Louise： Hey. You busy？

Robert： Can’t you see I have a stack of papers about a mile-high right here？ It’s gonna take me forever to get to all these.

Louise： Yes， I can see that you have a lot of papers on your desk， but I asked around and found out that you have no pending assignments from anyone in the office. ①So， with that said， I was wondering who exactly put all these papers on your desk and why.

Robert： I’m sorry. I wasn’t really listening. ②I’m in the middle of rewriting this very complicated report， if you hadn’t noticed.

Louise： Well， I noticed you were writing something but didn’t know what. So why do you have to rewrite the report？ What was wrong with the 1）original？

Robert： I already told you， I’m very busy right now. I don’t have time for idle 2）chit-chat.

Louise： But are you really too busy to even hear me out for a minute？ If I didn’t know better I’d say you were trying to avoid talking to me， by doing work that is either already done or work that doesn’t need to get done right away.

Robert： How dare you！ I am deeply 3）insulted by your 4）wicked 5）insinuations. I would never do anything of the sort. I am a 6）dedicated worker. ③I mean， I work my butt off every day.

Louise： So you say…

Robert： I don’t have to take this from you. You’ve only been working here a few months.

Louise： That’s true. Which is why the VP of operations asked me to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior around the office. He said， he wanted a pair of fresh eyes on the issue， and that’s why he brought me in.

Robert： Oh…

Louise： ④So， Mr. pretending-to-work， do you want to stay the course with your current 7）routine of staying seemingly-busy so no one will bother you， or are you ready to start pulling your own weight around here？

Robert： I still refuse to admit to any wrong-doing on my part. You have no 8）proof that I just pretend to work. I happen to work harder than anyone in this office.

Louise： Surely， if that were true， this company would be 9）on the brink of 10）bankruptcy.

Robert： That’s 11）preposterous. I don’t have to take this.

Louise： You are absolutely correct. You should walk out those doors and make everyone’s lives easier， because then we can bring in a 12）replacement， a 13）temp even， who at least appreciates what a great opportunity it is to work for such a 14）prestigious company.

Robert： Wait！ Are you firing me？

Louise： Oh！ Now you’re listening， eh？ Well， let me be crystal clear. I was given the power to fire you but I wasn’t going to， that is， until your constant 15）denials gave me no choice. You have till day’s end to clear out your desk. Nice knowing you.

露易絲：嘿，你忙嗎？

羅伯特：你沒看到我有一摞堆得老高的文件在這里嗎？完成它們我得用很長時(shí)間。

露易絲：嗯，我能看到你桌上有很多文件，但是我問了周圍的人，發(fā)現(xiàn)辦公室沒有任何人給你任務(wù)。不過呢，我很好奇到底是誰又是為什么把這些文件放在你的桌上。

羅伯特：對(duì)不起，我剛沒有在聽你說話。如果你沒注意到的話，我正在重寫這份非常復(fù)雜的報(bào)告，

露易絲：好吧，我注意到你在寫東西，但是不知道你在寫什么。那么你為什么得重寫那份報(bào)告？原來那份有什么問題嗎？

羅伯特：我已經(jīng)告訴過你，我現(xiàn)在很忙，沒有時(shí)間閑扯。

露易絲：但是你真的忙到?jīng)]有一分鐘的時(shí)間聽我說話嗎？如果我沒有了解清楚的話，我會(huì)認(rèn)為你在做一些已經(jīng)完成或者根本不需要馬上完成的工作，為的就是避免和我說話。

羅伯特：你怎么敢這么說！我被你惡毒的諷刺深深地中傷了！我絕對(duì)不會(huì)做這些事。我是勤奮的員工。我的意思是，我每天都在努力工作。

露易絲：那么你說……

羅伯特：我沒必要聽你說這些。你只在這里工作了幾個(gè)月。

露易絲：沒錯(cuò)。這就是為什么運(yùn)營副總裁讓我監(jiān)督辦公室里可疑的行為。他說他想要一雙干凈的眼睛來監(jiān)視這件事，這就是他招我進(jìn)來的原因。

羅伯特：噢……

露易絲：所以，“假裝工作先生”，你是想繼續(xù)保持現(xiàn)在看起來很忙的行為，讓每個(gè)人都不打擾你，還是準(zhǔn)備開始做好自己份內(nèi)的事？

羅伯特：我仍然否認(rèn)我有任何的過錯(cuò)。你沒有證據(jù)證明我只是在假裝工作。我碰巧就是比辦公室的任何人都努力工作。露易絲：當(dāng)然啦，如果這是真的，那么這家公司即將要瀕臨破產(chǎn)。

羅伯特：這太荒謬了。我沒必要聽這些。

露易絲：你說得很對(duì)。你應(yīng)該離開這里，讓每個(gè)人都更輕松，因?yàn)檫@樣我們就能找一個(gè)替代你的人，甚至一個(gè)臨時(shí)雇員——至少一個(gè)會(huì)感恩有那么好的一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)來為一家有名的公司工作的人。

羅伯特：等等！你這是要炒我魷魚嗎？

露易絲：噢！現(xiàn)在你在聽我說話了，呃？好吧，讓我說清楚。我有權(quán)利解雇你，但是之前我沒打算這樣做，直到你（對(duì)自己的行為）一再地否認(rèn)，讓我沒有了選擇。你還有一整天的時(shí)間收拾你的桌子。很高興認(rèn)識(shí)你。

Smart Sentences

① So， with that said， I was wondering who exactly put all these papers on your desk and why. 不過呢，我很好奇到底是誰又是為什么把這些文件放在你的桌上。

with that said： used as an introduction to make a concession（用以作讓步的引入語）。例如：

You’ll soon see that my suggestion was correct. With that said， I will admit that your point has some merit.

你很快就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)我的建議是對(duì)的，不過呢，我得承認(rèn)你的看法也有點(diǎn)道理。

② I’m in the middle of rewriting this very complicated report， if you hadn’t noticed. 如果你沒注意到的話，我正在重寫這份非常復(fù)雜的報(bào)告。

in the middle of doing sth.： busy doing sth.（忙于某事）。例如：

When the power went out， I was in the middle of chopping tomatoes and I almost chopped my fingers off.

停電時(shí)，我正在切西紅柿，差點(diǎn)把手指頭切下來。

③ I mean， I work my butt off every day. 我的意思是，我每天都在努力工作。

work one’s butt off： work very hard（工作非常努力）。例如：

I worked my butt off last week to finish the report for Tuesday’s meeting.

上周我為了完成周二會(huì)議的報(bào)告，累壞了。

④ So， Mr. pretending-to-work， do you want to stay the course with your current routine of staying seemingly-busy so no one will bother you， or are you ready to start pulling your own weight around here？ 所以，“假裝工作先生”，你是想繼續(xù)保持現(xiàn)在看起來很忙的行為，讓每個(gè)人都不打擾你，還是準(zhǔn)備開始做好自己份內(nèi)的事？

pull one’s own weight： work as hard as other people in the group（做好自己的份內(nèi)事）。例如：

The rest of the team complained that Sarah wasn’t pulling her own weight.

組里其他人抱怨，莎拉沒有做好她的份內(nèi)事。