陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作。他在走廊上遇见了美国同事Amy。 , r3 u8 Q6 \3 `: G
(Office ambience) G2 `0 a2 [ q' x0 U1 Q& }
C:Amy, 我找了你一整天。 G; u# [7 D# k1 ]- I
A:What is it?
* y: j/ [1 X L$ F+ j1 f# s$ ] C:我有个关于电子邮件的问题。每次我回信,都是点击Relpy, 保留原来的内容,然后把我的答复加上去。 0 W" R+ [5 }! a ]$ [
A:That's not unusual.
8 n4 v" `- @6 U9 F C:今天有个同事告诉我,说我不应该保留电子邮件里原来的内容。可我不明白,如果删掉原来的内容,她怎么能知道我在说些什么呢?
$ k( U- w1 v, j% @0 y A:She no doubt would have preferred that you take the time to paraphrase her message in the body of your reply. ( y8 x1 @$ N6 I
C:什么叫paraphrase啊? 8 F2 D6 I/ P! P$ i) i* Q5 s9 j
A:To paraphrase means to rephrase or restate what someone else has said or written. , i+ c% ` ?3 z* I4 }6 p
C:你能举个例子吗?比如说,她发电子邮件给我,问我星期三上午11点有没有时间开会讨论新产品。 # l4 n2 W; i5 W% C$ A& t1 {0 g
A:In that case, instead of hitting "Reply" and responding, "Yes, I am available;" you should write, "Yes, I am available to meet on Wednesday at 11 AM to discuss the new product." $ n% R+ R' e4 K8 f
C:就是把话说完整。 6 Q# ?+ s( ?: {% q6 J+ k
A:Yes. By restating her message, you have confirmed that you will be at the meeting on the right day at the right time. " Z/ A- b- `# @+ v1 Q( z; x
C:照你的话说,出于礼貌,我在回复电子邮件的时候,都应该把原来信里的核心内容重复一遍了?
6 v6 f$ \* k. i1 W! ]4 S A:Yes, In that case you can delete the original at the bottom of your response. I have to go now. Do you want to continue this discussion at another time? 7 D0 G+ K' I) a* V6 V) p( n8 M3 B
C:好。下次再聊吧。 $ |" l- h- a( G# S$ y
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MC:第二天早上陈豪和Amy一起喝咖啡。
$ w1 ]1 e* v$ x+ F C:昨天那个同事还说,如果电子邮件的内容变了,用回复的功能,就不能保留原来的题目。是这样吗?
$ [- k7 r7 g' H5 Z0 [4 @1 o A:She is definitely right. It is very confusing to receive a message from someone who changed the subject in the e-mail and not in the subject line.
1 Y# \8 ^; S* ], J1 G C:你能不能解释一下。 , p. g1 b; s F7 U: l. @' o7 i" A
A:If I send you a message about a project we are working on and I use "Project A Summary" as the subject line, you have a clear expectation about what information is contained in the e-mail. $ M1 L, G( Q9 s5 A+ @
C:我用回复的功能,告诉你我收到了报告。 * Z$ E7 S1 D" @
A:Right. Now let's say that I need to send you a message about our next team meeting. If I use your reply to me - which you recall has the subject line, "Project Summary"; you expect to read more about the project.
% h: Y, N5 j" {% W C:对啊,我会以为里面是关于这个项目更详细的内容,但打开却发现是截然不同的内容。好,我以后一定记住改掉电子邮件的题目。 * h! W6 Q' c0 J% N
A:Better yet, if you are sending e-mail on a new topic, start a new message with a new subject header. |