【英語多益通】老外問What is weiya? 該怎麼回答

文/徐碧霞

年關將近,又是尾牙旺季,除了吃吃喝喝之外,很多員工也期待在抽獎(prize draw)時能贏得大獎

然而,自從實施「一例一休」後,對於尾牙是否一定得參加,是否需發給加班費,又成爲今年尾牙的一大話題。不管勞動部的解釋和定義爲何,我們來看看如何將臺灣歲末年終、除舊迎新的餐宴習俗介紹給國外客戶外籍員工,秀一下你的英文吧!

Taipei Times(Jan., 9, 2017)裡對尾牙(weiya)的解釋如下:

A weiya is an annual year-end banquet that is traditionally held ahead of the Lunar New Year as a way for employers to show their appreciation for their employees and is an opportunity for companies to improve the employee-employer relationship. (尾牙是一年一度農曆年前所舉行的餐宴,是僱主感謝員工的一種表現方式,也是公司聯繫和改善僱主和僱員關係的一個機會。)

尾牙除了直接音譯爲「weiya」外,也可以翻成「year-end party / banquet」或「end-of-year party / banquet」。banquet是「宴會、餐宴」,類似的字還有reception(宴會)和feast(盛宴)。reception有兩個重要的意思,一是「接待」,另外是「宴會」。因此,接待櫃檯也稱作reception;接待人員即是receptionist。

要特別注意的是,banquet一字的拼法和「bouquet、boutique」兩字非常相近,容易混淆。bouquet是「花束」,而boutique可翻譯成「服裝店精品店」。

文中的「(be)ahead of ___(時間事件)___」爲「在_____(時間或事件)____之前」的意思。例句:We finished the project two weeks ahead of the schedule.(我們比預定的時間表早兩個星期完成專案。)

相反的,(be)「behind _____(時間或事件)____」則是「在_____(時間或事件)____之後」。

* appreciation (n.) 感謝

瞭解如何用英文描述尾牙後,一起來看看Taipei Times如何說明宴會上的習俗吧!

Traditionally, at the banquet, a chicken dish along with the chicken head would be served. The chicken head was used as a hint that the employee sitting right in front of it might be dismissed.(傳統上,餐宴中會有一盤帶有雞頭雞肉,雞頭被用做一個暗示,坐在雞頭前的員工將可能被解僱。)

dismiss(v.)做「解散、解僱」解釋,也可當「解僱,免職」;名詞爲dismissal。例句:Smith & Smith travel agency has dismissed 20 people so far this year.(Smith & Smith今年到目前爲止已經解僱了20位員工。)

* hint (v.、n.) 暗示

臺灣的尾牙與美國的「Office Christmas party」蠻類似;此外,除夕團圓飯跟美國的感恩節(Thanksgiving)也有異曲同工之處,都是在外地工作遊子返鄉和家人團聚的時節

感恩節晚餐主角烤火雞搭配蔓越莓醬、馬鈴薯泥南瓜派。我們的團圓飯傳統上則要有魚、水餃菜餚。LA Times曾經介紹過年糕,摘錄如下:

The tradition of eating rice cake goes back 3,000 years. The Chinese word for rice cake, or nian gao, correlates to the phrase ‘nian nian gao sheng,’ which means ‘increasing prosperity year after year’ .(吃年糕的傳統可追溯到300年前。中文年糕跟「年年高升」一詞有關意指一年年越來越富饒。)

correlate with / to意思爲「相關聯」,通常後面的介係詞用with。prosperity指「豐盛,富饒」,動詞是prosper。

年夜飯除了年糕外,怎能沒有魚、長年菜和水餃呢?

Another important dish served at New Year’s Eve dinner is fish. The pronunciation of ‘fish’ is homonymous with that of ‘surplus’. It’s believed that eating fish will also bring prosperity and wealth to the family. (另一個重要的菜餚是魚。魚的發音和年年有餘的「餘」字發音相同。因此,吃魚也會帶來財富。)

上文中的句型「It’s believed that _______(子句)_______」很常見,通常用此句型來表示 「一般認爲/相信 ____________」。surplus(n.)則是指「剩餘,盈餘」;反義字爲deficit (n.)。

Mustard greens are also eaten. They symbolize ‘longevity’. Finally, dumplings which resemble the shape of Chinese gold ingots are an essential dish as well. (人們也吃芥菜,又稱爲長年菜。這種菜象徵「長壽」。最後,水餃因狀似中國金元寶,因此也是除夕必備的一道菜。)

symbolize (v.) 象徵,「-ize」爲動詞的字尾,名詞爲symbol。longevity (n.) 長壽。resemble (v.) 相似,名詞爲resemblance;也可用片語bear a resemblance to ______來表達。例句:Even though they are twins, John doesn’t bear any resemblance to his twin brother.(即使他們是雙胞胎,John和他的哥哥長的並不像。)

看完本篇,相信你已經能用英文介紹尾牙和年夜飯,現在來練練多益測驗題目,增加閱讀能力吧!

1. It ___________ that as many as 1/3 of the adults never voted in any election.(A) is believing (B) believe(C) is believed (D) being believe

2. Failure to meet your sales target might result in ________(A) display (B) discount (C) disagree (D) dismissal

解析:1. 正確答案(C)。本題文法句型題,題意爲「一般認爲近1/3的成人從來沒在任何一個選舉投過票」,句中的believe通常不會以進行式的時態出現。因此(A)不正確,(B)和主詞單複數不一致,(D)並沒有真正的動詞,故(C)爲正解。

2. 正確答案(D)免職、解僱。本題爲單字題,題意爲「無法達到銷售目標可能會被解僱。」。(A)展示、(B)折扣、(C)不同意皆不符題意,因此本題正解爲(D)。

延伸閱讀》有好英文 工作機會來立馬接招