美國：1/5公司今年不辦年末派對
Whether you love or hate your company's annual holiday office party, it may not even happen this year.
As a financial crisis roils world markets and fears of a deep global recession grow, about one-fifth of U.S. businesses are saying 'no' to end-of-year festivities this holiday season, according to a survey released on Monday.
That would mark the lowest percentage of office parties seen in the 20 years since executive search firm Battalia Winston Amrop began its annual survey.
If you're one of the lucky ones to keep on celebrating, be aware that only 71 percent of companies are offering booze this year -- a cruel and unusual punishment, perhaps.
"We've always looked at this as the year-end economic barometer," said Battalia Winston Amrop Chief Executive Dale Winston. "People will still have parties, but it's the mood of the country -- the mood of the country is not a celebratory mood."
This year, only 81 percent of companies are throwing a party, fewer than during the holiday season that followed the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, or during the recession of 1991.
Some 37 percent of companies blamed the economy for more modest party plans this year, the survey found, nearly double the number from last year.
公司每年的年終派對你喜歡也好，不喜歡也罷，今年很可能不再舉行了。
本週一公佈的一項調查顯示，由於金融危機持續肆虐國際市場以及對全球經濟衰退擔憂的加劇，美國約五分之一的公司稱今年不打算辦年終派對。
這是Battalia Winston Amrop獵頭公司開展該年度調查20年來，美國公司舉辦年終派對比率最低的一年。
如果你所在的公司今年仍將沿襲傳統，那麼你得做好心理準備，因爲今年只有71%的公司會爲員工準備大餐——這或許是一種殘忍而不尋常的懲罰吧。
Battalia Winston Amrop獵頭公司的首席執行官戴爾•文森說：“我們一直將公司的年末派對視爲一年經濟的晴雨表。現在大家也還會舉辦派對，不過目前全國的氛圍就是這樣，不是慶祝的氣氛。”
今年美國只有81%的公司將舉辦年終派對，這一比例低於2001年世貿中心和五角大樓遇襲（“9•11”恐怖襲擊事件）之後的長假季，以及1991年的經濟衰退期。
此外，調查發現，約37%的公司認爲經濟不景氣是今年年終派對計劃從簡的主要原因，這一比例比去年翻了近一番。
Vocabulary:
executive search firm:獵頭公司
