胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯090：行政特權 Executive Privilege
“I thought that the punishment was excessive, didn’t you?” Shirley asked. Shirley was a supervisor and she thought she was exempt from the rule against using paid time to execute personal errands.
“我認為對我的處罰太過分了。不是嗎?”雪莉問道。 雪莉是個監(jiān)督員，她認為自己可以免于遵守公司的規(guī)定。然而，公司認為她沒有資格享受豁免權而不遵守公司規(guī)定。公司反對利用上班時間去做私事。
“Maybe,” replied Kitty. “However, you did take an unauthorized excursion during work time.” Kitty was a supervisor too. Unlike Shirley, she exerted her best efforts to be an exemplary employee. She did not believe that Shirley had a good excuse for violating the rules.
“也許吧，”基蒂回答，“但你的確是未經批準，在工作期間外出游覽了。”基蒂也是一名監(jiān)督員。但跟雪莉不同，基蒂盡最大努力成為一名模范的雇員。她認為雪莉沒有正當理由違反公司規(guī)定。
“All I did was to take a short walk to get rid of this excess fat,” Shirley exclaimed. “It seems like you can’t even exhale in this office without asking for permission.”
“我只不過是出去散會兒步，減少多余的脂肪。”雪莉大聲喊道，“好像不經允許辦公室里連大氣都不敢出一口了。”
“I thought you went to the store to exchange a shirt,” Kitty said.
“我想你是去商店換襯衣去了。”基蒂說。
“I did,” Shirley said. “But it’s my privilege as an executive to take short breaks for personal matters. I see the managers taking personal breaks to smoke a cigarette. Why should I be excluded from the group? I put into my job the same a mount of exertion as they do. At the end of the day, I am just as exhausted. Taking personal breaks shouldn’t be an exclusive privilege for managers.”
“是的，”雪莉說，“作為行政人員，我有權利用短短的休息時間做點私事。我看見經理們利用個人休息時間再抽煙。為什么我被排除再他們之外呢?對工作我慶祝了和他們一樣的努力。一天下來，我同樣也精疲力竭。利用個人休息時間不應是經理們獨有的特權。”
“It’s true, the managers don’t exemplify good behavior for supervisors,” Kitty said. “They’re more concerned with out execution of their orders. Frankly, I think we’ll just have to accept the fact of our exclusion from executive privilege.”
“的確，經理們沒有以良好的行為規(guī)范為監(jiān)督人員樹立榜樣。”基蒂說，“他們更多關心的是我們對他們的命令的執(zhí)行情況。坦率地講，我想我們不得不接受這個事實——我們被排除在行政特權之外。”
“All this talk is exhausting me,” said Shirley. “I think I need another break.”
“說了這么多快把我累死了。”雪莉說，“我想我又該休息一下了。”
Kitty shook her head in wonderment. “Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve said?”
基蒂驚訝地搖搖頭說：“難道你根本沒在聽我說的話嗎?”
Words:
excess adj. 過度的，額外的;n. 過程，超過
excessive adj. 過度的，過分的，過多的
exchange n./vt. 兌換，交換
exclaim vt. 呼喊;驚叫
exclude vt. 把…排除在外;排斥
exclusion n. 排除，逐出
exclusive adj. 獨占的;排外的，唯一的
excursion n. 遠足，游覽
excuse vt. 原諒;n. 借口，理由
execute vt. 完成，實施，執(zhí)行
execution n. 實施，執(zhí)行
executive adj. 行政的;n. 執(zhí)行者;經理主管人員
exemplary adj. 模范的，典范的，可效仿的
exemplify vt. 例證，例示
exempt vi. 免除，豁免
exemption n. 解除，免除
exert vt. 運用，行駛，施加
exertion n. 盡力，努力
exhale vt. 呼出，呼氣
exhaust vt. 用盡，耗盡;n. 排氣，排氣裝置
exhausted adj. 精疲力竭的
