L13 U1 Success
Module 1 Commenting on something you've watched
1. Factors of success
在下一活动中,您将观看 Wikipedia 创始人 Jimmy Wales 在 Hult School of Business 发表的演讲的片段。 Wikipedia 是一种基于网络、集思广益的免费多语言百科全书。
自己做好听的准备
Wales 打算谈论成功和失败。注意他说的失败在他人生中扮演了什么角色,在他看来有哪些重要的失败的教训要与大家分享。
- to really get something happening 真正开始做某事
- It's an amazing success. 这是一个了不起的成功。
- The way I got here is failure. 我成功的方式是通过失败。
- Fail faster. 更快地失败。
- I should have quit a lot sooner. 我应该早点退出。
- Real entrepreneurs fail and fail. 真正的企业家失败再失败。
成功与失败:拥有大量的词汇,你会对一个单词的某些形式比另一些熟悉。你会对形容词successful,以及动词fail 和 quit很熟悉,但是你可能不太常使用这些单词的其他形式。
- I should have quit sooner. 我应该早点退出。
- I'm not a quitter. 我不是一个轻易放弃的人。
因此,一个quits的人是quitter。这很容易推断出来,因为一个做这个动作的人常常以-er结尾。但是,一些名词不太容易猜出来。你知道fail的名词是什么吗?
- I failed, but I learned from it. 我失败了,但我从中吸取了教训。
- I think you can learn from failure. 我认为你可以从失败中吸取教训。
在这些情况下,我们只要记住名词的形式是failure。那么successful的动词和名词形式呢?
- I didn't succeed in the beginning. 我开始时并没有成功。
- Success doesn't always come easily. 成功并不总是容易做到的。
你可能对动词succeed不太熟悉,但是作为一名高级学员,你会开始使用这些你不太熟悉的形式。
- It was an amazing success. 这是一个了不起的成功。
- It was a failure for a few reasons, I think. 我认为失败是有几个原因的。
- I think you can learn from failure. 我认为你可以从失败中学习。
- I'm not a quitter. 我不是一个轻易放弃的人。
- I didn't succeed in the beginning. 我开始时并没有成功。
- It was a failure for a few reasons, I think. 我认为失败是有几个原因的。
- Success doesn't always come easily. 成功并不总是容易做到的。
- It was an amazing success. 这是一个了不起的成功。
2. Adding emphasis to ideas
- One of the questions is … 一个问题是…
- One of the most important things … 最重要的事情之一是…
- One of the things that's … 事情之一是…
- What was really interesting to me … 真的让我感到很有趣的是…
引出评论:你常会听到what 和 one thing (that)用于引出评论和意见:
- What's really interesting to me is the role of failure. 让我真的感兴趣的是失败的作用。
这个结构有几种语法选择。第一个例子中,我们用的模式是这样的:What + be + 形容词 + be + 名词。下面句子中的结构是什么?
- One thing that was cool was that he wanted to pass on real-world experience.很酷的事情是他想要将现实世界的经验传递下去。
这里,我们有: One thing that+be+形容词+be+that+从句
我们可以选择使用像failure样的名词或者如前面例子中那样使用一个完整的句子来结束这种短语。我们也有选择以不同的方式来开始句子。下面的例子有什么不同?
- What surprised me was that he was willing to admit to being a failure. 让我吃惊的是,他愿意承认自己的失败。
- One thing I admire about him is his honesty. 我佩服他的是他的诚实。
这里我们在句子的第一部分使用了动词surprise 和 admire而不是一个形容词。你可能也会听到 the way而不是that:
- What I liked about his talk was the way he was so positive about failure. 我喜欢他的谈话的地方是他如此积极地看待失败的方式。
- What was strange was the topic he didn't cover. 奇怪的是他没有涵盖的题目。
- One thing I loved was the way he talked to us. 我喜欢的是他与我们说话的方式。
- What I didn't know was that he was a CEO before. 我不知道的是,他以前是一位首席执行官。
- What I liked about it was its variety. 我喜欢它的地方是它的多样性。
- One thing I didn't like was the slow pace of the talk. 我不喜欢的一件事是谈话的慢节奏。
Module 2 Working out the meaning
1. Guessing unknown words
What is a startup?
Just because a company is newly founded doesn't necessarily make it a startup.
Startup companies are entrepreneurial ventures designed to discover if they have a scalable business model.
That is, do they have the potential to grow quickly and be successful?
Many startups go from failure to failure before finding the right model, or they fail altogether.
Many people assume that all startups are technology-based companies.
This might be due to the fact that the term became widespread during the dot-com bubble,
when so many high-tech companies were started,
but most eventually failed and disappeared.
In fact, a startup can be in many different sectors of the economy.
Some startups are funded by the founders themselves.
Others get funding from venture-capital firms or angel investors in exchange for equity – part ownership in the company.
Investors are generally attracted to startups with a strong founding team,
high potential return on investment, and scalability.
Again, it's about the potential to grow rapidly with limited investment of capital and labor.
猜测意思:当阅读文章时,你会遇到不熟悉的单词。你可以试着猜测其大概含义。
同源的单词:你可能知道后缀-al 和-ial用于构成形容词,而-ity用于构成名词。如果你知道entrepreneur的意思,它会帮你猜出单词entrepreneurial是描述企业家的形容词。知道scalable的意思会帮助你理解scalability是可扩展的能力的意思。
- Startup companies are entrepreneurial ventures. 新兴公司是创业型企业。
- Investors are generally attracted to startups with scalability. 投资者一般都被有可扩展性的初创公司所吸引。
猜测有多部分组成的单词的意义:有时,两个单词组合在一起形成一个新的单词,你可以将这些单词分开来猜测它们的含义。例如,如果你知道单词 high and tech(源自技术)的意思,你可以猜测短语high-tech companies的含义。
- Many high-tech companies were started during the early 2000s. 许多高科技公司是在21世纪初开始创建的。
在许多情况下,多部分词语没有连字符。你仍然可以把它们分开来猜测它们的含义。例如,widespread,可分为wide 和 spread,这能帮助你理解其含义:常见。
- The term startup became widespread during the dot-com bubble. 在网络泡沫时期,新兴这一术语变得十分普遍。
2. Guessing meaning from context 使用上下文
根据上下文猜测单词的意思是可以提高你的阅读能力的重要策略。 Context指的是围绕未知单词的单词,单词的形成方式和阅读材料或段落的主题。
定义,同义词和对比:有时候,一个新词在句子本身中就被定义了。在下面的句子中,people who start and operate new companies是entrepreneurs的定义。请注意,它是由逗号隔开的。
- Entrepreneurs, people who start and operate new companies, are critical to our economy. 企业家,创建并和运营新公司的人,对我们的经济至关重要。
在下面的句子中,profits是return on investments的同义词。
- Investors look for high return on investment because profits are what it's all about. 投资者寻找高投资回报率,因为利润是它的全部关注点。
在这句话中,短语by contrast显示单词losses是短语return on investment的反义词。
- There was a solid return on investment last year. By contrast, we're experiencing losses now. 去年有丰厚的投资回报。对比之下,我们现在正在经历损失。
Module 3 Writing more coherently
1. Employee motivation
- Analyze, benchmark, reward. 分析,基准,奖励。
- collaborative 合作的
- objectives 目标
- performance is assessed 评估绩效
- surpassed their targets 超过他们的目标
- vouchers 优惠券
- substantial 大量的
- incentivized 用物质激励的
- buzzwords 流行词
员工激励:一种有助于更加激励员工的步骤:analyze, benchmark, reward.
Analyze(分析)
首先,经理和员工应该 analyze 目前的局面。
- A manager and employee should work in a collaborative way to set goals. 经理和员工应该共同设立目标。
- Employees feel motivated when they're involved in setting their own objectives. 员工如参与自己的目标设立,会感到受到激励。
Benchmark(衡量基准):一段时间之后,应该评估员工的表现。Benchmark 可用作名词或动词。
- The benchmark the employee is trying to reach should be realistic. 员工所要达成的基准应根据现实情况设定。
- It's important that an employee's performance is assessed after a period of time. 重要的是,员工表现隔一段时间后应加以评估。
- Ideally, an employee will have reached or even surpassed the benchmark. 理想状况下,员工会达到甚至超过衡量基准。
- A manager's success can be measured by how many employees reach their targets. 经理的成功可以根据完成目标的员工人数来衡量。
Reward(奖励):经理应该奖励成功的员工。
- Successful employees can be rewarded with vouchers. 成功的员工可获得优惠券作为奖励。
- A reward should be substantial enough to motivate employees. 奖励应该大到能够激励员工。
- It's in a company's best interests to have incentivized employees. 拥有受到激励的员工,对公司最为有利。
- Employee benchmarks should be realistic. 员工基准应切合实际。
- A reward should be substantial enough to motivate. 奖励应该足够大以起到激励的作用。
- The company benefits from incentivized employees. 公司受益于被激励的员工。
- Performance should be assessed periodically. 应该定期进行绩效评估。
- Ideally, a benchmark will be reached or surpassed. 理想情况下,一个标准能够达到或者超过。
- Managers and staff should work collaboratively. 管理者和员工应该合作共事。
- Motivated employees set their own objectives. 有积极性的员工设定他们自己的目标。
2. Coherence and cohesion 连贯性
如果你的写作是coherent,这对于你的读者来说是符合逻辑意义的,无论是在你表达个人思想或者想法的逻辑发展时。这是一些为你的写作添加coherence的方法。
一般到具体
- The analysis phase is crucial. The manager should sit down with each staff member to analyze the skills they have and the ones they need.分析阶段至关重要。经理应该和员工坐下来分析他们的技能和需要的技能。
陈述,然后举例
- Successful employees should be rewarded. Rewards could include cash or vouchers.成功的员工应该予以奖励。奖励可以包括现金或优惠券。
问题,然后回答
- How can managers help employees make significant improvements? Working collaboratively and incentivizing an employee can be very effective.经理如何帮助员工取得巨大的进步?共同协作并激励员工,可能非常有效。
3. More methods for coherent writing
参照:文章的各部分之间的References帮助读者知道你指的是什么,而不必重复同样的话。在下面的例子中,短语a program like this回指Incentivize your employees。
Incentivize your employees. Make them feel that the company's success means success for them as well. There's nothing like a possible reward to motivate people. A program like this will probably have to come from upper management, not just from the direct manager.
关键字重复:另一个方法是在文章中重复关键词。注意在下面的段落中单词listen 和 listening将段落连接起来。
Listening is key. If people feel that their manager is listening to them, even when they are complaining, they will be happier and more productive. Listen to your employees!
Motivating employees
The relationship between employee and manager is important.
Not only can it affect an employee's morale,
but it can have wider consequences on the company as a whole.
It's hard to imagine any company doing well without motivated employees.
Here are five effective ways to motivate staff.
Incentivize your employees.
Make them feel that the company's success means success for them as well.
There's nothing like a possible reward to motivate people.
A program like this will probably have to come from upper management,
not just from the direct manager.
Take an active interest in your employees' career paths.
Offer them additional training, and act as their mentor.
If employees feel that a brighter future is ahead,
it will motivate them.
Emphasize a healthy work-life balance.
One way to do this is to make sure everyone takes their vacation time.
Refreshed people are motivated people.
Listening is key.
If people feel that their manager is listening to them,
even when they are complaining,
they will be happier and more productive.
Listen to your employees!
Above all of this is one general idea:
Respect for others goes a long way toward motivating people.
Treat subordinates the way you would like to be treated by your superiors.
But what can you do to demotivate your staff? How can you be a bad manager?
Use your managerial position to show people who's boss.
Disrespect subordinates because they are below you.
Take credit or claim responsibility for work done by your subordinates.
They work for you, right? So why give them credit?
Lose your temper. Getting angry always shows people who's boss!
Let employees unfairly take the blame for things.
Better them than you, right?
Don't compliment or praise people for good work.
The next thing you know,
they'll want a promotion or pay raise!
Motivating people takes much more work than demotivating them,
but if you follow the tips above, you can build a solid, productive team!
Module 4 Making your point more effectively
1. Traits of successful people 成功人士的特征
在下一活动中,你将观看一段即兴的采访。受访女子名叫 Julie Malta,她将谈论成功人士具有的 traits, 或 qualities。
自己做好听的准备
既然你了解了采访的中心所在,思考一下你心中成功人士应该具备的特征。然后,在听的同时,注意 Julie 描述的特征。
你也会听到 Julie 使用 categorization(分类) 的语言。请听类似以下的短语:
- kind of 一种
- type of 一种类型
- form of 一种
- manner of 一种
- mortgage broker 房贷经纪人
- many different types of success 许多不同种类的成功
- hard to pinpoint 很难准确指出
- academic 学习的
- defines 说明
- what manner of success 哪种成功
- similar traits 相同的特征
- proactive 主动的
- resilient 达观的
- adversity 困境
谈论成功
以下是一些谈论成功的表达:
- What manner of success are you looking for exactly? 你具体希望获得哪种成功?
- It's difficult to pinpoint what defines success. 很难准确描述什么是成功。
- He was able to turn his academic success into business success. 他做到了将优秀的学习成绩转化成商业上的的成功。
以下是一些描述成功人士所具有的特征的单词:
- It's not easy to pinpoint what traits make people successful. 要确定让人取得成功的特点并不容易。
- She's very resilient. She's always able to bounce back from adversity. 她非常达观,总能从逆境中恢复过来。
- They're very proactive. They try to anticipate problems before they happen. 他们行事主动,努力未雨绸缪。
- No matter what happens, he never gives up. He's very persistent. 不管怎么样,他从不放弃。他非常执著。
以下是更多谈论成功人士的特征的词汇:
- She's incredibly passionate about her work. 她非常热爱自己的工作。
- Creativity is very important, but so are practical business skills. 创造力非常重要,但实用的商务技能同样重要。
- He has a great ability to find pragmatic solutions to problems. 他拥有为问题找出切实可行的办法的出色能力。
- Steve Jobs was one of the most innovative thinkers of his time. Steve Job是他那个时代最富于创新的思想家之一。
- Try to anticipate problems. Be proactive. 努力为问题做好准备。要积极主动。
- Her academic life does not define her. 她的学院生涯不能对她定性。
- What personality traits lead to success? 哪些性格特征可以获得成功?
- The business world is tough. You have to be resilient. 商场艰难,你必须具有很强的适应力。
- She's persistent, even when faced with adversity. 她行事坚持不懈,即使面对困境也是如此。
- It's hard to pinpoint where the problem comes from. 很难指出问题所在。
2. Supporting your opinion
给出例子或者具体细节:有时,只是陈述意见是不够的。必须加强和支持它。做到这一点的一种方式是给出例子或者具体细节。
- Good managers need to be proactive. When there's a problem, they don't wait for others to fix it. 优秀的管理者需要积极主动。当有问题时,他们不会等待别人来解决它。
提供推理:你也可以提供推理来支持你的观点。
- Good managers promote effective communication. Open and effective communication makes people feel valued and heard. 优秀的管理者促进有效的沟通。开放和有效的沟通使人感到受重视和被关注。
使用对比:使用对比可以是支持一个意见的有效方法。
- A good manager needs passion. If managers aren't excited about what they're doing, how can we expect the employees to be? 一个优秀的管理者需要激情。如果管理者对他们在做的事情并不感到兴奋,怎么能指望员工有激情呢?
总结:总结你的观点可以是一种把重点放回你的主要想法上的有效的方法。
- In the end, it's important to remember that a good manager needs to be both persistent and flexible. 最后,要记住,一个好的管理者必须既坚持又灵活。
3. Buying time to think 争取思考的时间
习语 buy time to think 表示在回答之前争取更多的时间来思考。要许多 buy time to think 的方法。请看以下各例:
要求重复和澄清
- Can you say that again? 你能再说一遍吗?
- Can you be more specific? 你能更具体些吗?
- What exactly do you mean by effective management? 对于有效的管理到底你的意思是什么?
你也可以使用这样的表达方式:
- I need a second to think about that. 我需要思考一下。
- That's a good question. Let me think for a minute. 这是一个很好的问题。让我想一想。
如果你真的不知如何回答,你可以使用这样的表达方式:
- That's not a question I can answer right now. Can I get back to you? 这不是一个我现在可以回答的问题。我可以回头答复你吗?
- I'd need to give that some thought before answering. 回答前我需要想一想。
- Well, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly. 嗯,这很难准确查明。
- Just give me a moment to think about that. 让我再想一会。
- Can I get back to you with an answer on that? 那件事我能明天给你答复吗?
- Hmm. Let me see. It's difficult to say. 嗯,让我想想。不好说。
- Let me think about that for a minute. 让我再想一会。