體育和商務：10個體育用詞的商務口語用法
Business English is full of idioms that can often confuse non-native speakers of English. It’s therefore important to cover some of these idioms with clients.
商務英語中充滿了讓非母語使用者感到困惑的習語。因此和客戶交流時用到一部分習語很重要。
Idioms are often classed under topics like animals, food, parts of the body, sports and so on.
習語可以按話題分類爲動物、食物、身體部位、體育等。
In this blog post, I’d like to explore the strong relationship that exists between sports and business. If you look at the qualities that sports and business share, you’ll begin to see why Business English has so many sports and games idioms.
本文中，我會探索體育和商務之間的緊密關係。如果你看到體育和商務之間的共同特性，就會明白爲什麼商務英語中有這麼多體育和比賽用語。
Both Business and Sportsr require certain skills:
商務和體育都要求特定的技能：
are competitive
充滿競爭
need self- confidence
需要自信
take planning
有計劃性
use strategies and tactics
使用策略和技巧
take concentration
要求專注
teamwork may be important
團隊合作很重要
Having established their similarities, let’s take a look at ten idioms we use, in what situations and what sport they relate to.
清楚了它們的共同點，讓我們來看10個習語在什麼情景下使用，和哪種運動相關。
1. To keep your cards close to your chest – don’t reveal your plans
1. To keep your cards close to your chest——避免透露計劃
Ex: I kept my cards close to my chest during the negotiation. (Card games)
例句：在談判中我藏起了我的底牌。（卡牌遊戲）
2. Poker-faced – expressionless (comes from the game of poker where you must not let your face reveal whether you have a good or bad card)
2. Poker-faced——面無表情（來源於撲克遊戲中你不能讓你的表情泄露自己牌的好壞）
Ex: The clients sat poker-faced all through my sales pitch. It was so unnerving. (Poker)
例句：在我推銷的整個過程中，客戶們都面無表情地坐着。這令人很不安。（撲克）
3. Knocked me for six – surprised and upset me
3. Knocked me for six——驚訝和不安
Ex: Jenny has just announced that she’s leaving which has knocked me for six. I really enjoyed working with her. (Ball Games)
例句：珍妮剛剛說她要辭職了，這讓我十分沮喪。我很喜歡和她一起工作。（球類運動）
4. Play the trump card/ace – use the advantage especially when others do not know about it
4. Play the trump card/ace——在別人不知道的情況下利用自己的優勢。
Ex: The CEO played his trump card by promising a dividend payout at the shareholders’ meeting. (Card Game)
例句：CEO在股東大會上打出的王牌是保證分紅。（卡牌遊戲）
5. A whole new ball game – a completely different situation
5. A whole new ball game——完全不同的局面
Ex: This is a whole new ball game if we’re talking about expanding the business. (Ball Games)
例句：如果我們討論擴展業務的話，事情就完全不同了。
6. To play hard ball – to be so determined to get what you want that you will use unfair methods to get it.
6. To play hard ball——下決心達到目的，甚至使用不正當的方法。
Ex: The people here like to play hardball which can be very challenging. (Ball Games)
例句：這裏的人喜歡玩硬的，這很有挑戰性。（球類比賽）
7. Don’t pull any punches – speak in an honest and direct way without being tactful
7. Don’t pull any punches——直接坦誠地說，沒有城府。
Ex: The CEO didn’t pull any punches when he told the board that the company was in trouble. (Boxing)
例句：CEO直截了當地告訴董事會說公司處在危難之中。（拳擊）
8. Below the belt – an unfair attack (in boxing that is not allowed)
8. Below the belt——不正當的攻擊（這在拳擊比賽中被禁止）
Ex: There was no need to mention my personal problems to the press. That was below the belt. (Boxing)
例句：沒必要向媒體提及我的私人問題。這種攻擊不厚道。
9. Throw in the towel – giving up and admitting defeat
9. Throw in the towel——放棄，承認失敗
Ex: I think we need to accept things as they are and throw in the towel before we lose any more money. (Boxing)
例句：我認爲我們需要接受現實，在損失更多錢之前放棄。
10. Hold all the cards – to be in a strong position
10. Hold all the cards——處於有利的位置
Ex: Management found that the trade union held all the cards during the pay talks. (Card Games)
例句：管理層發現公會在薪資談判中佔優勢。
A good way to familiarize yourself with other sports idioms is to type in a sport in a search engine and look for examples of idioms linked to that sport and how they are used in business. Select the ones you like and are likely to use and try using them with native speakers. Look out for them in articles and advertisements so that you see these idioms used in context.
熟悉其它體育習語的一個方法就是用搜索引擎查找它們在具體運動中的例子，以及在商務中的用法。選擇幾個你喜歡並且可能用得到的，嘗試在和母語人士交談的時候使用。在廣告和文章裏找出他們就能看到這些習語是怎樣在語境中使用的。
