您現(xiàn)在的位置: Language Tips> Columnist> Zhang Xin  
     





     
    什么是“Water cooler”
    [ 2008-03-25 11:45 ]


    Reader question:

    What does this sentence – Now, these are not events that will create crowds at water coolers – mean? Particularly, "water coolers"?

    My comments:

    That sentence means "these events" will not draw much interest from people. Water coolers stand for gossip.

    How come? Well, the water coolers are the place where office workers come to fetch cold water during office hours. Here colleagues meet and what do they do? They chatter. They say hey, how are you doing, haven't seen you for awhile and stuff like that. And of course they talk about the weather, promotions, bosses and their secretaries... That's how water coolers come to stand for gossip at the workplace.

    Next time you hear water cooler (or watercooler, water-cooler) gossip, you know it's just chatter at the water coolers. It is American English – in China, especially in big organizations in the old days, more often we see water heaters instead, or boilers, 鍋爐房, 水房that is.

    No water heaters or boilers though when you speak English, only water coolers. Here are examples:

    1. BOOK VALUE; Learning to CelebrateWater-Cooler Gossip

    Laurence Prusak and Don Cohen, two lifelong students of business learning, are champions of the chance encounter. They believe that people in business learn most effectively (and most often) from their colleagues, typically in unplanned exchanges that are as likely to occur on a staircase as in a conference room.

    Most vitally, they say, newcomers adapt like pups entering a pack. They absorb a company's values and identity from experienced colleagues, who speak with unmatched credibility. Bonding happens over beers after work.

    In their earnest new book, "In Good Company: How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work" (Harvard Business School Press, $27.50), Mr. Prusak and Mr. Cohen make a familiar case that successful businesses rely on foundations of trust, commitment and community. The book's novelty and appeal lie in the loving attention to the power of commonplace conversations and everyday life.

    - New York Times, February 25, 2001.

    2. MSU Psychologist Takes Workplace Romance from Water Coolers to Scientific Journals

    Ah, spring. Time for a young man's heart to turn to ... the woman sitting at the next computer.

    According to one of the foremost scientists studying such workplace romances, that may not be such a bad thing.

    Charles A. Pierce, a professor of psychology at Montana State University-Bozeman specializing in industrial and organizational psychology, says scientific data shows workplace romances can result in productive employees. Instead of a blanket policy forbidding them, Pierce recommends workplace romances be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

    "In certain circumstances, workplace romances can be okay. In fact, they can be beneficial," Pierce said. "Employees often channel romantic energy to work tasks. They bring enthusiasm and energy to their work."

    As one of the few psychologists in the country studying workplace romance, Pierce is taking workplace romance out of the realm of water cooler gossip and into the pages of scientific journals. The MSU professor's work has recently appeared in a number of scholastic publications, including a recent article in the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

    - www.montana.edu, May 3, 1996.

    3. White House used 'gossip' to build case for war

    The controversy in America over pre-war intelligence has intensified, with revelations that the Bush administration exaggerated the claims of a key source on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, despite repeated warnings before the invasion that his information was at best dubious, if not downright wrong.

    ...

    But by summer 2002, his claims had been thrown into grave doubt. Five senior BND officials told the newspaper they warned the CIA that Curveball never claimed to have been involved in germ weapons production, and never saw anyone else do so. His information was mostly vague, secondhand and impossible to confirm, they told the Americans – "watercooler gossip" according to one source.

    - Independent, UK, November 21, 2005.

    我要看更多專欄文章

     

    About the author:
     

    Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

     
     
    相關(guān)文章 Related Stories
     

     

     

     
     

    本頻道最新推薦

         
      Water cooler
      'Jianti' and 'fanti' are equally good
      Proof, as suffix
      綠 = virescence?
      A case of getting the facts right

    論壇熱貼

         
      "文化名人“該怎么譯
      “網(wǎng)上辦公管理系統(tǒng)”怎么說?
      中端市場
      “牛B”英語怎么翻譯啊?
      一副“你奈何不了我的神態(tài)?
      thoughts from my life




    日韩人妻精品无码一区二区三区 | 国产精品无码久久久久| 最近2019好看的中文字幕| 国产成人无码a区在线视频 | 精品人妻无码区在线视频| 中文字幕乱码人妻无码久久| 国精品无码一区二区三区左线| 中文无码vs无码人妻| 国产区精品一区二区不卡中文| 国产精品亚洲αv天堂无码| 亚洲乱亚洲乱妇无码麻豆| 亚洲中文字幕无码专区 | 亚洲日韩VA无码中文字幕| 日韩精品无码中文字幕一区二区| 久久av高潮av无码av喷吹 | 亚洲AV无码乱码在线观看| 久久久久久久人妻无码中文字幕爆| 最新国产精品无码| 欧洲精品无码一区二区三区在线播放| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码APP| 久久久无码精品亚洲日韩软件| 无码囯产精品一区二区免费| 亚洲AV综合色区无码另类小说| 婷婷五月六月激情综合色中文字幕| 精品久久人妻av中文字幕| 亚洲 欧美 中文 在线 视频| 亚洲AV永久无码精品一区二区国产| 久久精品国产亚洲AV无码麻豆| 无码人妻黑人中文字幕| 少妇人妻无码专区视频| 亚洲AV无码一区二区三区DV | 免费A级毛片av无码| 亚洲AV无码日韩AV无码导航| 亚洲AV无码成人精品区蜜桃| 日韩精品无码久久久久久| 日韩人妻无码精品久久久不卡| 国产精品无码av在线播放| 国产精品ⅴ无码大片在线看| Aⅴ精品无码无卡在线观看| 亚洲av中文无码| 暖暖免费在线中文日本|