今日问题

⊙5个最常说错的商业英文

1. loading太重

load作为动词,指的是将物品装到车上/容器中、或将设备装到机器上的动作,常见用法为load up、load with

The truck was loaded up and left for the north. 那辆卡车已经满载货物向北方出发了。 He loaded his bag with food and water. 他将包包装满食物和水。

load作为名词,则是指装载的货物或设备,且通常重量和数量都不少:

Before Mark went home, he gave away most of his things to ease the load of the bag. Mark在回家前,为了减轻背包的重量,他将大部分的东西都分送出去了。

如果想表达"工作量",其实应该用workload来比较准确:

This is the second time she missed the deadline this month. We really need to talk about the heavy workload she has and more importantly, do something about it! 这已经是本月她第二次没有在期限前完成工作了。我们真的应该要好好谈谈她繁重的工作量问题,最重要的是,想办法解决!

2. 大delay

delay同样也是具有动词和名词型态,意思都是延迟、耽搁,例如:

Don't delay if you want to receive your order by the end of this week. 若你想在这周前收到货品,就不要再拖延了。 Please forgive my delay in handing in the report. 请原谅我报告迟交这件事。

所以如果想表达某事件"延迟、耽搁时间"的这个概念,主要采用动词用法会比较恰当:

The meeting has been delayed for an hour. 会议已经往后延了1个小时。 The HSR was delayed due to the heavy rain. 高铁因大雨延误了。

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3. booking会议室

book作为名词大家应该非常熟悉,就是书本的意思;作为动词,表示预定、保留某事物:

I've booked the conference room for the meeting on August 20. 我已经为8月20日的那场会议预定好会议室了。

booking则是名词,指的是预订这个动作本身,或是保留的记录:

Sir, I can't find any booking record of yours. I'm afraid we don't have any seats available tonight. 先生,我找不到您的订位纪录。恐怕今晚我们没有多余的位置可以提供给您了。

此外还有另一个字也可以适用在这个情境,就是动词reserve

The restaurant is usually pretty busy on weekends. We had better reserve a table as early as possible. 那家餐厅周末总是人满为患,我们最好越早预定桌次越好。

或是采用名词型态reservation也可以:

Are you sure you won't stay overnight? I can make a reservation for you at a hotel downtown right now. 你确定你不多留一晚吗?我现在就可以在市中心的旅馆帮你预定一个房间。

4. 总total

total作为形容词用法有两种意思,一是整体的、完完全全的:

He is a total stranger for me now. 现在他对我来说就是一个彻头彻尾的陌生人了。

另一个就是中文原意所想表达的用法,说明花费或数量的整体:

The total cost of the project has come to $1 million. 这个计划的总花费已经达到了一万美元。

此外total的名词用法,也可以用来表达上述句意:

The total of your orders comes to $3000. 你的订单总额已经达到3000美元了。

总的来说,这个错误的用法主要是中式英文里赘字的问题,total就已经是总和,再加上"总"这个字有点画蛇添足的感觉。

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5. 事先set好

第一种:set up + in advance

set up就是准备、佈置的意思,加上in advance就可以说明优先提前的时间点。

Would you mind setting up the PC and the projector for the conference call in advance for me? Thanks a bunch! 你介意帮我先将视频会议要用的电脑和投影机提前设置好吗?非常感谢!

第二种:prepare

prepare本身就有提前将所需的物品备好的意思,所以用这个字也是简洁有力的选择。

I need you to prepare a brief summary of the report for this afternoon's meeting. We don't get all day to go through every detail of it. 下午的会议,我需要你事前针对这份报告准备一份简短的摘要;我们可没有一整天的时间去细细检视每个细节。

你学会了吗?