M:Hey, Li Hua, Come on in. How're you doing?
L:我挺好。你怎么樣?對了,你下午想干什么?
M:Ah, I've got a meeting with the big guns this afternoon. They want to talk to me about continuing to work here after graduation.
L:我聽懂了你后面的一句話,他們要跟你談關于畢業(yè)后回來工作的事。那真是太好了??墒?,你剛才說今天下午要跟誰開會?
M:Yea, I 'm meeting with my bosses. Sometimes we call them the big guns of the office.
L:噢,你要跟你的幾個老板開會。你們把老板叫做the big guns。
M:It's an expression that can be used to describe powerful people.
L:噢,那是指權(quán)力很大的人,也就是大人物。那么,總統(tǒng)的顧問能,稱為big guns嗎?
M:Yes, a president's advisors are big guns. But it can also be used in sports. In soccer the stars of a team are the big guns.
L:Big guns還能用在體育方面。
M:OK, let me show you around the rest if the office.
L:你要帶我去看看這公司的大樓,那太好了。Let's go!
M:This is the conference room. We had a meeting here yesterday on our plan for a new building. The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.
L:等等,你說這是會議室,你們昨天在這里開了一個會,討論蓋一棟新樓的計劃??墒?,你還說那項目主任是踢美式足球的,是quarterback,四分衛(wèi),對不對?
M:No, no, no! Quarterback here is a verb, meaning to lead. The word quarterback is borrowed from American football, where the quarterback leads the team.
L:噢,quarterback在這里是動詞,意思是領導。你說這里的quarterback是從美式足球里借來用的,因為quarterback在球隊里是主力。你剛才是怎么說的?
M:The project leader quarterbacked the meeting.
L:現(xiàn)在我聽清楚了,你剛才說的是:項目領導人主持會議。那么,to quarterback還能用在別處嗎?
M:To quarterback is business slang. If someone is responsible for a group working on a new project that individual is quarterbacking the team.
L:知道了,to quarterback 是用在商業(yè)方面的。要是某人負責一個新項目,這個人就是在領導這個項目的小組。要是某人在一個法律事務所主持會議,那該怎么說呢?
M:Someone quarterbacked the meeting at the law firm.
L:你們公司的一位重要領導主持會議,討論公司的收入報告,這又該怎么說?
M:The company's big gun quarterbacked the meeting about their revenue report. Hey, I need to get back to work. I'll call you later.
L:好吧,那就再見吧!希望你將來成為a big gun.
M:Oh, yea, I'm sure soon I'll be quarterbacking every meeting and every project.
L:你真的當真吶!還想主持所有會議,總管所有項目。得啦,再見吧!
Michael 和李華在對話中用了兩個常用語,一個是:the big guns,意思是大人物,對決策有重大影響的人;另一個是:to quarterback,意思是主持會議,或總管項目。