就会出现矛盾

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

3 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。