办公室英语：截止日期与物流

感谢收听这个播客。

Thanks for listening to this podcast.

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We're working on new episodes of Office English for you.

meanwhile，这里有一期去年的节目，帮你复习一下商务英语。

In the meantime, here's an episode from last year to help you revise your business English.

好好享受吧。

Enjoy.

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There are so many ways to learn with BBC Learning English.

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你觉得在工作中很难保持有条理吗？

Do you find it hard to stay organised at work?

我特别喜欢列待办事项清单。

I love a to do list.

每完成一项就划掉一个，那种成就感真的很棒。

And then I tick off when I've done that task and I get a great feeling satisfaction.

我在这件事上没做到该有的条理。

I'm not as organised as I should be about it.

一开始我觉得太麻烦了，后来想想又觉得其实还好，结果就忘了该早些做计划。

I think probably at first I think it's too much and then I think about it and I realise it's okay and then I don't do the planning I should have done in the first place.

在这期《职场英语》节目中，我们会聊聊截止日期和工作安排。

In this episode of Office English, we'll be talking about deadlines and logistics.

你好，欢迎收听《职场英语》，你的职场生活指南。

Hello, and welcome to Office English, your podcast guide to the world of work.

我是皮帕。

I'm Pippa.

我是菲尔。

And I'm Phil.

欢迎访问我们的网站，查看本集的文本稿，边听边读。

Visit our website to find a transcript of this episode to read along.

Bbclearningenglish.com。

Bbclearningenglish.com.

在本集开头，我们听到了同事尼尔和贝丝分享他们保持工作条理的一些方法。

We heard from our colleagues Neil and Beth at the start of the episode about some of the ways they try to stay organised at work.

菲尔，你是个有条理的人吗？

Are you an organised person, Phil?

哦，我们刚刚才聊过这个，对吧？

Oh, we've just been talking about this, haven't we?

我对自己来说还算有条理，但有时候还没做到足以和别人高效协作的程度。

I'm organised enough for myself, but I'm not always organised enough to work well with other people.

明白了。

Okay.

所以这些事都只在你脑子里，你也没跟别人说过你的情况。

So it's all in your head, and you haven't told anyone else what's going on.

你是这个意思吗？

Is that what you're saying?

差不多吧。

Basically, yeah.

我觉得我也是这样。

I think I'm similar.

最近我发现，也不晓得是不是年纪大了点，我还算年轻，但现在得写下来的东西越来越多了，非得列清单不可，不然事情一多，就容易忘。

I found recently, I don't know if it's an age thing, I'm still quite young, but I have to write things down a lot more, I have to have lists, Otherwise, there's too much going on and I forget something.

所以我喜欢尽量把事情安排得有条理。

So I like to try and stay organised.

我不喜欢在工作时手忙脚乱的感觉。

I don't like to feel panicked at work.

今天我们要聊聊工作中有关条理的一些表达。

Today, we're going to talk about some of the language of organisation at work.

那菲尔，我们先从截止日期说起吧。

So Phil, let's start with deadlines.

工作中你常常得依赖别人的工作成果，这时候就得明确设定截止时间，才能确保所有事情按时完成。

Sometimes at work, you rely on the work of other people and you need to set clear deadlines to make sure that you can deliver everything on time.

那在工作中，怎么才能把截止日期说清楚呢？

How can you make deadlines clear at work?

是的，你可以说，如果我们得赶上客户的截止时间，那我明天下班前必须拿到你这部分工作，诸如此类的话。

Yeah, you can say stuff like, if we're going to meet that client's deadline, I need this work from you by the end of the day tomorrow or something like that.

对，我可能会再跟对方确认一下这个时间，比如问一句：这个时间安排得过来吗？

Yeah, I might then check that deadline with them, so I could say something like, does that sound feasible?

意思就是，你觉得这个时间现实吗？

That means, does that sound doable to you?

你得确保自己给别人的截止时间，是对方真能完成的。

You want to make sure the deadline you're giving to someone is something that they can actually realistically do.

这里有个很实用的说法，你可以说某件事有明确的截止时间，或者说是硬性截止。

Yeah, a really useful expression here is you can say that there is a firm deadline for something or a hard deadline.

这意味着我们没法推迟。

And what that means is, we can't move it.

如果我们错过这个截止日期，事情就没法完成了。

If we miss the deadline, it's not going to work.

我另一种沟通方式是，直接跟对方说说我的工作流程。

Another way I might communicate it is I might just talk someone through my process.

我可能会说，我正在规划这个项目的整体安排。

I might say, I'm mapping out our plan for this project.

如果你能在这个日期前完成你的部分，那就太好了。

If you could finish your part by this date, that would be great.

是的，不妨看看截止日期，然后倒推一下，其他各个阶段分别得在什么时候完成。

Yeah, it might be a good idea to look at the deadline and then work backwards and think of when the other stages need to be done by.

是的，你一定要留出一些缓冲时间，以防万一出什么状况。

Yeah, and you definitely want to add in contingency, and that means a little bit of time in case something goes wrong.

我特别喜欢在跟那些可能完不成我给的截止日期的人合作时这么做。

And I especially like to do this when you're working with someone who you think might miss the deadline that you give them.

所以你这是在为可能出现的问题留余地，比如有人生病，或者有其他原因没法完成工作。

So, you're just allowing for problems, or just for someone to be ill, or unable to do the work for another reason.

我有个关于截止日期的金科玉律。

I have a golden rule of deadlines.

是什么？

What's that?

永远不要告诉别人你真正的截止日期。

Never tell anyone your real deadlines.

对，很多人都这么干。

Yes, that's something a lot of people do.

他们会定一个假的截止日期，比实际的提前一周左右。

They'll give them a fake deadline that's maybe a week earlier than the real deadline.

所以这就是为什么我总是从真实截止日期开始，倒推时间安排。

Yeah, so that's why I would always sort of start with the real deadline and then map backwards.

这样我就能根据我告诉别人的日期，给自己留出足够的时间。

So I'm giving myself enough time based off what I'm telling other people.

工作中有时候会给你一个截止日期。

Sometimes at work, you're given a deadline.

但在其他情况下，你需要自己估算一件事需要多长时间，并设定自己的截止日期。

In other situations, you're asked to give an idea of how long something will take and set your own deadlines.

这里我们需要考虑哪些因素呢？

What do we need to consider here?

在这种情况下，人很容易把话说得太满。

Well, the temptation in this situation is to over promise.

比如会说：哦，这个我轻松就能搞定。

So to say, oh yeah, I can do that really easily.

但更好的做法是给自己留更多时间，早点完成，而不是因为高估了手头的时间，最后不得不推迟截止日期。

But it's better to give yourself more time, I guess, and deliver something early, than have to move a deadline because you were too optimistic about how much time you had.

那句老话怎么说来着？

What's that saying?

宁可少承诺，多兑现。

It's best to under promise and over deliver.

没错。

Exactly.

当你不确定多长时间才算合理时，确实会让人感到压力。

And it can be stressful when you're not sure what an acceptable answer is for how long something will take.

很多人其实都缺乏时间感，很难准确判断一件事需要花多久。

And a lot of us actually have time blindness and really struggle to judge how long things will take.

所以你最好想想该怎么跟对方沟通，用什么样的表达方式更合适。

So you should probably think about how you can discuss it with the person who's asked you, and what language you can use.

对。

Yeah.

你可以说，如果我们下周交报告，这个时间安排合理吗？

So you could say, if we delivered the report by next week, does that sound reasonable?

你也可以跟同事聊聊你的想法，看看是不是真的现实可行。

And you might want to check your ideas with with your colleagues to see if it actually sounds realistic.

对。

Yeah.

你还可以换种说法，比如：‘说实话，这事得花点时间才能做好，我建议……’然后给出你的估算。

Another way you could phrase it is saying something like, realistically, we need a while to do this properly, I would suggest and then give your suggestion.

这个时间安排和你的预期相符吗？

Does that fit in with your timeline?

这样你就表明你认真考虑过所需时间，同时也想确认是否符合对方的期望。

So you're showing that you thought about how long you think it will take, but you want to check still that it fits in with the expectations.

因为确实很难，别人一问，你根本不知道他们心里对这件事的时间预估是多少。

Because yeah, it's really hard when someone asks you, because you don't know what their kind of ballpark figure was for something.

所谓‘ ballpark figure ’，就是对所需时间的一个大致估计。

And a ballpark figure is just sort of estimation of what the time would be.

对。

Yeah.

还有一点值得确认，我们之前提到过硬性截止日，那就是：这件事有死线吗？

Another thing that might be good to check here, we talked earlier about hard deadlines, is like, do we have a hard deadline on this?

目的是弄清楚有没有弹性，还是说必须在那个时间前完成，别无选择。

It's trying to find out if there is flexibility, or if actually no, it has to be done by then, and that's it.

是的，如果有人让你估算做某事需要多长时间，答案可能有好几个，这取决于你考虑得多细，比如。

Yeah, and if someone's asked you to estimate how long it will take to do something, and there could be several answers, it depends how much detail you go into, for example.

所以你可以把问题抛回去问他们：理想情况下，您希望什么时候完成？

So you could just throw the question back to them and say, when would you like it finished, ideally?

然后看看咱们的想法是不是一致。

And then kind of see if you've got similar ideas in mind.

我们已经聊了很多关于日程和截止日期的事。

So we've talked a lot about schedules and deadlines.

工作组织的另一个方面叫作后勤。

Another aspect of work organisation is something called logistics.

这指的是协调各种事项，确保事情顺利进行。

This is what we call the coordination of lots of different things to make sure something runs smoothly.

对。

Yes.

这意味着你可能需要同时跟很多人保持沟通，及时更新他们最新的变动情况。

And this can mean that you need to be in communication with lots of people at the same time, and update them about changing details.

怎样才能专业地做到这一点，又不让人反感呢？

How can you do this professionally and without annoying someone?

我会始终保持友好的语气，但表达清楚。

Well, I would always keep my tone friendly, but be clear.

如果你在发邮件，但对具体日期还不确定，可以问：‘我先暂定这个日期，稍后再确认可以吗？’

So one thing you can do if you're emailing people, but you're not sure about a day is ask, can I pencil in this date and come back to confirm later?

所谓暂定，就是还没完全确定，但你给了对方一个提醒，让他们能先把时间留出来。

So if you pencil something in, it means it's not absolutely certain, but you've sort of maybe left them a reminder so they can keep the date free, for example.

是的，你也可以直接说，我会在临近时间时再提供更详细的安排。

Yeah, you could all say, I'll follow-up with more details closer to the time.

有时候你不得不调整安排，但又不想因此惹恼别人。

Sometimes as well, you'll have to move things around, and you don't want to annoy someone doing this.

所以我会先道歉，直接说：‘非常抱歉，这个预约能调整一下吗？’

So I would always apologise, just say, I'm so sorry, is it possible to move the appointment?

我们遇到了一些无法避免的延误。

We've had some unavoidable delays.

所以你要让人感受到你在体谅对方的时间。

So you want to show that you're being considerate of someone else's time.

对，而且在传达这个意思时，邮件主题和日历邀请一定要写清楚。

Yeah, and when you're communicating that, make sure that you're clear with your email subjects and any calendar invites that you've sent.

一定要回复确认，免得产生误会。

Always reply to confirm so that there's no confusion.

这样才算把沟通的闭环给完成了。

It's kind of you're closing the loop of the communication.

没错。

Yes.

如果你问别人某个时间能不能安排。

So if you ask someone, can they do a date?

对方回复说可以，你就再发邮件确认：太好了，我这就把时间定下来。

And they come back and say yes, then you email them back and say, that's great, I'll book in this date.

这样大家就都清楚，这件事铁定了。

So everybody is sure that it's definitely happening.

好了，这期《职场英语》就到这里。

And that's it for this episode of Office English.

工作中哪些地方让你觉得最难？

What parts of work do you find difficult?

欢迎给我们发邮件，地址是 learningenglishbbc dot co dot uk。

Send us an email to learningenglishbbc dot co dot uk.

下一期，我们会聊聊工作中如何管理客户。

And next time, we'll talk about managing clients at work.

到时候见。

See you then.

再见。

Bye.

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