Bill has called Susan， Ryan and the rest of the departmentinto his office. He sits behind the desk， his face grim.

比爾電話通知蘇珊、瑞恩和其他部門職員到辦公室。辦公桌后的他正襟危坐，滿臉嚴(yán)肅。

Bill: Good morning. I'm sorry to have to call you in here like this， but there's been some bad news from Head Office.

比爾：早上好，各位。很抱歉我不得不以這種方式把大家召集于此，總部有壞消息要我向各位傳達。

Susan and Ryan glance at each other.

蘇珊和瑞恩相互看了一眼。

Susan: What kind of bad news?

蘇珊：什么壞消息呀？

Bill: The company's been losing money recently， and each department is going to be audited in the next few weeks， to see where cutbacks can be made. They've brought in outside consultants to act as hatchetmen， and they'll be the ones conducting the audit.

比爾：公司最近一直在虧損，每個部門都要在接下來的幾周內(nèi)進行審核，并根據(jù)審核結(jié)果進行裁員。公司已經(jīng)引入了顧問，將由他們執(zhí)行審核。

Ryan: Wait… You mean we're going to be downsized?

瑞恩：等等……你的意思是我們就要被開了是嗎？

Bill: Not yet. For now， it's just an audit. They want to see where the company's performance can be improved， where we can save money. I can't promise that there won't be any changes made to this department， but I’m sure that we can weather the storm and come out relatively unscathed.

比爾：目前還不是，現(xiàn)在只是先審核一下。他們要看看公司哪些地方業(yè)績可以提升、開支可以削減。我也不能保證我們這個部門是否會有一些變動，但是我肯定我們部門是經(jīng)得起考驗的，“中獎”的不會是我們。

There is a general murmur of concern， and several staff members begin to speak…

其間有人喃喃低語，有幾個員工開始發(fā)表意見了……

Jane: So what do you have in mind?

簡：那你有什么辦法嗎？

Paul: Yeah， what do you propose we do?

鮑爾：是的，你想讓我們怎么做？

Bill: The auditor will be here in a week. He'll want to watch you at work; he'll want to talk with you; he'll want to know everything there is to know about this department. When he comes， don't beat about the bush. Give him straight， honest answers – these guys are trained to work out when you're exaggerating or lying. I’ll be here if you have any private concerns and want to discuss them with me. Most importantly of all， though， I don't want you to worry too much. Like I say， this is just an audit. It's not like they'll be giving you the chop arbitrarily.

比爾：審計員一周之內(nèi)進駐公司。他會監(jiān)視你們的工作情況；會找你們談話；了解一切關(guān)于我們部門的事情。他來的時候，問什么說什么，不要拐彎抹角。這些家伙受過專業(yè)訓(xùn)練，你們夸大其詞或者話里摻假，他們都清楚。我還留在這里，如果你們還有個人關(guān)心的事情可以跟我談?wù)?。最重要的是，我不希望大家過于焦慮。如我所說，這只是一個審核。他們不會隨意就把大家給炒了的。

Ryan: (Muttered to Susan) Great motivational skills there， boss…

瑞恩：（沖著蘇珊嘀咕了一句）咱們頭兒鼓舞人可真有一套……

Bill: Okay， guys. That's the bad news for today. The auditor will be in on Monday. Just take it easy， and try not to be unduly concerned.

比爾：好了各位，這就是今天的壞消息。審計員周一進駐公司。沒什么的，別太在意。

The staff file out of the office. Susan and Ryan walk together to the break room， and Ryan begins to make a cup of coffee.

大家涌出了辦公室。蘇珊和瑞恩一起走進休息室，瑞恩拿起了一杯咖啡。

Ryan: So what do you make of all this?

瑞恩：你對這怎么看？

Susan: I really don't know. Bill seems far too calm about it for my liking.

蘇珊：我可不知道。在我看來，比爾對此表現(xiàn)得過于鎮(zhèn)靜了。

Ryan: Maybe he's just confident that nothing'll happen to our department?

瑞恩：也許他只是很自信，我們部門什么也不會發(fā)生。

Susan: Yeah， that's always a possibility. But what do you think will happen to Bill if the audit goes badly? If he's over-confident now and several people do end up getting axed， that'll kill morale in the department.

蘇珊：嗯，是的，總有這個可能的。但是你覺得如果審核進行不順利，比爾會怎樣？如果他現(xiàn)在是過度自信，真的有幾個人被炒了魷魚，那可真是會大傷士氣的。

Ryan: Bill's not stupid. He knows what he's doing.

瑞恩：比爾可不傻。他知道自己在干什么。

Susan: I certainly hope so. Well， we'll find out next week when the hatchetman turns up.

蘇珊：我當(dāng)然也希望如此。好吧，我們看看下周那些家伙來了是什么情況吧。

Notes

1. weather the storm

Weather除了名詞“天氣”的意思外，還有這里動詞的用法“經(jīng)得住”。文中用“經(jīng)得住暴風(fēng)雨”來比喻“經(jīng)得住嚴(yán)酷考驗”。

例句：

A qualified policeman can weather the storm under any circumstances.

一個稱職的警察在任何情況下都能經(jīng)得住考驗。

2. beat about the bush

該短語意為“說話、辦事旁敲側(cè)擊、拐彎抹角，不直接切入正題”。

例句：

My son wants to get a new toy but he always beats about the bush instead of saying out his demand directly.

我兒子想要個新玩具，但是他還不直說，總是對我拐彎抹角的。

3. file out of

File在這里是動詞的用法，整個短語意為“從某處魚貫而出、涌出”。與此對應(yīng)，file in（into）則意為“進入，魚貫而入”。

例句：

Every time the school gate is open， the students file out of the campus.

每次校門一開，學(xué)生們都一涌而出。

4. far too

“過于、十分”，“far”在“too”前起修飾作用，加強程度。

例句：

Don't be far too optimistic or pessimistic about your future.

不要對你的未來過于樂觀或悲觀。

5. getting axed

是被解雇的另一種說法，等于“getting fired”。

例句：

If you continue to be late for work frequently next month， you may get axed.

如果下個月你還繼續(xù)頻繁遲到，你也許會被解雇。