礼节美语 054 Open Doors versus Closed Doors

陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作，他的同事Amy在陈豪新换的办公室门口敲门。

(knock on door)

C：Come in.

A：Hi Chen Hao, am I interrupting you?

C：没事，我就是处理一下邮件。

A：I was afraid I might disturb you when I saw your door was shut.

C：不会打扰的！我现在总算有办公室了，所以喜欢把门关上。

A：It is good to have some privacy every now and then, especially when you need to concentrate on something, but I think you should reconsider keeping it shut all the time.

C：我不应该关门吗？

A：It can give a bad impression to your colleagues, some of whom don't have the luxury of an office with a door.

C：我不懂。办公室有门，不就是为了关的吗？

A：When people see your door shut, they assume that you are not to be disturbed. I was reluctant to knock, but I needed to deliver a report to you so I decided to take a chance.

C：噢，我明白了，办公室的门关着，别人就会觉得我不愿意被打扰。

A：A closed door implies that you might have someone in your office or that you are working on an important project and don't want to be disturbed. You might also be having a confidential phone conversation and don't want to be overheard.

C：我怎么没想到呢！别人会以为我是在会客、赶着完成工作，或是在讲电话，不愿意被外人听到。

******

当天晚些时候，Amy又来到陈豪的办公室，门开着，陈豪正在跟同事Todd讲话。

C：(To the co-worker) Todd, I am really disappointed in your work on this project. Please take it back and rework it using the correct data. Hi Amy, come in. Todd was just leaving.

A：Bye Todd, see you later. (Amy hesitates a minute) Gee, that was embarrassing.

C：觉得尴尬，为什么？

A：Well, walking up while you were criticizing Todd was embarrassing, because I am sure that made him feel uncomfortable to have you reject his report and especially when other people walking by could hear your conversation with him.

C：怕别人听见？可他的报告实在让我无法接受，我只能把报告打回去，让他重写。你觉得我应该怎么做呢？

A：You should have shut your door while you were talking to him so no one else would overhear you.

C：你不是说办公室应该开着门的吗？

A：I did, but I didn't say that you should have it open all the time.

C：刚才Todd 进来的时候门就是开着的，所以我就没关。

A：You needed to get up from your desk and shut the door. Or you could have asked Todd to close the door. Then you could have had your talk in private.

C：我明白了，谢谢你，Amy.