Joshua Ogden-Davis/肝腦涂地

Cindy： Hey， Herb， have you heard the 1）scoop on Marten？

Herbert： Hey， Cindy. No， I havent heard a thing. Whats up？

Cindy： Its just a rumor， ①but the word around the water cooler is that hes on the way out soon.

Herbert： What， hes getting fired？ Why？ He always makes great presentations. Sometimes he even cleans the office on his own.

Cindy： Yeah， ②but he made some less-than-flattering comments about the boss on his Weibo. Some of the other guys in the office “shared” it， and it got back around to the boss. Shes not happy about it at all.

Herbert： Did that really happen？ Its hard to imagine Marten would be so careless.

Cindy： But Marten never even added his boss Weibo. Maybe he thought the boss would never find out.

Herbert： Doesnt matter. The Internet is like an open room： anything you say can be heard by anyone.

Cindy： Doesnt that make you a little uncomfortable？ Like， you could lose your job for something you wrote on your own Weibo.

Herbert： Not at all. If I walked around the office saying bad things about the boss then I might get fired， right？ The Internet is no different. I even added the boss Weibo myself， and Im careful about what I write. These days， you have to be professional at all times.

Cindy： I guess so. But isnt it kind of silly？ After all， its just words on the Internet.

Herbert： What if a client saw them？ We could lose business over it. It could also hurt the other employees attitudes at work.

Cindy： ③So， what， were just supposed to keep our mouths shut about everything？ We can never criticize the boss？

Herbert： Theres a time and a place for those things. If youve got a 2）legitimate problem， then talk to the boss directly. If that doesnt work， you can talk to Human Resources.

Cindy： And what if that doesnt work？

Herbert： Then you find another way to fix the problem， or you leave， or you just ignore it. But posting silly insults on the web is childish， and doesnt achieve anything.

Cindy： I never really thought about it， but youre right. We think about online profiles as being personal， but we still have to be professional about what we post.

Herbert： ④On the Internet， nothing is behind closed doors. Cindy： No， indeed. Hmm， now I really want to go check on my profiles and see if theres anything I need to clean up.

Herbert： Wouldnt be a bad idea. And you can always limit what other people can see， so that only your close friends can see your pictures and things.

Cindy： Ill definitely do that. Well， Im off！ Have a good one！ Herbert： Same to you！

辛迪：嘿，赫伯特，你聽說關(guān)于馬騰的傳聞了嗎？

赫伯特：嘿，辛迪。沒有，我沒聽到任何消息。發(fā)生什么事了？

辛迪：只是個謠傳而已，不過有傳聞?wù)f他很快就離開公司了。

赫伯特：什么，他被炒魷魚了嗎？為什么？他的演示會一直做得很出色。有時候他還親自打掃辦公室。

辛迪：是啊，但他在自己的微博里寫了一些讓老板不高興的言論。辦公室里有些同事轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)了該微博，然后傳到了老板那里，她對此很不高興。

赫伯特：真有這樣的事嗎？很難想象馬騰會那么不小心。

辛迪：但是馬騰從沒加過他老板的微博，可能他認(rèn)為老板永遠(yuǎn)不會發(fā)現(xiàn)的。赫伯特：不加也沒關(guān)系的，網(wǎng)絡(luò)就如一個開放的房間：你所說的一切都能被任何人聽到。

辛迪：那樣不會讓你感到有點(diǎn)不舒服嗎？比如，你因?yàn)樵谧约旱奈⒉┥蠈懥诵┭哉摱鴣G了工作。

赫伯特：完全不會，如果我在辦公室里到處講老板的壞話，我就會被解雇，對不對？網(wǎng)絡(luò)也一樣，我自己還加了老板的微博，我對自己所寫的東西都很謹(jǐn)慎。如今，你必須任何時候都很專業(yè)。辛迪：我想是的。但你不覺得很荒唐嗎？畢竟，那只是網(wǎng)絡(luò)上的一些言論。赫伯特：如果被客戶看到了怎么辦？我們會因此丟了業(yè)務(wù)，也會打擊到其他員工的工作態(tài)度。

辛迪：那么，怎么辦，我們就得對任何事情都三緘其口嗎？我們永遠(yuǎn)都不能批評老板嗎？

赫伯特：那些事情要在適當(dāng)?shù)臅r機(jī)和適當(dāng)?shù)牡攸c(diǎn)做，如果你有合理的問題，可以直接找老板談。如果問題解決不了，你可以找人力資源部。

辛迪：那如果還是解決不了呢？

赫伯特：那你就找另外的途徑解決問題，或者辭職，或者不再理會。在網(wǎng)上發(fā)表愚蠢的侮辱性言論是很幼稚的，并不能得到任何好處。

辛迪：我從來沒真正想過這些，不過你是對的。雖然我們認(rèn)為在線發(fā)表的言論代表著你個人，但我們?nèi)砸軐I(yè)地對待自己發(fā)表的東西。

赫伯特：在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上，沒有東西是秘密的。

辛迪：確實(shí)沒有。嗯，現(xiàn)在我真的要去檢查一下我的文件，看看有沒有需要清除的東西。

赫伯特：這個主意不錯。你還可以設(shè)限，只有知己好友才能看到你發(fā)布的圖片和消息，其他人就看不到了。

辛迪：我一定要那樣做。那我要走了！祝你愉快！

赫伯特：你也是！

Smart Sentences

① But the word around the water cooler is that hes on the way out soon. 不過有傳聞?wù)f他很快就離開公司了。

the word around the water cooler： gossip， unofficial news（小道消息，傳聞）。例如：

We heard that our two departments will be merged， but that is just the word around the water cooler.

聽說我們這兩個部門要合并了，不過這也只是傳聞。

on the way out： sth. is likely to disappear or to be replaced soon（即將消失）。例如：

Some experts have predicted that the fax machine was on the way out.

有專家預(yù)測說，傳真機(jī)很快就會消失了。

② But he made some less-than-flattering comments about the boss on his Weibo. 但他在自己的微博里寫了一些讓老板不高興的言論。

less-than-sth.： not at all sth.（與事物的某種特點(diǎn)沒有關(guān)系）。例如：

He had a less-than-favorable view of the matter.

他對那件事的看法是負(fù)面的。

③ So， what， were just supposed to keep our mouths shut about everything？ 那么，怎么辦，我們就得對任何事情都三緘其口嗎？

keep ones mouth shut： keep quiet about sb. or sth. （保持緘默，守口如瓶）。例如：

Do you think I should keep my mouth shut about Jim wanting to resign？

吉姆要辭職一事，你覺得我應(yīng)該保持沉默嗎？

④ On the Internet， nothing is behind closed doors. 在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上，沒有東西是秘密的。

behind closed doors： in secret； do sth. in private（秘密地，背地里）。例如：

The year-end bonus was decided behind closed doors.

年終獎都是秘密決定的。