離開校園後,工作兼顧生活,有如英文諺語「Burning the candle at both ends」(蠟燭兩頭燒)的畫面,貼切地形容這種情況。長期處在高壓的生活會對身心造成不良的影響,適當的舒壓是相當重要的,《Forbes》雜誌分享三種紓壓方法,我們可從中學習一些多益常考英文字。
Know your boundaries 知道你的界線在哪
People need to take some time off to recharge themselves. What recharges people might vary.
Photo courtesy of Firesam! 照片:Firesam!提供
我們需要一些時間來自我充電。充電的方式則因人而異。recharge (v)「再次充電」,這個字是由charge延伸而來的,最常出現在電子或電器產品身上。
It takes four hours to fully charge this device.
(這個裝置需要四個小時才能充滿電。)
Vary是動詞,意思為「不同」,意思和differ (v)一樣,但千萬別和very搞混了。
Make time for mindful practices
找時間做專注心念的練習
Try to incorporate some mindfulness practices such as meditation into your daily routine and stick to it.
嘗試將專注心念的練習如靜坐等融入每日的例行活動並持續做。
Incorporate「包含,融入」為動詞,也可用include來表示,後面可加上介系詞into或in。
As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds had been incorporated.
好像我們的雙手、雙肩、聲音和思維已經融為一體。
Embrace gratitude 常懷「感恩」
Brainstorm three to four examples of something that you are grateful for before you start tackling the day.
在你開始應付一整天之前,想想3到4件你覺得感恩的事。
「感激,感恩」的名詞為gratitude,形容詞是grateful,和thankful相同意思。對什麼事表示感激可以加上介系詞for,像感恩節時通常會被問到。
What are you grateful for this year?
今年對什麼感到感恩?
embrace「擁抱,接受」的動詞,也有欣然接受的意思。
tackle「處理,應付」,為動詞。
如果你在工作和生活上都壓力很大,不妨用上面的三個方式紓解壓力,或許下次別人看到你時就不會再說「你看起來好累喔!」
Related terms 相關用語
另外工作壓力除了來自心理、工時之外,還可能來自大環境或公司制度等議題,我們再繼續學習相關的多益英文。
1. maximum weekly working hours 每週最高工時
2. flextime, flexible hours 彈性工作時間
3. overtime pay 加班費
4. minimum wage 最低薪資
5. stagnant salary / wage 薪資停滯
6. labor reform 勞改
7. pension reform 年金改革
「薪資」的說法有wage、salary、pay、income,當中的差別是wage(工資)指「時薪、日薪」,salary(薪水)指正式僱員的「月薪」。pay的用法則包含上述兩種在內;以前常以check「支票」的方式發放薪資,這就是為何會有paycheck 「薪水」這個字。在多益裡還常見到的詞有hourly pay「時薪」,pay cut「減薪」,pay raise「加薪」。
個人或公司的「收入」可用income,常見字詞income tax「所得稅」。revenue指的是「公司的收入」。
Stagnant「停滯的」為形容詞,動詞為stagnate,名詞則是stagnation。
In contrast to other economies in Asia, our economy has stagnated for more than a year.
跟其他亞洲經濟體相比,我們的經濟已經停滯超過一年。
Reform「改革」可做動詞或名詞,由字首re和form這個字結合而成,「re-」這個字首是again的意思,概念就是重組形式,翻譯為改革。form跟其他字首搭配的例子如, uniform「制服」,uni-是「1」,指單一形式,延伸制服的意義。transform「轉變」字首trans-表示across「跨過」,變成另一個形式的意義。
Mr Smith has transformed his little farmhouse into a B&B.
史密斯先生把他的小農舍變成民宿。
【多益模擬試題】
1. Mr. Andrews changed his job because he felt that his career _____.
(A) is stagnating
(B) stagnates
(C) has stagnated
(D) was stagnating
2. To make your speech more effective and memorable, try to _____ storytelling and humor.
(A) incorporate
(B) corroborate
(C) collaborate
(D) interrogate
【解析】
1. 正解為(D)。本題為文法題,題意為「Mr Andrews覺得他的事業停滯不前,因此他換了工作。」顯然已經換了工作,因此他覺得事業停滯應該是在換工作前,在時態上的選擇應該是過去式進行式,選項(A)、(B)、(C)都不符合。
2. 正解為(A)。本題為字意題,要選擇適合句意的單詞。題意為「嘗試放入說故事和幽默讓你的演說更有效和更難忘。」(B)「確認」、(C)「合作」、(D)「審問,質問」,因此只有(A)「融合,放入」符合句意。
SOURCE:https://www.englishok.com.tw/toeic/toeic-issue/tough-life-work-stress-three-ways-resolve
文章由TOEIC Program Taiwan · Chun Shin提供:
www.facebook.com/ToeicProgramTaiwan
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