実践ビジネス英語 Thursday, November 22
1) Lyons describes office holiday parties as primarily professional events and warns that going too far under the influence of alcohol can damage a person's career. As an example, he recounts how a former coworker of his horrified everyone at a company party by drunkenly confessing her infatuation with her boss in front of the boss's wife. Collins says she takes care to listen as much as she talks at such events.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Office Holiday Party (2)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2) unrestrained alcohol-fueled behavior: Lyons is using "fuel" as a verb to mean support or stimulate something. You might read about "Panic-fueled"selling on the stock market, or hear that sales rose "fueled" by the success of the company's latest luxury car.
3) be three sheets to the wind: Simply put, this means drunk. And I'd say pretty drunk, you know, visibly drunk. I looked up the origin in my idiom dictionary, but it was a bit complicated, so let's just go with pretty drunk. Another common expression using "sheet" is "white as a sheet," which means someone is very pale, like a white bed sheet. So you could say, "She was feverish and white as a 'sheet,' so our boss sent her home."
4) have a crush on someone: This means to be infatuated with someone. I had a big "crush on" an actor from Hong Kong when I was in high school. Any guesses who he was?
5) as if that wasn't bad enough: We often use this expression to mean the thing I just mentioned would be sufficiently bad all by itself, but no, there's more. As in, "I was 15 minutes late to the meeting, and 'as if that wasn't bad enough,' I'd left the papers I needed at my desk."
6) someone's jaw drops: This refers to the way a mouth fall open when we are shocked. And it can be shocked in a good way as well as bad. My jaw dropped the first time I saw the giant Buddha in Todaiji Temple in Nara.
7) the guilty party: This can mean a person who committed a crime or some bad act, but it can also mean a thing that causes a problem. Imagine, one of your desk drawers won't shut. You could look in the back and say, "Ah! There's 'the guilty party.' There's a book blocking the way."
8) underline: This expression uses the image of drawing a line under something. And Collins is using it to mean show clearly or definitely. "John and Mark's argument 'underlined' their poor relationship, for example. They can also mean stress or emphasize. As in, "The president 'underlined' the need to cut costs in his speech."
9) make a conscious effort to: An intentional effort, a deliberate effort. You can use "conscious" with a number of words. For example, "He made a 'conscious' choice to work fewer hours to have more time with family." You'll also hear about a "conscious" decision or a "conscious" attempt.
10) wee: This word has a strong Scottish aura. It means small. I think Americans mostly use it with a sense of fun, you know, a bit of a humorous tone, like, "We have a 'wee' problem. Uh... the computer system's crashed."
