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。
. d. }% B8 ?/ u (Office ambience)
& N. z" P* U) Y$ U/ A% F( R C:Amy, 我找了你一整天。
3 I8 c% q1 a( e! E+ W+ T, D A:What is it? 9 S7 y2 F4 ~, F) z m4 @2 y
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。 + }4 X, E: g6 A, {
A:That's not unusual.
/ {0 c6 m; a2 N+ b6 @1 Y- X/ I 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? 6 t, u) p1 x/ H5 _6 i: L3 f' d, t
A:She no doubt would have preferred that you take the time to paraphrase her message in the body of your reply. , ~' W. _" E/ @ e6 V
C:什么叫paraphrase啊? " G% y! K. y* L* W. U- y5 b) J
A:To paraphrase means to rephrase or restate what someone else has said or written. ; }; `2 P4 e: r H
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。
& J: Q( B3 Z" A! W 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." 6 e& n% \3 x7 a _6 t% W5 D
C:就是把话说完整。
% r3 y. |' G2 p' J: Q( |* ` A:Yes. By restating her message, you have confirmed that you will be at the meeting on the right day at the right time. * D/ ?6 J: x! Y8 K7 P4 m& o+ p
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? / K. o- h0 j' K( t
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? 6 G! B9 W* @( ` k" X) r1 l* e" O
C:好。下次再聊吧。
. @9 Y9 y% {! M ******
' _0 m y; W) W MC:第二天早上陈豪和Amy一起喝咖啡。 " q" i6 A ~5 v
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?
3 e/ o8 j* c$ y7 j( H. R) Z 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.
! R( _8 B& x( O0 Q' _3 b C:你能不能解释一下。 " u* n8 ? `* X
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. 7 @# y( o' m. B5 H7 A9 [
C:我用回复的功能,告诉你我收到了报告。 $ o, l1 X b& Y7 h$ i
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. 9 \5 O: \- U0 Q) s1 {
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。 8 F, k/ Q# v. R: @( y
A:Better yet, if you are sending e-mail on a new topic, start a new message with a new subject header. |