Not long ago I sat in on a meeting of senior people at a large, well-known company. There were 12 around the table: two Brits, an American, a South African, two Germans, a Frenchman, an Italian, an Argentine and three further people whose accents I couldn’t quite place. All were successful, and all presumably bright or else they would not have survived in a company that does not employ slouches. All spoke goodish English and were debating a subject vital to their business. Yet this was the most dreary, pedestrian and jargon-bound business discussion I think I’ve ever witnessed.
不久之前，我旁听了一个会议，与会者都是某大型知名企业的高层人士。当时会议桌旁坐了12个人：其中有英国人两名，美国人一名，南非人一名，德国人两名，法国人一名，意大利人一名，阿根廷人一名，此外还有三个人我无法从口音辨认出他们的国籍。所有这些人都非常成功，而且想必都非常聪明，不然他们无法在一个不聘用笨蛋的公司中生存下来。所有人的英语水平都还不错，正在围绕一个对于公司业务至关重要的问题展开讨论。但我认为，这或许算得上是我所见过的最沉闷、最乏味、最术语连篇的商务讨论了。