勞煩強者過目是否有不妥當的地方<(_ _)> - 翻譯

這是學校課程的作業題目，因為同學多半看不太懂英文，所以不才在下自告奮勇
自願翻譯，不過怕耽誤到同學理解此篇文章所要描述的資訊，而導引至錯誤的方向
故貼至貴版

希望能有強者撥空指點迷津，小妹當不勝感激<(_ _)>



Case Studies 3: Planning
For This We Get A Master's Degree?

Four of us librarians were gathered in the office of the director of the
Handgrove College Library late in the afternoon on a Friday at the end of the
fall term . The director, Joan Cloud, was there, and three reference
librarians - Miriam Bindloss, Gilbert Vedder, and me. (My name is Dana Warne
- in this narrative.) There had been five of us, but the head of the
reference department, Louise Redid, had volunteered to respond to a student's
request for help with a computer that had frozen, with all of his file on it.
We had been chatting idly about nothing in particular when suddenly the
director clapped her hands and said : "Well, you guys didn't ask to meet with
me to talk about the weather and how you're going to spend your respective
weekends. What do you want now? "


我們四個館員在秋日將盡的星期五傍晚集合在Handgrove College 圖書館館長辦公室裡。
館長，Joan，還有三位參考諮詢服務館員-Miriam、Gilbert、還有我都在那。(在這篇文
章裡，我是Dana)原本我們有五個人，但是參考諮詢服務部門的組長，Louise自願去
處理學生電腦當機的問題。(所有檔案存在電腦裡，卻當機了)我們慵懶的閒聊著瑣事，
忽然館長拍了一下然後說：「既然，你們這群傢伙並沒有要跟我開會，反而聊著天氣
以及你們要如何打發週末，你們到底要什麼？」


The three of us glanced at each other . "Who's going to start?" I asked.
Vedder spoke: "Shouldn't we wait for Louise?"
I caught a faint smile on the director's face and answered it with a big one
of my own. "I know! I know!" I laughed . "WE better get to the point or this
meeting is going to come to an abrupt end! Right?" I felt it was necessary to
establish the right mood if we expected to get Joan Cloud to listen to us.
"You've got it!" Cloud said quickly. There was nothing brusque or unkindly in
her tone, just a carefully measured firmness.
The three of us looked at each other again, but no one spoke. The director
began doodling on a scratch pad and humming a non-descript tune. I decided
to speak up .
"We're here, Joan, about the fact that we - the professional reference
librarians - have to be the ones to look after the technology when it breaks
down and to say -"


我們三個相互看。我問：「誰要先開始？」
Gilert說：「我們不等Louise嗎？」
我從館長臉上察覺出一抹快要暈倒的笑，於是我笑著回答：『我知道！我知道！』
『我們得趕緊切入重點，否則這次的會議將會走入急轉直下的結局！對吧？』
我覺得如果希望Joan傾聽我們，就必須營造出一種正確的氣氛。
Cloud快速的說：「你得到他了！(你答對了= =a)」
她的口氣中並沒有任何無禮或者不友善的情緒，而是一種小心而慎重的堅定。我們三個彼
此又看了一下，但是沒有人說話。館長開始在速記本上胡亂的寫著並且哼著不知名的曲調
。我決定發聲！『我們在這，Joan，針對當出現新科技時，專業如我們的參考諮詢館員
得時時注意著並且...』


"Not this again!" Cloud broke in, looking up and putting an end to her
doodling and humming. "So you thank that by ganging up on me I'll give the
job to somebody else!"
Now I must pause here to explain about Joan Cloud. She is a woman of about
40 years of age, fond of kidding, an easy talker (usually), and quite a good
boss - all things considered and by comparison to some others I've worked for
and heard about. But she is volcanic in her temperament. She remains
inactive for long stretches of time, but when she overflows she does so
thoroughly. Anyone with half their wits about them soon become adept at
reading the ominous signs of impeding explosions. And since we who are her
subordinates are in no position to match explosion with explosion we try our
collective bests to keep the volcano from rumbling.


Cloud打斷我的話：「不要又來了！」她抬起頭為她的敲打做個結束然後呢喃著：
「所以你們以為纏著我，我就會把這個工作丟給別人嗎？」
現在我必須在這裡暫停一下，描述一下Cloud，她是個年約40的女性，綜合我曾經服務過
的其他老闆以及聽朋友服務過的老闆經驗來說，她是個相當好的老闆，大家總覺得她很風
趣，通常是一個平易近人可以聊天的對象。但是她的脾氣卻跟火山一樣。她不發飆的時候
，就像坐靜止的死火山，但是當她發飆的時候，就是座猛烈爆發的活火山。有智慧的人很
容易在她開始發飆前就先觀察到預兆。我們身為她的部下，並沒有任何的地位去點燃這條
導火線，我們嘗試著集結最大的力量去避免這座火山爆發。


I realized that we were off to a bad start, and I trust Miriam and Gilbert
did too. We had been expecting Louise Reid to carry the ball for us, but she
jumped up and vamoosed when the student assistant at the circulation desk
called to say someone was having problems with a computer. We knew why she
did it, and half-understood. The fact that the reference librarians have to
work with the technology, clear paper jams, and do assorted other thins to
and with the machinery is a sore spot at Handgrove - and elsewhere I've been
told. Louise had broached the subject with Joan many times she told us. But
Joan always responded with "Who else is there to do it?" Louise would suggest
different people, such as the circulation staff - the nonprofessionals - or
the catalogers, but Joan would shoot them all down. "You can't leave the
circulation desk unattended?... "You can't expect the catalogers to leave the
office and travel to different floors to do it".. "You're always around the
area - you ubiquitous reference librarians." So here we were. But I must say
this about Joan Cloud. While she can be somewhat intimidating (what boss
isn't by virtue of their positions?), she does listen, albeit often with a
frown or a smirk. I decided to be - for me (and the others) - bold.


我想我們有個不好的開始，我相信Miriam和Gilbert也這麼想。
我們期待著Louise能夠為我們解套，但是當流通櫃檯廣播有同學需要電腦的幫助時，她卻
迅速離開了！我們猜的到她為什麼這麼做，起碼了解一半。事實上，參考諮詢館員的工作
中伴隨著科技、如排除印表機卡紙的問題以及其他種類繁雜與機器相關的問題，我已經聽
說過，在Handgrove與其他地方，這是令人棘手的一環。Louise告訴我們她跟Joan討論這
個問題已經很多次了。但是Joan總是回應：「那這裡還有誰能做這件事呢？」Louise可能
建議過不同的人，如流通館員、非專業人士、或者是編目館員，但是Joan通通回絕：「你
不能讓流通櫃檯空著。」、「你不能期待編目館員離開他們的辦公室然後移動到不同的樓
層來解決問題。」、「你們總在附近、你們參考資詢館員是無所不在的。」所以我們就在
這裡囉。但是我得說一些關於Joan的事，雖然當她成為一個威脅的時候(在職場上，哪個
老闆不是這樣。)她還是會聽著我們的話，即使總是皺著眉或者是假笑。我決定為了自己(
以及其他人)，要當真正的我、大膽的我。


"Joan, we've been good natured about this. And we're here to appeal to your
sense of justice and fair play. (I wasn't entirely sure she had either, but
what the hell! The director smiled. I was making progress.) "Nowhere in our
job descriptions does it say we have to perform this flunky-type work." (I
was really getting bold.) "For this we get a master's degree? The only thing
that would cover it would be the statement at the very bottom of our job
descriptions: 'Performs other duties, as required'."
Cloud half-smiled. "Well, now you know what this bit of crypticism means,
don't you?"
We, of course, chuckled - not hard, but politely.


『Joan，對於此我們都很習慣了。而我們在此是為了訴求你的良知以及正義感。』
(我不確定她是否兩者兼具，但、管他的！館長正笑著呢，我想終於有進展了)
『在我們的工作範圍中並沒有提及我們得做這種像下人的工作』
(我真的越來越大膽了)
『難道我們就為了這種工作而念碩士嗎？』
『唯一名符其實的只有職務宣言的末端，』
『執行被要求的工作。』
Cloud半笑著：「那好，現在你知道這神秘的意義了，對吧？」
我們禮貌的笑著，當然，是禮貌的那一種。


Bindloss spoke up. The cat didn't have her tongue after all. "We're afraid,
Joan," she said, "that if we treat this lightly, you'll think we're not
serious." ("Good for you, Miriam," I said to myself, "I didn't think you had
it in you." We were getting bold. Now if Gilbert could come through, we'd be
presenting a united front. No sycophants saying it was all right with them,
thereby accumulating rewarded brownie points. Nobody saying, here use my
shirt as a rag. Nobody saying I love going around all day looking over
people's shoulders, or I love trying to figure this machine out, or whatever
you have to do when something happens. No one saying, I especially adore
doing this menial work. Imagine a group of non-unionized librarians
presenting a united front! Who said there was nothing under the sun?)
There was complete silence for a moment. Cloud resumed her doodling and
humming. What did this signify ?, I wondered. Some incipient rumblings in the
core of the volcano? But it was Gilbert, bless him, who broke the silence.
"Joan, we're not going to do it anymore."


Miriam開口了。畢竟連貓都沒她安靜。
她說：「我們害怕，Joan，如果我們不重視這件事情，你會認為我們根本不認真看待這件
事情。」
(我對自己這麼說：『幹的好！Miriam，我沒想過你也會這麼認為。』我們膽子越來越大
，如果Gilbert也成功的話，我們就統一戰線了。阿諛奉承的傢伙藉由贏得上司的好感。
沒有人會拿襯衫當抹布擦；沒有人喜歡整天到處關心別人、或者喜歡嘗試著搞懂機器、
或者當問題發生時就去處理；沒有人特別鍾愛做這種卑下的工作。試想一群分散的館員
表現出整齊的舉止，誰說天底下沒怪事？)有段時間空間完全靜止，Cloud繼續她的敲打
與呢喃。這意味著什麼？我好奇。火山的中央開始滾動了嗎？Gilbert打破了沉默，
願主保佑他。
「Joan，我們再也不會這樣繼續下去了」


Gilbert Vedder I love you! One for all and all for one, and the fourth,
Louise, still to be heard from. I have had good days, but nothing like this.
And here I had been thinking Gilbert was a chicken. Keep close to me now. I'm
so excited my syntax may be weakening.
Just what the director's reply would have been we do not know, as at that
moment Louise stumbled in. "How's it going?" she asked.
"I would say interestingly," replied Cloud, glaring at us each in turn. "It
seems you have a mutiny on your hands."


Gilbert我愛死你這傢伙了！我為人人而人人為我，而Lousise，仍舊還沒出現。我曾經有
過好時光，但不像這樣。我曾經想過Gilbert是個膽小鬼，直到剛才。我興奮到語無倫次
了。我們不知道館長會怎麼回應，同時Lousise搖搖晃晃的進來了。
她問：「怎麼樣？」
Cloud回答：「我會說很有趣，」看著一個一個的我們。
「看起來你正有著一場叛亂呢。」

ps.請問紅色這兩句皆為Cloud所說還是後面那句是Louise說的呢？
看文章的標點符號，原本我以為是Cloud所說，但是友人認為是Lousise..@@a


("Why 'you'", I wondered, "and not 'we'." Okay, Louise Reid, I said to
myself, let's see what you're made of. The four of us had often complained
among ourselves about having to spend so much time on the care and feeding of
the massive amount of computers and printers, and how we should march into
Joan's office some day and let her have it right between the eyes. Well, here
we were. The first volley had been fired. It was up to you, Louise baby,
compatriot, co-conspirator, to fire the next.)


(『為什麼是你們』，為什麼『不是我們』好，Louise，讓我們看看你安什麼心
。我們四個常常彼此抱怨著花了這麼多時間在照顧以及處理電腦跟印表機的問題，想像著
有一天我們如何攻進Joan的辦公室並讓她正視這個問題。如今，這場棋局已經開始了。現
在輪到你下子了，Louise寶貝，同志、共犯，走下一步的傢伙。



Our head of reference, I thought, went a trifle pale. She looked at the
director for some moments in silence. One could feel the rise of tension like
a physical change in the atmosphere. Reid smiled a quiet, composed smile. "I
support them 100 percent," was all she said.
Judge our excitement upon hearing these words! We could have thrown our arms
around Louise and planted kisses all over her face.
Joan Cloud was uncertain what to do or what to say. She thought for a moment
and then said: "Okay. I'll get back to you."
It wasn't a very satisfactory end to the meeting but we could see it was the
end. We got up and left the room


我們的參考諮詢組長，我想，她有點蒼白。她靜靜的看著館長，任何人都能在空氣中感到
一股緊張的氣氛。Louise微笑，鎮定的笑。
她只說：「我百分之百的支持她們。」
想像我們聽到這些話時有多興奮，我們幾乎要撲上Louise並且親的她滿臉都是。Joan不確
定該怎麼做或該說什麼，她想了一下然後說：「好吧，我等會再跟你聯繫。」
會議的結束不是令人非常的滿意，但我們都清楚已經結束了。我們站起來然後離開了房間
。



"If I know her at all," Reid said as we congregated around the reference
desk, "she'll probably discuss it with one or two of her librarian friends in
the consortium. They're meeting on Monday."
I said: "I wonder what they'll advise her to do." And with that we returned
to what we had been doing before the meeting. Now shall I describe the
waiting time? To those who have done such a thing, no description is
necessary; to those who have not, words are inadequate.


Louise在我們聚集在參考諮詢櫃台的時候這麼說：「如果我夠清楚她的話，她應該會在週
一的會議時，跟一、兩個圖書館聯盟的館員朋友討論這個問題。」
我說：『真好奇她們會怎麼建議她。』
之後我們回到會議開始前的工作岡位上。我該描述這等段待的期間嗎？對做過同樣事情的
人而言，解釋是多餘的；對還沒做過這些事情的人，再怎麼描述也是無法理解的。



What type of planning should have been done to keep this situation from
arising?

哪種規畫可以避免這種情形再次發生？

What would you suggest that the Handgrove library do now?

你會建議Handgrove怎麼做？
--
話說這故事裡面的館員怎麼都是女的XD
※ 編輯: MiaShopgirl 來自: 210.240.244.128 (03/29 13:18)