没有什么例行工作比得上办公室里遇到的紧急事件了。看一看这个办公室的术语，你也许会听到你的老板这样说起项目运作延迟，或是股票市场崩盘！

There's nothing like an emergency at work to spice up another routine day at the office. Check out this office lingo¹ that you may hear your boss using when things aren't going to plan, when a project is running late, or when the stock-market has crashed!

为最后期限加班

现在,在高压力的企业里达成最后期限是一项技巧。一个管理良好的项目要有一个注重实际的日程规划，这也会让顾客们产生好印象。而一个过于乐观的日程规划也许就会导致一个紧绷的最后期限，然后员工必须加班一整夜，我们称之为burning the midnight oil。

Working late to meet a deadline

In today's high-pressure world of business, setting and meeting deadlines is a tricky² prospect³. A well-managed project plan will have a realistic timeframe and will be pleasing to the customer. An overly-optimistic timeframe may result in a tight deadline and employees having to work late into the night, what we call burning the midnight oil.

成功达到最后期限

即使公司里的每一个人都在最后一周熬夜加班，最后期限能否达到还是存在着不确定性。幸运的是，每一个人的努力工作都会有报酬，你在最后关头（by the skin of your teeth）达到了最后期限！也就是说你已经按时地执行一些事情了！

Successfully meeting a deadline

Despite everyone in the office burning the midnight oil for the last week, it was uncertain whether that deadline would be met in time. Fortunately, everyone's hard work has paid off and you've met the deadline by the skin of your teeth! This means that you have managed to do something just in time!

当事情不如我们想象的

什么事情看起来像是一个好的解决问题方法，或许就实际上变为不够充分的。像这类的例子我们说我们必须go back to the drawing board。这个确实的意思是我们需要找一个新的解决方案来设计一个更好的计画。

When things don't work out as expected

What seemed like a good solution to a problem may in practice turn out to be insufficient⁴. In such cases we say we have to go back to the drawing board. This literally⁵ means that we need to look for new solutions and to design a better plan.

克服受挫的顾客重新获得信心

一些在企业上的事情所造成的问题没有比顾客的不愉快的伤害来得大，尤其是如果这个顾客可以带给公司很多的获利！千万不要害怕，可以利用不同的服务方法，甜言蜜语及一些流传很久的过时道歉让butter-up the customer。不要担心，这并不表示在顾客身上涂满了牛油；它的简单意思是让顾客感到满意并且愿意合作！

Recovering a frustrated⁶ customer

Few things create problems in business more than an unhappy customer, especially if that customer is worth a lot of money to the business! Never fear, use a variety of service skills, sweet-talk and some good old-fashioned apologies to butter-up the customer. Don't worry, this doesn't mean spreading butter on your customer; it simply means making your customer feel satisfied and cooperative!

危机管理

偶而真的会有一些关键问题产生并且将严重的造成负面结果-一个股票市场崩盘或是一家公司让渡，例如：维持一家企业的生存就是在这样的环境里，或许这有必要来执行我们所称的damage limitation exercise就是藉由合并方案，缩减业务甚至全市场的关闭。

Managing a disaster

Once in a while some really major problem will arise that has serious negative consequences - a stock market crash or a take-over of the company, for example. To keep the business alive in such circumstances, it may be necessary to perform what we call a damage limitation exercise by merging⁷ projects, cutting jobs or even closing whole departments.