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【在生活中學習語言】〈 職人英語通〉挖東牆 補西牆 Rob Peter to pay Paul

文／Dr.J.J. 圖／老唐

想要解決事情，是不能「頭痛醫頭、腳痛醫腳」的，除非能找出問題的癥結，對症下藥才能徹底解決。只不過，話雖如此，一旦事情發生了，很多時候也只能「挖東牆補西牆」，顧及「看得到的地方」就好了，至於「看不到的地方」就隨便吧！

英文裡說「搶Peter的錢來付給Paul（Rob Peter to pay Paul.）」 ，這句話就跟中文裡的「挖東牆、補西牆」頗有異曲同工之妙。

也許有人會問，為什麼是 Peter跟 Paul呢？其實也沒什麼特別的原因，可能只是因為這二個名字都是很常見的人名，剛好又押韻，唸起來比較順口的原因吧。

Ruby：I heard the HR department is going to announce some of the decisions made by the top management last week.

Ruby：聽說人資部要發布一些上週高層做出的決定。

Cindy：I sort of gave up the hope that we’ll get a pay raise next year.

Cindy：我已經不再奢望明年會有調薪了。

Ruby：Good to hear that. I think you’re starting to be practical.

Ruby：聽到這句話很好，我想你開始比較實際些了。

Cindy：Have you heard anything? You sound like you have.

Cindy：你有聽到什麼消息嗎？聽起來好像是有。

Ruby：Well, we all know that the company isn’t making money this year and we’re not going to hit our revenue target .

Ruby：我們都知道公司今年沒賺什麼錢，而且也達不到預期的年度業績。

Cindy：Yes? So they’re going to lay off some people?

Cindy：所以呢？他們是要裁員嗎？

Ruby：Not immediately because we’re already so short of people.

Ruby：不會馬上這麼做，因為我們已經人力短缺了。

Cindy：So you heard some bad news? Come on, do tell!

Cindy：那你有聽到一些壞消息囉？快點說嘛！

Ruby：I think they’re going to cancel our meal and OT (over time) allowances just to make the numbers look less embarrassing.

Ruby：他們要取消餐費，還有加班的補貼，好讓帳面上的數字看起來不會那麼難看。

Cindy：It’s ridiculous! This is just like robbing Peter to pay Paul. How much can that save and help? What they should really do is to look into those expensive and countless business trips abroad with no contribution to the company at all!

Cindy：太誇張了！這根本是挖東牆補西牆嘛。那樣做能省多少，能有多少幫助？他們應該要好好評估那些又貴又沒有實際幫助的海外出差才對啊。

Ruby：Speaking of which, you know where the managers are all going next month for management meeting? Greece!

Ruby：說到這，你知道下個月經理們要去哪兒開會嗎？希臘！

Cindy：What does our company have to do with Greece? They just chose it for vacation rather than work.

Cindy：我們公司跟希臘有什麼關係？他們選那裏根本是要去玩而不是去工作的。

自由時報-971105

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