公司总裁Tim召集部门经理开会，讨论节能措施。
F: I know it might sound like an old-fashioned idea, but what about some kind of a carpooling program?
T: You know, that just might work for a few of our departments. I know a few of the marketing guys live pretty close to each other.
H: Ah! But now we come to a problem. How do we convince people to sign up for a program that will—at least mildly—inconvenience them?
D: I have to confess, if you asked me to volunteer, I'd turn you down.
H: Sure. So would I. So we can't rely on the kindness of people's hearts. We're not bad people, we're just busy people.
Faith提议，可以考虑拼车计划，carpooling program。Henry指出，拼车会给大家带来不便，inconvenience them, 问题是如何说服大家加入。Sign up for something，是报名参加的意思。
T: I think I get your point. You're talking about a fundamental motivator. What Henry's saying is that people need an incentive.
H: Bingo! For the past few years, several companies have been experimenting with paying employees a tiny fee to carpool, use public transport or cycle. One organization in Florida pays twenty cents a mile.
D: Huh. I'd consider riding my bicycle if I was getting paid. That's like getting paid to work out!
总裁Tim说，I get your point. 我明白你的意思了。Henry是说要给大家一些好处，incentive。Henry说，Bingo! 这在口语里很常用，意思是没错！对了！
H: Yeah! The company has to consider the fee as an investment in carbon reduction and in workers' health. Less driving means less stress.
T: It's a very interesting idea. But I think you're right....without an incentive, it's doomed to failure.
H: It might seem like a lot of hassle and in the end you might only get a few people to change their commuting habits, but just to put it into perspective, here's a fact from planetgreen.com: If every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person, the nation would save 8 billion gallons of gas.
T: It really adds up, doesn't it? Thanks for the tips, Henry. I think we got a lot of food for thought today.
公司要把这笔钱看成是减少废气排放，促进员工健康的投资。总裁Tim表示赞同。Henry说，虽然听上去好象挺麻烦，但如果美国每辆上班用的车里都多坐一个人的话，美国就能节省80亿加仑的汽油，It really adds up. |