I’m feeling very frustrated. I have so much work to do, and I’m still waiting for tech support to upgrade my system to improve the processing speed. I feel like I’m doing the job of three people. I tried multi-tasking, but even when I talk on the phone and read and answer my e-mail at the same time, I can’t get everything done. I’m also having problems with my staff. I have one person who always make waves and causes arguments with the rest of the staff. Whenever there’s a bottleneck and work builds up so that we fall behind schedule, she’s usually responsible. Our budget has been cut, so I have to find ways to save money; this means I have to cut corners on hiring, so I can’t bring on any new people. I just have to make do with the current team. I was talking with Joe, the other supervisor, during a break. He’s in the same boat. He says his job has become a pain in the neck. His boss is always in his face about something. We both feel like we’re between a rock and a hard place. My wife is going to have a baby, so I need to have a steady income. Joe is about 25 years older than I am. He was planning to retire next year, but he put all his eggs in one basket and invested in a high-tech stock that was supposed to make him a million dollars. Then the market went south and now he’s really up a creek. He doesn’t want to tell his wife about his bad investment, so now he has to keep working for a lot longer than he expected.
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Upgrade 升級
She needs to upgrade her job skills, so she’ll be more employable.
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Multi-tasking 同時處理多項任務
He got a ticket for multi-tasking while he was driving. He was talking on the car phone and looking up another phone number on his palm pilot while he was at the wheel.
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Make waves 製造麻煩
I don’t want him on my team because he always makes waves.
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A bottleneck 瓶頸
There’s a bottleneck in manufacturing at the third station on the assembly line. We need to make some changes in the process there to stop the delay.
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Cut corners 找更方便/便宜的辦法來做一件事
We have to find a way to cut corners on this project because we’ve got over our budget.
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Make do 將就, 湊合著用
We don’t have enough half-inch pipe, so we’ll have to make do with three-quarter inch.
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Be in the same boat 處境相同
She’s in the same boat as her friend. They both just graduated and started working.
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A pain in the neck 令人頭痛的人或事
I finished the project last week. I’m glad it’s over. It was a pain in the neck.
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Be in someone’s face 咄咄逼人地
She’s a difficult person to work with because she is always in one’s face. She likes to argue.
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Be between a rock and a hard place 進退兩難
He’s caught between a rock and a hard place. He needs to invest in research and development to be competitive, but he has to spend all his money just to keep the company going.
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Put all one’s eggs in one basket 雞蛋放在同一個籃子裡
She put all her eggs in one basket, so when the price of gold dropped, she lost all her money.
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The market goes south 貶值
We’re doing well with our investment for retirement until the market went south. Now we’re worried.
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Be up a creek (without a paddle) 處於困境
Our child-care provider quit yesterday, and we’re really up a creek trying to work and find care for our new twins at the same time.
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