时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:2011年VOA慢速英语(三)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

President Obama held a White House conference this month to discuss ways to prevent bullying 2 in school. But bullying is a problem not just among young people. Workplace bullying can involve threats, baseless criticism, discrimination and favoring some employees unfairly over others.

Thirty-five percent of Americans in a survey said they had been bullied 3 at some time at work. The poll by Zogby International and the Workplace Bullying Institute found that another fifteen percent have witnessed it.

What some workers might consider bullying by another worker or a supervisor 4 might not be true. But experts say productivity suffers in workplaces where employers tolerate or accept bullying. People take sick leave more often. Some take legal action.

Jennifer Sandberg is a law partner in the Atlanta offices of Fisher & Phillips. She represents companies in labor 5 cases. She says employers can avoid most problems simply by acting 6 in a professional, businesslike way.

Bullying in the workplace can take many forms

JENNIFER SANDBERG: "The best advice I can give to managers and supervisors 7 is not to worry about the law, but rather to be sure that their behavior is professional."

She says this means that everyone plays by the same set of rules.

JENNIFER SANDBERG: “There are still basic rules that every single person in an organization needs to follow.”

People who bully 1 spend less time on productive work. They can make the workplace tense and unhealthy.

Executive coach, CNN commentator 8 and author Lauren Mackler calls it a "toxic 9" environment. She advises people to avoid emotional conflict and child-like reactions when faced with insulting criticisms.

She also says people who show self-respect can be less likely targets of a bully. She gives examples like dressing 10 well and looking people in the eye when talking to them.

And Lauren Mackler advises people who feel bullied to consider how the bully got that way.

LAUREN MACKLER: "You can equate 11 the behavior with the degree of pain that the bully carries inside."

She says bullies 12 were often bullied themselves as children.

LAUREN MACKLER: "That'll help you to have more compassion 13 inside instead of judging the person and further feeding a toxic interaction.”

But bullying can cause some people to leave their job. Ms. Mackler says replacing experienced workers can cost one and a half times their yearly pay, or even more.

Last April, Australia's Productivity Commission considered the cost of bullying in a report on workplace safety. The lowest estimate of the cost to the Australian economy ten years ago was six to thirteen billion dollars.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. Follow us on Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. I'm Mario Ritter.



1 bully
n.恃强欺弱者,小流氓;vt.威胁,欺侮
  • A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
  • The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。
2 bullying
v.恐吓,威逼( bully的现在分词 );豪;跋扈
  • Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
  • All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 bullied
adj.被欺负了v.恐吓,威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )
  • My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
  • The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 supervisor
n.监督人,管理人,检查员,督学,主管,导师
  • Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说,我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
  • He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。
5 labor
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
6 acting
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
7 supervisors
n.监督者,管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )
  • I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
  • Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句
8 commentator
n.注释者,解说者;实况广播评论员
  • He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛,是个好的解说者。
  • The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。
9 toxic
adj.有毒的,因中毒引起的
  • The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
  • There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。
10 dressing
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料
  • Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
  • The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。
11 equate
v.同等看待,使相等
  • You can't equate passing examination and being intelligent.你不能把考试及格看成是聪明。
  • You cannot equate his poems with his plays.你不可以把他的诗歌和他的剧本相提并论。
12 bullies
n.同情,怜悯
  • He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
  • Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。
学英语单词
a dead duck
access-control register
all of sth
Apium graveolens rapaceum
associated degree
Ban Na Kha
barrier-free
bestwick
bone-meals
buryktalskite
callistus i
carbohydrides
cardiographic
central choroidal sclerosis
Ceratostigma willmottianum
cholestane-diol
contiguous item
DBI-TD
demibras
dideopsis aegrota
dive milling
Docloran
Dodinga, Tk.
door-knocking
down-fallen
dry-type multidisc electromagnetic clutch
dynamic grain refinement
earth-received times
eciophyte
Edwards, Alfred George
Eleanor
endorsement with the words without recourse
enterprise social software
Eriocaulon henryanum
Exchange-traded Contract
fendering
gas-cooled fast reactor
geomagnetic map
goods with imported content
harbour dues
have sb on
high aluminum mineral
histamine phophate
ignition speed
inertia force
instantaneous field of view
intuitional paradox
jelly fish machine
jostler
Kankakee
landing gear torque arm
laser feedback
liberty of touch and stay
liquid horse-power
log infrared
lower shoe bearing
lyapounov exponent
Malus leiocalyca
Markham Bay
means depreciation kilometre
mediastino-bronchial cyst
messaoud
multi-bundle fiber cable
negociate
nickel protoxide
nontricyclic
oberthueria formosibia
olecranarthropathy
omaniss
one-earner
ourstred
p-p-tetramethyldiaminodiphenylmethane
pawhuska
permanent repairs of ship
perpendicular vector
Pisa, Mount
political sensitivity
polluted fish
power piping system
preamplifier stage
procrustean rules
pupa conica
research costs planning
rupture of the heart
Rāra National Park
salinum
sealed fluid coupling
Sevi, Col de
shilling-mark
shuntwound
sinter cake
stanzas
sulfomucin
supergranular cell
tenor saxophonists
thematisation
thread take-up spring regulator
transverse head
uncoffin
water - based paint
waveform deviation factor
xerophytic