禮節(jié)美語The Etiquette of Sympathy

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陳豪在北京的ABC美國公司工作。他在走廊上遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地看到美國同事Amy，連忙趕了過去。

(Office ambience)

C：Amy, 我有點(diǎn)兒急事想請(qǐng)教你。

A：OK, What is it?

C：跟我一個(gè)辦公室的Todd, 他媽媽在美國去世了。

A：I don't know Todd, but I am sorry to hear that.

C：他要回美國奔喪。我想為他做點(diǎn)兒什么，但又不知道怎樣做才符合西方的禮節(jié)，所以今天早上我一直在躲著他。

A：That's a perfectly natural response. May I suggest a few things?

C：太好了，你快告訴我。

A：First of all, don't avoid him. Make a point of going to him immediately and offering your condolences.

C：什么是condolences?

A：Condolences就是表示同情、慰問。

C：我唯一能想到的就是 "I'm sorry to hear about your loss." 就這么一句好像不太夠吧？

A：Sometimes that's all you can say. If you try to say more, it may be the wrong thing.

C：是呀，我也是怕說多了反而壞事。

A：If you can, follow your statement of condolence with an offer to help.

C：幫忙， 可我能幫什么忙呢？

A：Think of what he may need that you can do. You might offer to take him to the airport.

C：開車送他去機(jī)場(chǎng)確實(shí)是個(gè)好主意，可惜我沒車。

A：What about work issues? Are there things you can help him with while he is away?

C：對(duì)呀，我們是一個(gè)組的，他請(qǐng)假，我可以承擔(dān)一部分他的工作。我這就去跟他說。謝謝你，Amy.

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MC：午飯時(shí)陳豪又看見了Amy.

A：Chen Hao, How did things go with Todd?

C：你說得沒錯(cuò)。我說可以承擔(dān)他的工作，Todd顯得如釋重負(fù)。另外，我還想到了其它可以出力的地方。

A：What was that?

C：Todd是我的鄰居，他養(yǎng)了一只貓，叫Fluffy. 我告訴他說，他離開這段時(shí)間，我可以照顧Fluffy, 他聽了以后特別高興。

A：It is important to be specific at times like these. So often people simply say, "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

C：Amy, 你覺得我還需要送花和卡片嗎？

A：You can, but that's not necessary since you are expressing your sympathy in a concrete way.

C：Todd還讓我?guī)退⌒?。我有他公寓的鑰匙。他回來之前，我還可以幫他買點(diǎn)兒新鮮蔬菜和水果。

A：You see how easy it is to think of acts of service for people who are grieving?

C：是啊，我們總是不好意思求別人辦事，要是能主動(dòng)提出來，那是再好不過的了。

A：That's right. Too often when people don't know what to do at a time of loss, they end up not doing anything.

C：幸虧有你，Amy.