Soft Benefits

Sally： Whew！ I’m spent.

Marco： Tell me about it. I don’t know how long I can take that mile hike from my parking spot every morning. It literally takes around 20 minutes to get from there to here.

Sally： And I have to bring my kids across town to daycare every morning before coming to the office， which tacks on an extra half an hour to my daily commute.

Marco： And it drives me nuts seeing all these upper management guys coming in and getting all these soft benefits with their new contracts， while we’re stuck down here in cubicle city at the very bottom of our little corporate totem pole.

Sally： Wait！ Who’s getting what now？

Marco： Oh， you don’t know？ To lure in the best talents from around the world， the company has been including more and more benefits in their job proposals so prospective employees just can’t turn them down.

Sally： And what kind of “soft benefits” are we talking about here？

Marco： Hm. Where to start…We’ve got the new German 1）contingent who got a line of prime parking spots right at the entrance， fully furnished offices on the 69th floor， and even a key to the legendary executive washroom！

Sally： ①Holy smokes！ I thought the exec washroom was just a myth.

Marco： Oh， it’s real alright！ Lisa from the mailroom told me all about it. She’ll walk past it sometimes when someone is coming out， and a mix of steam and cigar smoke comes 2）billowing out every time. ②Who knows what under-the-table handshake deals are being made in there？

Sally： OK. But please don’t tell me they have any 3）perks for single mothers. It might just break my heart.

Marco： Maybe I shouldn’t tell you then…

Sally： Oh， just spit it out.

Marco： There’s a giant daycare center on the 15th floor.

Sally： Oh， I’ve seen that place before. ③And the prices are way out of my league. But come to think of it， I always see professional looking women， who I assumed worked for our company， with their kids in the elevator， and they always get off on 15. How can they afford that place？

Marco： Because new employees get free daycare until their kids start kindergarten. And that counts for men or women.

Sally： What？ You’ve got to be kidding me！ I’ve been busting my butt for 6 years here， and now new people come in and the bosses start tossing around soft benefits all 4）willy-nilly？

Marco： Yep. That’s pretty much what it’s come to.

Sally： Well， that sucks.

Marco： Yes. Yes it does.

Sally： So maybe it’s time we called in some headhunters， to find out what soft benefits are being offered out there on the open market for a couple of underappreciated accountants.

Marco： I think you may be on to something there…

薩莉：喲！我累壞了。

馬爾科：可不是嘛。每天早晨從我的停車位徒步所走的英里數(shù)我不知道我還能堅持多久。毫不夸張地說，從那里到這里要花將近20分鐘。

薩莉：而我每天早晨來辦公室前必須把我的孩子送到城區(qū)的另一端去日托，這讓我日常的通勤時間又額外增加了半小時。

馬爾科：讓我生氣的是，看著所有這些高層管理人員進來，簽訂新的合同，享受著所有這些軟福利，而我們窩在這個小隔間里，處于公司的最底層。

薩莉：等等！現(xiàn)在是誰得到了什么？

馬爾科：哦，你不知道嗎？為了從全世界吸引最優(yōu)秀的人才，公司囊括了越來越多的福利在他們的招聘計劃中，這樣準雇員就無法拒絕他們。

薩莉：我們正在談?wù)摰氖鞘裁礃拥摹败浉＠保?/p>

馬爾科：嗯，從哪里開始呢……我們新來的德國小分隊得到了一排就在入口處最好的停車位，位于69層的家具齊全的辦公室，甚至還有一把開啟傳說中的行政人員專用洗手間的鑰匙！

薩莉：天啊！我原以為那行政人員洗手間僅僅就是個傳言。

馬爾科：哦，它確實是真的！郵件收發(fā)室的麗莎告訴過我。她有時會經(jīng)過那里，當有人從里面出來的時候，她每次都看到蒸汽和雪茄的煙霧混合著從里面冒出來。天知道那些私下的握手交易是不是在那里達成的？

薩莉：好吧。但請不要告訴我他們對單親媽媽會有額外的補貼，那就會傷我心了。

馬爾科：那么或許我不該告訴你了……

薩莉：哦，痛快地說出來吧。

馬爾科：在15樓有一個巨大的日托中心。

薩莉：哦，我以前見過那個地方。那價錢貴得無法承受。但回頭想想，我總是看到職業(yè)婦女，估計是在我們公司任職的，帶著她們的孩子坐電梯，她們總是在15層出電梯。她們是怎么支付得起那個地方的？

馬爾科：因為新員工可以享受免費的日托福利直到他們的孩子開始上幼兒園，那對男人或女人都很重要。

薩莉：什么？你一定是在跟我開玩笑！我在這里勤勤懇懇工作了六年，現(xiàn)在新人進來，老板隨隨便便就開始合計發(fā)軟福利了？

馬爾科：沒錯。差不多就是那個樣子。

薩莉：嗯，太糟了。

馬爾科：是的，是這樣。

薩莉：那么或許是時候我們打電話找一些獵頭，看看公開市場那里有些什么軟福利給幾個被低估的會計人員。

馬爾科：我想你可能意識到點什么了……

Smart Sentences

① Holy smokes！

天?。?/p>

holy smokes： used to express one’s surprise， same as “what a surprise”（用以表示某人的驚訝，等同于“what a surprise”）。例如：You had a son！ Holy smokes！ When did that happen？

你生了個兒子，天啊！那是什么時候的事？

② Who knows what under-the-table handshake deals are being made in there？

天知道那些私下的握手交易是不是在那里達成的？

under-the-table： in secret， something done illegally（私下的，不法的）。例如：

The government is now cracking down on any under-the-table transactions.

現(xiàn)在政府正打擊私下的交易。

③ And the prices are way out of my league.

那價錢貴得無法承受。

out of sb.’s league： too good or too expensive for sb.（對某人來說太好，或太貴了；夠不著）。例如：

—Hey， the latest Huawei cellphone is so cool！

喂，華為最新款的手機太酷了！

—I know， but look at the price. It’s out of my league.

是的，但看看那價錢，我可買不起。