2013年MBA英語閱讀加強練習資料（27）

　　hit the nail on the head 正中要害
　　木工敲釘子得正敲在它扁平的頂上，才能釘得恰到好處。當然hit the nail on the head是用來作比喻的。我們要看的例子里說話的人正感謝他的朋友在股票買賣上給了他十分中肯的勸告。
　　Thanks, Joe - you hit the nail right on the head when you warned me to sell the stock right away. Just in time I sold it at $ 60 a share before it dropped down to 18.
　　Joe多謝，你提醒我趕快拋售那股票的話真是恰到好處。我剛以六十美元一股拋出。它的價格馬上就下跌到十八美元一股了。
　　所以hit the nail on the head用來表示說話行事恰到好處、正中要害或者十分中肯。
　　Jobsworth 工作按部就班的人
　　"I can't do that; it's more than my job's worth". 早上辦事，需要復印材料，大廳里的復印機壞了，得到的答復是“機器中午才能修好，辦公室內的打印機不能給外來人員使用。”生活中碰上諸如此類在自己的工作崗位上嚴守工作職責和規章制度，死板得一點不愿幫助別人的人，你是不是很發火？
　　Few stereotypes are hated more than a jobs worth. Everyone has met one at one time or another. To many people's minds, the term conjures images of small-minded, petty individuals, exercising their authority unreasonably.
　　What's a jobsworth? A jobs worth is a person who only does the work they're supposed to do and nothing else. A jobs worth 做事情完全是按部就班，一點兒周轉的余地都沒有。It often refers to people who have bureaucratic jobs and they never seem to want to help you! 這個詞經常用來描繪那些在官僚政府機構工作的人，很死板，很不愿意幫人。
　　"Jobsworth" 是個貶義用語，同時也是英國一個特有的詞匯。這個詞的起源是什么呢？"Jobsworth" 來自于job's worth——The person won't help you because they think that to be helpful is more than their job's worth，就是說這種人不愿意幫助別人，因為他們認為幫人是超出了他們的工作范圍。這種人常常掛在嘴邊的就是這兩句："Rules is rules" and, inevitably, "It's more than my job's worth." 。
　　為什么會有那么多的jobsworth？If you have a real fear of losing your job, why should you risk making an unnecessary mistake for someone who has not played by the rules? Following a clear rule is always going to be easier than exercising a difficult discretion. 按部就班工作，不犯錯就不會惹麻煩的想法讓人們做起事來顯得死板而麻木。
　　對話1
　　A: I waited in a queue at the post office for an hour earlier for my stamps and then the man behind the desk told me I had to stand in a different queue to buy an envelope.
　　B: No way, what a jobs worth!
　　對話 2
　　A: So Helen, have you brought the script to the studio?
　　B: No, that's not part of my job. I'm not responsible for the scripts.
　　A: So come on Helen, where are those scripts?
　　B: I told you, it's not my job to bring the scripts to the studio.
　　A: You really are a jobsworth, aren't you?
　　B: Only joking! I've got the scripts right here.
　　Don't be such a jobsworth! 少一些officious and inflexible的職員，少一些petty rule-following and excessive 的職能部門，多一點付出，多一絲關懷，大家一起在互幫互助的社會氛圍里享受和諧社會的溫暖。
　　說到這里，Jeremy Taylor的歌聲在耳際回蕩：Jobs worth, Jobs worth, Its more than me job's worth, I can keep you waiting