Using English at Work：09 Checking Mail,Email,and Voicemail(2)

In an email program, the inbox is usually the main screen.

On your desk, it's probably a small box that other people put papers¹ into.

I check my inboxes, meaning that I look to see if there is anything inside them.

First, I go to the mailroom. A "mailroom" is a room in a large office building where mail isorganized so that it can be given to the right person.

Offices with many employees² might receive thousands of pieces of mail, so they need to havespecial employees who work in the mailroom and make sure that each piece of mail gets to theright person.

You may start out in a company by working in the mailroom, which is usually considered thelowest level job in a company.

Some people think that if you work hard enough, you can start in the mailroom and somedaybe president, although I don't think that happens very often in most companies!

When I'm in the mailroom, I check my mail slot³ to see what mail has arrived overnight⁴.

A "slot" is normally⁵ a small rectangular⁶ opening in something, but a "mail slot" is a small boxthat has a person's name on it and holds mail for that person.

Some houses have mail slots in their front doors.

I live in an older house, where we still have a mail slot in our door; many houses now, however, have "mailboxes," these are little boxes outside of your house.

In the story, I'm talking about the mail slots in the mailroom in the office building where I work.

There are always a lot of intra-office and inter-office letters in my mail slot.

An "intra- (intra-) office letter" is one that is sent and received within one office building.

An "inter- (inter-) office letter" is one that is sent between different offices of the samecompany.

For example, if I work at a large bank and I want to send something to a customer, I put it inthe regular mail.

1 papers   

n.文件，纸币，论文

参考例句：

• I want to check with my secretary before I sign the papers.在签署这些文件前，我要与我的秘书商议。
• The lawyer read all the papers relating to the case.律师阅读了与该案有关的全部文件。

2 employees   

n.雇工，雇员( employee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She is always polite and considerate towards her employees. 她对待雇员总是客客气气，关心体谅。
• The company has a strict dress code—all male employees are expected to wear suits. 公司有严格的着装规定—所有男职员都要穿西服。

3 slot   

n.（口）位置，职位，狭长孔，狭槽

参考例句：

• Put a coin in the slot.将硬币放入投币口。
• He's been given a regular ten-minute slot on the radio.电台定期给他十分钟的节目广播时间。

4 overnight   

ad.前一天晚上，一夜间 a.前一天晚上的

参考例句：

• She stayed overnight in the hotel. 她在旅馆过了一夜。
• Our success is not won overnight. 我们的成功不是一夜之间得来的。

5 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

6 rectangular   

adj.矩形的，成直角的

参考例句：

• He put a rectangular box on the table.他把一个长方形的箱子放在桌子上。
• The equations are written in rectangular coordinates.这些方程是在直角座标系中写出的。