面试英语：别让这十五个单词毁掉你的英文面试

　　收到面试邀请令人激动——尤其是在你花了不少时间找工作的时候。

　　Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to kill off all your chances of getting a job by saying just a few wrong words during your job interview.

　　遗憾的是，在面试期间你很可能因几个不恰当的词就失去得到这份工作的机会。

　　To make sure your job interview leads to the next round or a job offer, here’s a list of words which you should aim to avoid.

　　为确保面试能进入下一个环节或者直接得到这份工作，下面为大家列出一些需要避免使用的词汇。

　　Um..

　　嗯…

　　The biggest problem with this word is that you’re probably unaware¹ of how much you use it.

　　这个词的最大问题就在于你可能没有意识到你用它用的有多频繁。

　　If you listened to a recording² of yourself, you’d probably be surprised (and probably horrified) at the amount of “umming” you do.

　　如果你听一下你自己的录音，你可能会非常吃惊（甚至被吓到）你说了这么多“嗯…”。

　　Unfortunately, this makes you look less polished during a job interview.

　　在面试中这会让你看起来有失体面。

　　One of the best ways to remove this filler from your vocabulary is to let your friends and family know that you want their help and they can profit from it. Tell them that you’ll pay a dollar to every person who catches you using it.

　　把这个词从你的字典里面去除的最好办法就是告诉朋友和家人你需要他们帮你改正，他们也可以从中获益。告诉他们谁在你用这个词的时候抓住你，你就给他一美元。

　　Kinda

　　有一点

　　Not only does this word make you sound like a teenager, it also introduces vagueness into your answers.

　　这个词不仅让你听起来像一个未成年，也使你的回答显得很模糊。

　　To make sure you come across confident and mature, replace “kinda” with clear “yes” or “no”. Follow your answer with a clear reason why you’ve taken that position.

　　要保证你参加面试时表现得自信和成熟，用“是”或者“不是”来代替“有一点”。之后解释你这样回答的原因。

　　Hate

　　憎恨

　　Nobody likes a hater. When a hiring manager or recruiter hears you say that word, they hear “high risk candidate”.

　　没有人喜欢愤世嫉俗的人。当招聘经理或者是面试官听到这个词时，他们会感觉你是一个“危险人物”。

　　Avoid aiming this word at anyone or anything during your job interview. This includes “pet hates”, as well as feelings towards companies, ex-colleagues and – especially – bosses you’ve had.

　　避免在面试期间用这个词针对任何人或任何东西。包括“讨厌宠物”，也包括对公司、之前的同事或者曾经的老板的感受。

　　Any Curse Word

　　任何咒骂词

　　Even if you think the company culture might find such words acceptable, don’t risk it at the interview stage.

　　即使你认为这家公司能接受这些咒骂词汇，也不要在面试时冒风险出说来。

　　You’re risking coming across as unprofessional and crass³.

　　你有被误认为不专业和粗鲁的风险。

　　Perfectionist

　　完美主义者

　　This is the most popular among overused, meaningless cliches.

　　这个词在过度使用的词汇中名列前茅，根本是陈词滥调。

　　There was a time when “I’m a perfectionist” was a clever way to get out of a question about your weaknesses. These days, any interviewer worth their salt will see through this ploy⁵ and cringe on the inside at your answer.

　　曾经 “我是一个完美主义者”，用这句话来回答关于你弱点一类的问题是非常聪明的。但现在，任何能胜任工作的面试官都能看穿你这点伎俩，并且刨根问底。

　　Basically

　　总的来说

　　It’s tempting⁶ to use this word as a prelude⁷ to your achievements. For example, “Basically, I was responsible for flying the capsule to the Moon and back.”

　　当讲到自己的成就时，我们很容易用这个词作为开头。例如“总的来说，我负责飞行舱往返月球。”

　　Unfortunately, doing this also diminishes you. So, unless you’re Buzz Aldrin, skip it and launch straight into your answer.

　　遗憾的是，这同样会给你扣分。因此，除非你是巴兹·奥尔德林，跳过这个词直接给出回答。

　　I

　　我

　　In today’s culture-centric employment world, you’re only as good as your ability to work as part of a team.

　　在现今以公司文化为中心的雇佣世界里，你的能力体现在你能在团队中发挥的作用。

　　While competitiveness is a great trait to demonstrate, overusing sentences like “I was the top salesperson⁸ in my company” can give off the impression that you’ll take it too far, pushing your colleagues down and aside in order to get to the top.

　　尽管有竞争力是值得展示的特质，但过分使用一些像“我是公司最棒的销售人员”的句子会让人觉得你有些自大，不惜贬低其他同事来衬托自己最厉害。

　　By all means, brandish⁹ your achievements, but let your interviewer know what that meant for the team and/or the company. For example, “I was the top salesperson in my last role during 2013, which meant I was able to exceed my targets by $1.2 million during that year.”

　　展示自己的成果当然可以，但要让你的面试官知道这些成果给团队或者整个公司有什么意义。例如,“2013年期间，我的销售业绩最好，这意味着那一年中，我超过既定目标1200 0000美元。”

　　Sure

　　当然

　　It’s tempting to use this word to communicate “it’s almost a yes.”However, doing this also chips away at your ability to appear confident. Just as with “Kinda” above, it’s best to remove any ambiguity¹⁰ about where you stand. Use a firm “yes” or “no” instead, expanding on your position if necessary by providing reasons and examples.

　　如果差一点就可以回答“是”，我们常会用“当然”来代替。然而，这样做也会有损于你自信的形象。和上面提到的“有一点”一样，最好去除掉观点里面的模糊因素。用干脆的“是”或者“不是”来代替，如果有必要进一步表明立场，试着给出理由和例子。

　　Amazing

　　太棒了

　　This is a word which is often used as a filler to convey positivity. The hiring manager might say, for example, “We just spent $20 million on a brand new office fit-out.” Instead of blurting¹¹ out “Amazing!” to validate¹² that choice, take a moment to think about the reasons behind such a move and provide analysis which the interviewer would find relevant. For example: “That must have done wonders for employee satisfaction.”

　　这个词通常是为了表现积极而额外使用的。雇用经理可能会说， “我们花了两千万美元来翻新办公室。”与其蹦出一句“太棒了”来肯定这句话，还不如花时间思考这一举动背后的原因，给出经理可能认为相关的分析。例如“那一定让雇员们满意到惊讶。”

　　Whatever

　　无所谓

　　“Whatever” is usually used to communicate that you’ve given up. It shows that you lost power and withdrew from the issue, instead of achieving an outcome which you found satisfactory.

　　“无所谓”通常表示你已经放弃了。显示出你束手无策而且不再考虑这个问题，而不是你找到了令你满意的结果。

　　It also makes you sound immature¹³ and dismissive – using it will communicate to the interviewer that you’re trouble.

　　这个词也会让你看起来不成熟又欠考虑----这个词给面试官的印象就是你是个麻烦。

　　Stuff

　　那些事

　　Not only is this word overly casual in tone, it introduces ambiguity into your answers.

　　这个词不仅太过随意，而且让你的回答很模糊。

　　It can be tempting end your answer with it when you’re struggling to add detail – for example, “You know – stuff like that.” Doing sufficient research and practicing your answers will reduce that desire. Your interviewer doesn’t, in fact, know – they want to hear it from you in detail.

　　当你绞尽脑汁要增加些细节的时候往往会以这个词来结尾----例如“你知道---就那些事。”做充足的研究和练习能减少使用这个词的欲望。你的面试官不会知道那些事到底是什么----他们想从你这听到细节。

　　Dedicated¹⁴

　　专注

　　In today’s job market, everyone is dedicated. It’s no longer a differentiating¹⁵ feature. It’s also a hollow, overused cliche⁴ which shows that you probably copied your answers from the Internet, rather than preparing sufficiently¹⁶ for the interview by thinking about the role and your career.

　　现今的就业市场，每个人都很专注。这不再是独树一帜的特征。它也是空洞的，过分使用的陈词滥调，显示出你的答案可能是网上的模板，而不是为了自己的工作和职业在面试前准备充分的。

　　Demonstrate to your interviewer that you’re dedicated by talking about your achievements.

　　像面试官展示谈论你的成就时很专注就可以了。

　　Motivated

　　有激情

　　This also includes synonymous buzz-words like “self-starter” and “enthusiastic.”

　　这也包含了类似的流行用语“主动的人”和“热情”。

　　You might think that you’re telling your interviewer that you don’t need a babysitter, but all they’re thinking at that moment is “Thanks for the obvious. You’re wasting my time.” You might as well tell them that you have a pulse.

　　你可能认为你是在告诉面试官你不需要一个保姆催着你，但是他们当时所想则是“这不是显而易见的吗，还用说吗，你在浪费我的时间。”这句话还能理解为你在告诉他们自己需要休息一段时间了。

　　Learn

　　学习

　　Don’t ever tell your interviewer that you’re applying for a job to “learn.”

　　不要告诉你的面试官你申请工作是要去“学习”。

　　It’s true that you’re expected to learn, but the primary motivation for applying should be your ability to contribute something to the company that no-one else can.

　　他们希望你能学习倒是真的，但是申请工作的主要动机应该是贡献你的能力去为公司做别人不能做的事情。

　　Fired

　　解雇

　　You want to avoid this word at all costs. It can contextualize you in the interviewer’s mind as a troublemaker¹⁷, and once that context is set, everything positive about you will be diminished and everything negative will be amplified¹⁸.

　　无论如何要避免使用这个词。它会让你被面试官定位成麻烦制造者，一旦这个想法落实了，你的优点会被削弱，缺点会被放大。

　　Having been fired doesn’t automatically put you into the “no” pile. However, not being able to talk about it diplomatically will.

　　曾经被解雇并不意味着你不行。但不能变通地阐述这一事实就表示你不行了。

　　If you were fired due to under-performance, use the words “let go” instead. Explain how you used the experience to become a better employee. “I’m glad it happened because I needed to become a better marketer. In my next role I created a direct response campaign which exceeded the targets by 20%.”

　　如果你因表现不佳而被解雇，就用“让它去吧”来代替。证明这段经历让你成为了一个更好的员工。“我很高兴它发生了，因为我需要变成一个更好的市场人员。做下一份工作时，我组织的直接反应活动带来了超出目标20%的成果。”

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