実践ビジネス英語 Friday, December 21
1) Pearson says the inexpensive act of sending postcards from Bhutan made his friends and relatives happy, which leads Umemura to ask about the definition of happiness. Breakstone replies that many people have pondered that very question, and describes how the Greek philosopher Diogenes believed self-denial was the best path to happiness. She also describes what happened when the ancient King Alexander the Great paid Diogenes a visit.
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Money and Happiness (3)
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2) old-school cachet: "Old-school" refers to traditional practices and principles or the practices and principles of the past. You might say something like, "My boss is a bit 'old-school.' He likes to talk to the staff in person rather than send emails."
3) wrestle with: This is to tackle some problem, grapple with it, in an attempt to solve it, figure out what to do, like a wrestler battles his or her opponent trying to win. Police could be "wrestling with" a surge in crime. Or lawmakers might "wrestle with" legislation to raise taxes, trying to reach a compromise.
4) subsist on: Breakstone is using this word in the sense of survive on, live on. It often refers to physical sustenance. Being completely unable to cook, I used to "subsist on" tuna sandwiches and spaghetti with meat sauce out of a jar. I've also seen it used about various enterprises. For example, that NPO "subsists on" donations from the public.
5) asceticism: This is the philosophy that self-denial, self-restraint is the way to enlightenment. A person who follows this philosophy like Diogenes is an ascetic.
6) nut: A crazy person, a very strange person, Collins means. But you can also use "nut" to mean an enthusiast or a buff, someone who's really into a certain subject and usually knows a lot about it. A history nut is fascinated with history, for example.
7) if you ask me: This is another way to say "in my opinion." For example, "All college students should have a part-time job, 'if you ask me.'" You know, it helps us learn about managing our money and interacting with others in a work environment.
8) be dismissed as a crank: If we "dismiss" someone from a job, we fire them, you know, we send them away. Likewise, Breakstone is using
"dismiss" to mean reject something or someone as unworthy of regard or consideration, as if we send it away from us. So you could say, "Many of our new product ideas "were dismissed as too expensive."
9) There is also the adjective, "cranky," which we use to mean grumpy or grouchy. Babies are often said to be "cranky," for example.
10) a bit of chutzpah: "Chutzpah" is nerve, audacity, gall. Whether or not this is a good thing, I'd say, depends on the context. You could say, "It took a lot of chutzpah for her to quit her job and start her own business." That would probably be good. But she had the chutzpah to interrupt her boss in the middle of his presentation, would probably not be good.
