中英双语新闻——95 How to deal with a tyrant

 　　The official biography of Steve Jobs, the man behind the Apple mania¹, was released on October 24. The revealing book portrays² a world-class genius, and at the same time, a “tyrant”.

 

　　作为引发“苹果风潮”的男人，史蒂夫?乔布斯的官方授权传记已于10月24号公开发售。这本书在描绘出一位世界一流天才的同时，也刻画出一位“暴君”。

 

　　There are stories of Jobs’ hot temper and obsessive³ perfectionism. He would say, “This is a dumb idea. This stinks⁴.” In the original Macintosh team, they gave an award to the person who each year stood up to Jobs the best.

 

　　书中描写了乔布斯的暴脾气以及过分追求完美主义的故事。他会说出这样的话：“这真是个蠢主意。糟透了。”在最初的苹果麦金托什机团队中，他们每年都会为最敢于面对乔布斯的那个人颁发奖励。

 

　　Would you work for a boss as demanding as Jobs? 21st Century reporter Xu Jingxi interviewed experienced employees and bosses in case you do. They offer tips to cope with the following four scenarios⁵.

 

　　你会为像乔布斯这样要求苛刻的老板工作吗？为以防万一，《二十一世纪英文报》记者许靖烯特地采访了几位经验丰富的员工和老板们。他们会为你提供一些秘诀，以便应对以下三种情形。

 

　　1. The boss is picky about details.

 

　　1. 老板对细节很挑剔。

 

　　It’s alleged⁶ that Jobs asked engineers on the original iPod team to stay up all night fiddling⁷ with the headphone jack⁸ so that it made a more satisfying clicking sound.

 

　　据说，乔布斯曾让最初的iPod团队的设计师们通宵熬夜反复调试耳机插孔，以保证它能发出更令人满意的咔嗒声。

 

　　It’s ?beyond reproach that a boss demands perfect products. But if they keep finding fault with everything an employee does, it suggests they don’t trust them.

 

　　老板要求完美的产品本无可厚非。但如果他们总是在员工所做的每件事中挑刺，这就意味着对于员工的不信任。

 

　　Zhang Ying, 24, used to work in a management training company for a year, under a picky boss.

 

　　24岁的张颖(音译)曾在一家管理培训公司工作了一年的时间，而那里的老板是个挑剔的人。

 

　　To please her boss, Zhang had tried every possible size and color of the characters on a poster before she handed in the “best” design. But the boss asked Zhang to change the size and color over and over again.

 

　　为了令老板开心，张颖在一张海报上尝试了各种大小及颜色不同的字体，为的就是保证最后递交的是一份“最佳”设计。但她的老板还是一遍遍地要求她修改字体大小和颜色。

 

　　In the end, the boss decided⁹ to stick to Zhang’s choice, which she initially¹⁰ handed in.

 

　　最终老板决定依照张颖的选择来做，即她最初上交的设计。

 

　　When your boss only believes what’s before their eyes, it’s a good idea to hand in alternatives with the proposal you deem the best, Zhang suggests.

 

　　张颖认为，当你的老板只相信他们亲眼所见时，把自己认为最好的提案夹杂在多种备选方案之中呈交是一个不错的主意。

 

　　“With the comparison, it’s easier to convince your boss to buy into your proposal,” said Zhang.

 

　　“通过比较，就能更容易说服老板来采纳你的方案。”张颖说。

 

　　2. The boss has a sharp tongue.

 

　　2. 老板言语尖刻。

 

　　When a boss is examining your work, get prepared for merciless criticism such as what Jobs said to his Macintosh team: This is dumb or this stinks.

 

　　当老板检查你工作的时候，准备好接受无情的批评，就比如像乔布斯对他的苹果麦金托什机团队说的那样——这蠢极了，或是这糟透了。

 

　　Like Jobs, the boss of Chris Xu, 25, a member of the staff at an audit¹¹ firm in HK, has a sharp tongue. She once scolded a team leader as a “dumb” in front of the leader’s team.

 

　　25岁的克斯?许(音译)是香港一家审计公司的员工，他的老板说话也像乔布斯一样刻薄。她曾当着一个团队所有人的面责骂该团队负责人“蠢货”。

 

　　Xu doesn’t think it necessary for a boss to use such harsh words. “These words may tear up an employee’s confidence and thus influence their work performance later on,” said Xu.

 

　　克里斯?许认为老板根本没必要说出如此难听的话。他说，“这些话会毁掉一位员工的信心，从而影响其在今后工作中的表现。”

 

　　“Also, it will make the air in the office heavy and damage the staff’s morale¹².”

 

　　“同时，这还会令办公室里气氛紧张，打击到员工的斗志。”

 

　　The first rule of handling tart¹³ remarks is not to take it personally, according to Xu Longjiang, CEO of Ddmap.com.

 

　　丁丁网CEO徐龙江表示，面对刻薄的评价，你要遵循的首要法则就是别把它当成私人问题。

 

　　“No need to panic,” said the CEO. “The boss won’t bother scolding you if he wants to fire you. He will just ask the HR department to send you a letter.”

 

　　“没必要惊慌失措。”他说，“如果老板要炒你鱿鱼，就不会费劲去责骂你。他只需要通知人力资源部发送一份信件给你就行了。”

 

　　If the words are insulting and the employee can’t take them, Xu Longjiang advises that they talk directly to their boss.

 

　　如果这些言语带有侮辱性质，且员工无法接受，徐龙江则建议他们直接对老板讲出来。

 

　　“A candid¹⁴ boss will welcome employees’ candid feedback,” Xu explained. “The more straightforward¹⁵ the boss is, the less red tape you are restricted by.”

 

　　“一个直率的老板会愿意接受员工坦率的反馈。”徐龙江解释道，“老板越直白，你受繁文缛节的限制就越少。”

 

　　3. Nothing is impossible in the boss’ eyes.

 

　　3. 在老板眼中，一切皆有可能。

 

　　Jobs would say something like, “This piece of software needs to be written by the end of the week.” The engineers say, “No, no, it’ll take three months.” And Jobs says, “No. In reality it has to be done by the end of this week and it will be done.”

 

　　乔布斯会这样说：“这套软件必须在周末前编写出来。”软件工程师说：“不，不，它需要三个月的时间。”接着乔布斯说，“不。事实上，它必须在本周末前做出来，我们将会做到这点。”

 

　　Guess what? It would happen that the software was written in a week instead of three months.

 

　　猜猜怎么着？偏偏这套软件就在一周内被编写出来，而不是三个月。

 

　　This example sounds “exaggerated” to Xu Longjiang because of the huge difference in the amount of time. But he did sometimes ask employees to speed up and finish a task in one week instead of two.

 

　　尽管对于徐龙江而言，由于两个时间长度上相差悬殊，所以这个例子听起来“太夸张了”。但他有时的确会让员工们加快进度，在一周内完成一项任务，而不是两周。

 

　　What an employee should do with an urgent task is to finish it on time. “Before I reduce the time given for a task, I will assess the employee’s abilities and make sure that he or she is able to finish the task on time,” said the CEO.

 

　　面对一项紧急任务，作为员工应该做的就是按时完成它。“在我缩短一个任务的时限前，我会评估员工能力，以保证他/她能够按时完成任务。”徐龙江说道。

1 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。

2 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

4 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

7 fiddling   

微小的

参考例句：

• He was fiddling with his keys while he talked to me. 和我谈话时他不停地摆弄钥匙。
• All you're going to see is a lot of fiddling around. 你今天要看到的只是大量的胡摆乱弄。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

11 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

12 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

13 tart   

adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇

参考例句：

• She was learning how to make a fruit tart in class.她正在课上学习如何制作水果馅饼。
• She replied in her usual tart and offhand way.她开口回答了，用她平常那种尖酸刻薄的声调随口说道。

14 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。

15 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。