陳豪在北京的ABC美國公司工作。他在走廊上遇見了美國同事Amy。
(Office ambience)
C:Amy, 我找了你一整天。
A:What is it?
C:我有個關(guān)于電子郵件的問題。每次我回信,都是點擊Relpy, 保留原來的內(nèi)容,然后把我的答復(fù)加上去。
A:That's not unusual.
C:今天有個同事告訴我,說我不應(yīng)該保留電子郵件里原來的內(nèi)容??晌也幻靼祝绻麆h掉原來的內(nèi)容,她怎么能知道我在說些什么呢?
A:She no doubt would have preferred that you take the time to paraphrase her message in the body of your reply.
C:什么叫paraphrase?。?/p>
A:To paraphrase means to rephrase or restate what someone else has said or written.
C:你能舉個例子嗎?比如說,她發(fā)電子郵件給我,問我星期三上午11點有沒有時間開會討論新產(chǎn)品。
A:In that case, instead of hitting "Reply" and responding, "Yes, I am available;" you should write, "Yes, I am available to meet on Wednesday at 11 AM to discuss the new product."
C:就是把話說完整。
A:Yes. By restating her message, you have confirmed that you will be at the meeting on the right day at the right time.
C:照你的話說,出于禮貌,我在回復(fù)電子郵件的時候,都應(yīng)該把原來信里的核心內(nèi)容重復(fù)一遍了?
A:Yes, In that case you can delete the original at the bottom of your response. I have to go now. Do you want to continue this discussion at another time?
C:好。下次再聊吧。
******
MC:第二天早上陳豪和Amy一起喝咖啡。
C:昨天那個同事還說,如果電子郵件的內(nèi)容變了,用回復(fù)的功能,就不能保留原來的題目。是這樣嗎?
A:She is definitely right. It is very confusing to receive a message from someone who changed the subject in the e-mail and not in the subject line.
C:你能不能解釋一下。
A:If I send you a message about a project we are working on and I use "Project A Summary" as the subject line, you have a clear expectation about what information is contained in the e-mail.
C:我用回復(fù)的功能,告訴你我收到了報告。
A:Right. Now let's say that I need to send you a message about our next team meeting. If I use your reply to me - which you recall has the subject line, "Project Summary"; you expect to read more about the project.
C:對啊,我會以為里面是關(guān)于這個項目更詳細(xì)的內(nèi)容,但打開卻發(fā)現(xiàn)是截然不同的內(nèi)容。好,我以后一定記住改掉電子郵件的題目。
A:Better yet, if you are sending e-mail on a new topic, start a new message with a new subject header.