【BBC商务英语】工作负荷相关的专业术语

来源: BBC Learning English
等级: Upper Intermediate (中高级)
发布日期: 2024年11月18日
学习目标: 掌握工作场景中表达工作负荷的商务术语

课程简介

在工作场合中，如何有效地表达自己的工作量是非常重要的沟通技能。本期BBC商务英语课程由Pippa和Phil主持，他们将介绍8个常用的商务术语来帮助你准确地描述工作负荷情况。无论你是需要拒绝额外任务还是向上级汇报工作进度，这些术语都将大有帮助。

播放音频

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听力原文 (Transcript)

Phil: Hello and welcome to Learning English for Work. I’m Phil.

Pippa: And I’m Pippa. This week, we’re talking more about business jargon and looking at how people talk about the amount of work they have to do.

Phil: Now, you can find a transcript for this episode on our website, that’s bbclearningenglish.com.

Pippa: So, Phil, you know what it’s like. You’re at work, you’ve got loads to do and then someone comes up and asks if you could do something for them or do you have time for a meeting. What do you do? It’s a nightmare, isn’t it?

Phil: Yes. I mean, some days the only thing that happens is you have meetings and it’s like you can’t actually get any work done.

Pippa: Yeah and it can be really awkward when somebody asks if you’re busy and you are busy because you want to kind of be available when you’re at work. You often kind of want to help people. You don’t want to look like you’re turning down work or you’re being lazy, so it’s really tricky.

Pippa: So, we need to be able to talk about our workload, that’s the amount of work that we have to do. And there’s actually lots of jargon phrases that could help us here, Phil.

Phil: Yes, so the first one we’ve got is bandwidth. And that just means the amount of space you have for a new task, which could actually be time, or just how much your brain can keep track of. It comes from the world of technology. How much information can be sent between two devices like computers is bandwidth. So you could say “I’m not sure I have the bandwidth to read the full report, can you give me a summary?”

Pippa: Yeah, and I quite like the word bandwidth because it doesn’t just mean whether you have time to do something, it’s whether it’s kind of worth the amount of effort and the brain power that you’re going to use to do it. So, if you’ve got a lot of different projects on, it’s actually not helpful to have another thing added on because it’s too many things for you to keep track of. You don’t have enough bandwidth to be able to do it.

Phil: So, the next one we’ve got here is balls in the air. Do you know what that means, Pippa?

Pippa: I do. And the best way to think about this is to think of a juggler. When they’re juggling, you see them in the circus, they throw lots of balls up in the air, and try and catch them, and keep them in the air, and try not to drop them. So, this is about when you have lots of tasks all at once, and you’re trying to pay attention to all of them, and not drop any of them.

Pippa: Right, yeah and we have a similar circus phrase which is a lot of spinning plates. And there’s kind of a sense of danger here that all the things that you have to do, all the balls in the air or all the spinning plates need a lot of your attention and time. You can’t let one drop because, you know, the plate would smash, or the ball would hit someone. So, it’s kind of this idea that you’ve just got a lot of very chaotic things going on and you really need to pay attention to them.

Phil: The next one is in the weeds. Have you ever heard this one?

Pippa: I think so. You’re in the weeds when you have lots of work. It feels like you’re stuck in weeds, as you’re walking through weeds and they’re quite high and you can’t really see what you’re doing and you can’t really see your way out. That’s what it can feel like when you’re doing a task and you experience, like, lots of work piling up around you. Then you’re in the weeds.

Phil: And we can also use this phrase when you’re focusing too much on insignificant details, can’t we? Like, you might say, “Look, stop being in the weeds. You’ve got to actually see the bigger picture and make the decision.”

Pippa: Totally. Okay, so the next one is swamped. And that’s when you’re swamped with work, when you’ve got too much work to do. You literally feel like you’re under the water, you’re drowning in work. So we would say, “Oh, I’m absolutely swamped at the moment.

Phil: Okay, so the next idiom is one you might do, catch up in the slower time. This is a really interesting phrase because it’s saying, “Look, I haven’t got time right now, but I will make time, but it’ll have to be when things are a bit quieter.”

Pippa: Yeah, and I think there’s a really nice sense here of reassurance to the person who’s asking for your time or your help. What you’re saying is you can give it to them, but it will just be later. So you’re kind of promising but just giving yourself a bit of space, which is nice.

Phil: The next one is from the world of exercise, a heavy lift. And if you do weight lifting in the gym, a heavy lift is an extra effort. But in business if you say that something is a heavy lift, it means it’s a huge undertaking. So you could say, you could talk about a project and say, “Look, organizing that conference is a heavy lift for us as a business at the moment because we’re so busy.”

Pippa: And the last one we’ve got is putting out fires.

Phil: Yes.

Pippa: And that’s when you’re putting out fires when you’re dealing with urgent tasks, aren’t you? And these are often unexpected tasks or problems.

Phil: Yes, and for me, putting out fires gives the impression that these are unexpected tasks and also problems. And there’s some kind of drama going on. You’re rushing here, you’re rushing there, and you’re trying to stop the fire spreading.

Pippa: Right. And the other thing about that phrase is that it means it’s going to take priority, or you have to give it priority. If you’ve got loads of tasks to do, you’ve got lots of balls in the air or you’re in the weeds, if you need to put out fires, that stops everything else because that’s the most urgent thing. So I think that’s worth pointing out.

Phil: So as you can see, we’ve got lots of different ways to talk about your workload. But which one is your favorite, Pippa?

Pippa: I mean, I do quite like bandwidth because I think it’s quite an elegant phrase. It’s about your mental capacity, but to be honest with you, I think we hear swamped the most, don’t we? People say they’re so swamped.

Phil: Yeah, I think so. And I think the phrase putting out fires is probably the one which expresses the most urgency and drama. And if we’re really, really busy, if that’s the phrase we’re going to use, that really does express just how stressed and kind of chaotic things are.

Pippa: So we hope you’ve enjoyed listening to those new phrases, and that they will help you in your workplace about talking about your workload.

Phil: But for now, thanks for listening.

Pippa: Bye.

Phil: Bye.

重点词汇与短语

中文总结

本期BBC商务英语课程聚焦于工作场景中表达工作负荷的专业术语。主持人Pippa和Phil共介绍了8个核心商务词汇，这些词汇能帮助职场人士更专业、更准确地沟通工作状态。

关键学习要点：

1. Bandwidth（处理能力/精力） 源自科技领域的术语，指处理新任务所需的时间和脑力容量。不仅表示是否有时间，更强调是否值得投入相应的精力。例句：“I don’t have enough bandwidth for this project.”

2. Balls in the Air（多任务并行） 源自马戏团杂耍表演，形象地描述同时处理多个任务的状态。强调在不断接收、处理和完成任务的过程中保持平衡。

3. Spinning Plates（精心维持的多项任务） 同样是马戏团术语，指需要持续关注和维持的多项任务。与balls in the air的区别在于，spinning plates带有更强的危机感和出错风险。

4. In the Weeds（深陷琐碎事务） 形容被大量工作包围，就像在高草丛中行走，看不清方向。也可表示过度关注细节而忽略全局。

5. Swamped（忙得不可开交） 最常用且最直观的表达方式，比喻工作量像水一样淹没自己。工作中使用频率最高，简洁有力。

6. Catch Up in the Slower Time（空闲时补上） 婉转拒绝当前请求但同时承诺未来完成的表达方式。既保持了合作态度，又为自己争取了缓冲时间。

7. Heavy Lift（艰巨任务） 源自健身术语，指需要额外努力的重大任务。强调任务的规模和挑战性，适合描述大型项目。

8. Putting Out Fires（处理紧急问题） 最具戏剧性和紧迫感的表达，指处理突发问题。这类任务优先级最高，需要立即停止其他工作来应对。

使用场景分析：

• 拒绝额外任务：“I don’t have the bandwidth right now”
• 说明工作状态：“I’m swamped with projects”
• 描述多任务处理：“I have too many balls in the air”
• 解释延迟原因：“I’ve been putting out fires all week”

文化注意事项： 在英语职场文化中，直接说"I’m too busy"可能显得不够专业或推卸责任。使用这些商务术语既表达了实际情况，又保持了专业性。特别是bandwidth和catch up in the slower time等表达方式，能在拒绝请求的同时维护良好的工作关系。

实践建议：

1. 先从swamped和bandwidth开始，这两个最常用
2. 在适当的场合尝试balls in the air和spinning plates增强表达效果
3. 用putting out fires描述紧急状况，突出问题的紧迫性
4. 结合具体项目使用heavy lift说明任务的挑战性
5. 用catch up in the slower time在需要推迟工作时保持礼貌

练习题

1. 听力理解题

根据音频内容回答以下问题：

a) Phil和Pippa讨论了什么主题？ b) “Bandwidth"这个术语源自哪个领域？ c) “Balls in the air"这个短语使用了什么比喻？ d) “Swamped"这个词在工作场景中是什么意思？ e) “Putting out fires"为什么需要优先处理？

2. 词汇应用题

根据上下文选择正确的术语填空：

a) “I’ve been __________ all morning with urgent client issues.” (putting out fires) b) “I already have three projects running, I don’t think I have the __________ for another one.” (bandwidth) c) “This month has been crazy, we’re absolutely __________ with orders.” (swamped) d) “Could we discuss this next week? Right now I have too many __________.” (balls in the air) e) “Implementing the new system will be a __________ for our IT department.” (heavy lift)

3. 情景应用题

想象一下你是一名项目经理，你的团队面临以下情况。请使用至少3个本课程学到的术语来描述这些情况：

a) 你的团队同时在进行5个不同的项目，每个项目都有紧迫的截止日期。 b) 连续一周都在处理客户投诉和系统故障。 c) 客户要求在月底前增加一个新功能，但团队已经满负荷工作。 d) 你需要告诉客户，他们的请求可以完成，但需要等到下个月初。

4. 翻译练习

将以下句子翻译成英文，使用本课程学到的专业术语：

a) 我目前手头项目太多，没有足够的精力处理这个任务。 b) 我们一直在处理紧急问题，没有时间做计划中的工作。 c) 实现这个功能对我们的开发团队来说是个艰巨的任务。 d) 我下周事情少一些的时候可以处理你的请求。 e) 别陷入细节中，我们需要关注整体目标。

Teacher’s Tip

学习建议: 商务术语的学习重在实践应用。建议：

1. 循序渐进: 先从最常用、最容易记住的术语开始（如swamped、bandwidth），熟练掌握后再扩展到其他表达

2. 情境练习: 在日常工作中主动使用这些术语。可以在邮件、会议或日常对话中尝试融入1-2个新学的表达

3. 文化理解: 这些术语不仅帮助表达，更体现了英语职场文化。理解其背后的文化内涵，比单纯记住词汇更重要

4. 听力强化: 反复收听本音频，注意主持人在不同语境中使用这些术语的语调和节奏

5. 记录应用: 每次成功使用这些术语后，记录下来使用的场合和效果，不断积累经验

6. 适度使用: 商务术语能增强专业性，但过度使用可能显得不自然。根据场合和对象适度使用

常见误区提醒：

• 不要将这些术语用于非工作场合，可能显得过于正式
• 确保理解每个术语的确切含义，避免误用（如spinning plates和balls in the air有微妙差别）
• 注意使用时的语气，保持专业但不傲慢

扩展学习建议：

• 阅读英文商业文章时注意这些术语的实际用法
• 在英文商务环境下观察母语者如何使用这些表达
• 尝试用这些术语写工作邮件或汇报，并请英语水平较高的同事提供反馈