商務禮節美語第26期:拿回扣(2)

項目主管Donny急衝衝地來找老闆Simon，因爲公司即將竣工的加工廠遇到了麻煩。當地質檢官員以不合格爲由，索取賄賂。Donny說，

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D: I hate to play devil's advocate, but doesn't everyone who does business here pay kickbacks? It's a part of the local culture. Maybe it's easier to look the other way this time.

S: Oh, it would certainly be easier to just pay it. That's for sure. We could wrap up this construction ahead of schedule if we can just clear this mess up. But...I'm having a hard time telling my conscience that this is OK.

MC: Donny 說，I hate to play devil's advocate, 我不是要故意唱反調。advocate is spelled a-d-v-o-c-a-t-e, advocate是支持者的意思。to play devil's advocate，扮演魔鬼的支持者，指的是雖然你認同某種看法，但卻要故意從反對者的立場出發，提出質疑，以便證明這種看法確實是正確的。

Donny還說，行賄受賄在當地似乎司空見慣，或許最簡單的做法是look the other way，睜一眼閉一眼。

Simon承認，這是最簡單的解決方式，這樣他們就能提前完工，wrap up this construction ahead of schedule, wrap up，是收尾的意思，ahead of schedule，意思是提前。不過，Simon覺得良心上過不去。I'm having a hard time telling my conscience that this is OK. Conscience is spelled c-o-n-s-c-i-e-n-c-e, conscience，意思是良心。

D: I've heard stories about situations like this getting out of hand. Sometimes when you pay the first time, they start blackmailing you for more.

S: Yeah, I'm worried we could end up in jail.

D: The on-site manager says if we don't pay up, the processing plant will be held up for at least six months and we'll end up paying an additional 25% in costs.

Donny說，如果第一次屈於壓力給錢了，對方就可能變本加厲訛詐你，blackmail, b-l-a-c-k-m-a-i-l, blackmail，是訛詐的意思，搞不好局面還會失去控制，get out of hand. 但是不付錢，工期就要被拖延至少六個月，讓開支平白無故地增加25%。

S: Six months? That's totally unacceptable! We should be on line in three months!

D: I know. That could really set us back. We might not be able to catch up with the orders already coming in.

S: You know what? I'm angry. I'm so angry that I'm going to do something about this!

拖延半年絕對不行，Simon說，we should be on line in three months! 我們還有三個月就應該開工了。這裏說的on line，意思時投入生產。如果耽誤半年的話，that could really set us back，就會讓我們的進度延後。Simon會怎麼做呢？我們下次繼續聽。