美語情景對話 第832期:Winning 贏得比賽

Todd: Okay Monica, we're going to debate winning and sports, especially for young people. So do you think that winning should be stressed with sports, with, let's say high school athletes?

託德：莫妮卡，我們要來討論一下與年輕人贏得比賽有關的事情。你認爲高中運動員應該承受贏得比賽的壓力嗎？

Monica: Well, it depends on the situation and what they're training for, but generally I think that winning is overemphasized in sport. I think that participation is more important. Yeah.

莫妮卡：這要取決於實際情況和他們訓練的目的，不過一般來說，我認爲勝利在體育比賽中被過分強調了。我認爲參與更重要。

Todd: Why would you say that?

託德：你爲什麼這麼認爲？

Monica: Well, I think if you concentrate too much on winning, then the problem is, if you don't win, you don't enjoy the sport, so the emphasis is shifted from enjoyment to basically results, so I think it can be quite damaging.

莫妮卡：我認爲，如果你太注重獲勝，那就會出現問題，如果你沒有獲勝，你就不會享受這項運動，那重點就從享受轉移到了結果，我認爲這種情況極具破壞性。

Todd: Right. I kind of agree with what you're saying. And actually, I played high school sports, and I was never very good. And I always wish I participated more than I did, but I actually think that the focus on winning in some ways is quite important, and that it does serve a good purpose to have a focus on winning rather than on participation. I think the main reason is because when you focus on winning, that drives everybody to be better. So if you want to win, if you want to be on the team, etc., you have to force yourself to be better, and it's the carrot on the end of the stick. And it makes people train harder, work harder, it sets a goal for them, and it kind of prepares them for life that sometimes you fail, and sometimes you don't get what you want. And so that's why sports and the whole focus on winning is good because it's exactly how life is in the real world.

託德：好。我基本上同意你的觀點。實際上，我高中時參加了體育運動，不過我的成績一直不太好。我一直希望我能多參與一些，可是我認爲從某種程度上來說，注重獲勝非常重要，相比於參與度，更注重成績會實現更好的目標。我認爲主要原因是，注重獲勝會使所有人做得更好。如果你想贏，你想成爲隊伍的一員，那你就要使自己變得更優秀，就像棍子末端的胡蘿蔔。這會讓人更努力訓練、更努力練習，設定目標，用一生去準備，雖然有時會失敗，有時得不到自己想要的。這就是體育運動注重獲勝的好處，因爲這就是真實世界的生活。

Monica: I would tend to argue the other way and say that actually sport doesn't reflect life in terms of winning and losing. I mean, let's take a work situation. It's not about winning or losing, it's about cooperating with people that you work with, and so, if you have had an upbringing where you've been in a sports team that has been overly competitive, you could transfer that competitiveness into a workplace and it can be counterproductive because it may mean that you... you're just not very good at being a team player in a work environment.

莫妮卡：我的看法與你相反，體育運動上的勝和負不能反映生活。以工作情況來舉例。工作情況就與輸贏無關，而是要和同事合作，如果你在運動隊中培養出了競爭力過強的習慣，那你可能會把這種競爭性帶入工作環境，這樣一來就有可能事與願違，因爲這可能說明你不太擅長在工作環境中融入團隊。

Todd: That's actually a really good point. But you can also argue that actually, you know, even a work environment is like sport in that you have teamwork, and you have to work together, and if you don't work together in a very productive way, maybe you'll be out of a job, or your company won't be productive, so you need to have that instinct to continually drive to be better; to be better than other people. And it sounds really brutal, but I think that's just how business works.

託德：這是一個非常好的觀點。不過也可以說，工作環境和體育運動是類似的，你要進行團隊合作，要和他人合作，如果你不用富有成效的方式工作，那你可能會失業，或者你所在的公司工作效率不高，你需要那種不斷上進的本能，成爲更優秀的人；成爲比其他人更優秀的人。這聽起來很殘忍，但是我認爲這就是商業的運作模式。

Monica: Well you're talking about work being business, but I mean, I'm a teacher, and... it brings me to quite an interesting discussion that's taking place now in teaching, which is two different, kind of political views really, in terms of teachers because people want high standards in terms of their teachers. And one idea is to rate teachers in comparison to other teachers, and basically give the top teachers incentives so that they get paid more than teachers who aren't as good as them. But the counter-argument to that is that it creates a really hostile environment in the workplace, and in a school where you really need teachers to work together, I'm not sure that that's the best way to go.

莫妮卡：你說的是業務工作，而我是一名老師，這使我想到了教學中一個非常有意思的討論，現在有兩種針對老師的不同政治觀點，人們希望老師具備高標準。其中一個觀點是，對老師進行比較和評價，獎勵優秀教師，這樣這些老師的工資就會比能力不如他們的老師高。而反方觀點認爲，這種做法在工作環境中營造了一種敵對環境，在需要老師團結合作的學校裏，我不確定這是否是最好的方法。

Todd: Yeah, well that's another debate for another day.

託德：對，我們可以再找一天討論這個問題。

Monica: Is that a cop out or what?

莫妮卡：這是逃避還是什麼？

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重點講解：
1. depend on 取決（於）；有賴（於）；
例句：Whether we are out depend on the weather.
我們明天是否外出取決於天氣。
2. concentrate on 全神貫注；集中（心思）；
例句：Clock watchers can never concentrate on their work.
老是看時間等下班的人決不會專心致志地工作。
3. rather than 而非；勝於；而不是；
例句：Rather than risk breaking up his marriage he told his wife everything.
他惟恐婚姻破裂，把一切都告訴了妻子。
4. in terms of 在…方面；從…角度看；根據…來說；
例句：All goods and resources have value in terms of exchange or use.
物品和資源具有交換或使用價值。
5. be good at 擅長的；精通的；能幹的；
例句：She is very good at using her charm to get her way.
她非常善於利用自己的魅力隨心所欲。
6. in comparison to 與…相比；與…比較而言；
例句：His liability was also unhealthily low in comparison to his net worth.
而他的支出與淨收入相比，也出奇的低！