Tom和Vivian是香港一家跨国公司的雇员。Vivian被升职,要调到美国奥兰多的办事处。

Vivian: Hey Tom, got a second?

Tom: Sure, what’s up?

V: The Company has offered me a new position. It’s kind of a promotion.

T: Hey! Congratulations! That’s great!

Vivian问Tom, got a second? 有时间吗?Tom回答,What’s up? 什么事?

Vivian说自己升职了,promotion

V: Well, yes…but the new position would require me to relocate…to our office in Orlando, Florida. V: I know you relocated here from Chicago, so I wanted to get your two cents worth.

Vivian说的relocate, 就是要搬到另外一个地方去工作。Vivian说,I wanted to get your two cents worth. “Two cents worth”是指个人意见,Vivian知道Sam是从芝加哥搬到香港来的,所以想听听Sam的想法。

T: Sure. Well, for starters, I went the opposite direction, moving from the States to Asia, so it’s quite a different ball game. But I think the main thing you have to do is weigh the pros and cons.

V: I don’t even know where to start. One “pro” is a higher salary.

T: That’s always a pro. But there’s a whole bunch of other factors to consider.

V: Such as?

Tom说,首先,for starters, 他是从美国搬到亚洲,所以情况完全不同,a different ball game. 他建议Vivian考虑一下利弊,pro and con。涨工资当然是好事,那不好的地方有哪些呢?

T: Well…consider how you get to work here. You take the subway, right?

V: Of course.

T: In Orlando you would have to drive. Do you have any pets?

V: Yeah…I have an adorable German Shepard puppy.

T: It can be quite time consuming, expensive and difficult to ship pets abroad.

V: These are all good thing for me to consider. Anything else?

Tom举例说,搬去奥兰多会带来很多变化,比如说要从坐地铁改成开车,把狗运出国要花很多钱。不过这些还是次要的。

T: I think one of the biggest things you might face is the change in the pace of life. In most of America, things don’t zip by like they do here in Asia.

V: So many “cons.”

T: No, no…there’s some great “pros” as well. When I moved here, I met all kinds of new people and I’m now, as you know, in a relationship with a wonderful woman I met here.

V: That’s a big pro.

最大的变化是生活节奏,the pace of life. 因为美国的生活节奏不像亚洲那么快,things don’t zip by like they do here in Asia. Zip by呼啸而过。

奥兰多的生活和香港还有哪些差距呢?我们下次继续听。