実践ビジネス英語 Wednesday, January 23
1) Lyons tells the H&B staff that he deliberately left his smartphone in his hotel room during a recent vacation, which prevented him from repeatedly checking his email during the day. Umemura agrees that having constant access to email through a smartphone can be very distracting. And Lyons describes how he has often ended up checking his email at his child's soccer games.
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Going Email-Free (1)
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2) let me guess: Collins also could have said, "Wait! I know." or "Don't tell me." All these are very common and can be used seriously or jokingly as Collins does. Imagine, Ms. X in your office is always missing deadlines, and one morning, Ms. Y says, "We have a problem with Ms. X." You might reply, "'Let me guess,' she missed another deadline."
3) attraction: If something is "attractive," you know, it's appealing, it draws people to it. So the noun "attraction" is often used to describe places, people, events that are meant to attract people. Let's say, I buy a guidebook about Honolulu. In addition to accommodations and transportation, there would be a section called "attractions," which would list things like parks, museums, golf courses. Or you could say, "The finance minister's speech will be the main 'attraction' at the convention."
4) that way: This expression is often used to mean by doing X, I achieve result Y.
For example, "I always order my New Year's cards in November. 'That way,' I get a big discount."
5) be tempted to: Having his smartphone would make Lyons strongly inclined to, feel the desire to, in this case, check his email. So you can say things like, "Things have been so bad at the office lately. I'm 'tempted to' quit." Or "I'm really 'tempted to' get that new smartphone."
6) You'll also hear the expression "tempt fate," which is to court danger by taking a foolish risk as if we were saying to fate, "Destiny, I dare you. Do something bad to me." Imagine, I bring a bottle of orange juice to my desk. I put it far away from my computer, thinking, "Let's not 'tempt fate.' It would be really easy to spill the juice on my laptop."
Don't tempt fate. = 無茶はやめなさい。あえて自分の運命を試すようなことはやめなさい。
7) one of those: There are people or things with certain qualities, you know, traits and I'm one of them, Lyons is saying. So for example, "She is 'one of those' people who has to buy the latest gadgets immediately." Or "XYZ is 'one of those' companies that really listens to its customers."
8) if need be: If necessary, in other words. If your boss asked you about doing some overtime next week, you could reply, "Yes, I can stay late 'if need be.'"
9) from the sidelines: Lyons is referring to the actual lines, you know, that mark where the field of play for some sport ends. Metaphorically, "sidelines" can refer to the position or perspective of people who observe an activity rather than participate in it. So you might read an article about the stock market that said "Investors mostly sat on the 'sidelines' ahead of new jobs data expected Friday." In other words, they didn't buy or sell much.
10) Yes, we also use the noun "sideline" to mean some activity we do in addition to our regular occupation. So you could say, "He writes freelance newspaper articles as a 'sideline' to his consulting job."
