職場冷暴力

Constance： That’s it！ I can’t take any more！！

Joshua： What’s wrong？

Constance： I don’t understand why everyone has to be so mean to me all the time. I just don’t get it！

Joshua： Hmmmm…Now that you mention it， I have noticed the way some people treat you is really unfair.

Constance： Oh， thank heavens！ You see it too. That means I’m not going crazy. ①It’s such a load off my mind to know that I’m not simply imagining it all.

Joshua： Do you have any clue as to why people treat you differently around here？ Do you know when it started？

Constance： ②It’s been going on for years， and I’ve just kept it bottled up inside.

Joshua： I always noticed a sort of tension in the air when Luyi speaks to you. It’s different than when she has conversations with others in the office. It’s as if she 1）resents you for some reason. I thought maybe it was just a girl thing， like she was jealous of you or something， ③and it made her feel better to knock you down a peg with her 2）condescending tone and 3）snide remarks.

Constance： Ugh， I hate her. ④She is always talking smack about me behind my back， and then to my face acts like a mother scolding a naughty child.

Joshua： I noticed you were the only one missing at her big 4）birthday bash last week.

Constance： That’s because I wasn’t invited. And she even made me work overtime that night， so I couldn’t have gone even if I wanted to.

Joshua： Which I’m sure you didn’t.

Constance： Obviously. The other messed up part about that was right before I was about to hand in my assignment to the VP， I was told it was no longer necessary and they’d decided to go in a different direction.

Joshua： That is so 5）obnoxious. I would be absolutely 6）livid. Constance： ⑤And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I swear， the emotional abuse I receive here at work is far worse than any living creature should be 7）subjected to.

Joshua： Well， that might be a bit of an 8）exaggeration.

Constance： So you’d think. But actually， it’s like slow torture. Joshua： Is it really that bad？

Constance： Last month， someone dropped off a mile-high stack of papers on my desk， and told me I had two weeks to finish it.

Joshua： So？ That sounds about right.

Constance： Let me finish. Then， two days later， Luyi comes up and says they all need to be filed by the end of business on Friday.

Joshua： Now that is entirely unfair. I mean， you’re not a machine. You’re a human being.

Constance： That’s what I said！ And when it was late， they 9）demoted me and 10）docked my pay.

Joshua： You’ve gotta be kidding me！ That’s ridiculous. ⑥If I were in your shoes， heads would be rolling at this point.

Constance： ⑦Well， going on a killing spree would only 11）exacerbate the problem， and land me in prison. Though the crime would be completely justified.

Joshua： And， when you face the judge， at least you’ll have a good argument； you were emotionally abused by your employers until you finally reached the breaking point and snapped. The company might even pay you out to keep you quiet about their unfair practices.

Constance： ⑧I think you might be on to something there…

康斯坦絲：夠了！我實在不能忍受了！

約書亞：怎么了？

康斯坦絲：我不懂為什么每個人都總是對我那么差。我就是不明白！

約書亞：呃……既然你提到這個，我注意到有些人對待你的方式很不公平。

康斯坦絲：噢，謝天謝地！你也發現了。這表明我不是個瘋子。知道自己不是對這些事憑空想象讓我如釋重負。

約書亞：你知道為什么周圍的人對你不一樣嗎？你知道這是從什么時候開始的？

康斯坦絲：這種情況已經好幾年了，我一直壓抑著自己的情緒。

約書亞：當陸怡在跟你講話的時候，我總是能感覺到氣氛很緊張，這與她和別人的談話很不同，就像她因為某種原因憎惡你一樣。我想也許這是一個女生之間的問題吧，比如她嫉妒你或是什么的。她用居高臨下的語氣以及諷刺的話語來滅你的威風，這樣會讓她舒服一點。

康斯坦絲：呸，我討厭她。她總是在我背后說壞話，然后當著我的面就像媽媽在教訓一個淘氣的孩子那樣。

約書亞：我注意到上星期你是唯一一個缺席她生日大派對的人。

康斯坦絲：這是因為我沒有受到邀請。她那天晚上甚至讓我加班，所以即使我想去也去不了。

約書亞：我肯定你也不想去。

康斯坦絲：當然。另外一件糟糕的事是在我將要把工作上交給副總裁的時候，卻被告知沒必要了，他們決定走新的方向。

約書亞：這真的太討人厭了。我絕對會氣炸了。

康斯坦絲：而這只是冰山一角。我發誓，我在這里工作所受到的冷暴力比任何人承受的還要可怕。

約書亞：好吧，這有點夸張了。

康斯坦絲：你也許會這樣想。但事實上，就是一種慢性折磨。

約書亞：真的有那么嚴重嗎？

康斯坦絲：上個月，有人把堆成一英里高的文件扔在我的桌上，告訴我用兩星期的時間完成它。

約書亞：所以呢？這聽起來沒問題啊。

康斯坦絲：聽我把話說完。然后兩天后，陸怡走過來跟我說這些文件需要在星期五下班前全部歸檔。

約書亞：這樣看來真的

太不公平了。我的意思是，你不是一臺機器，你是一個人。

康斯坦絲：這就是我說的！當我沒有及時完成的時候，他們降低了我的職務，扣了我的工資。

約書亞：你在跟我開玩笑吧！這太荒謬了。如果我跟你一樣的情況，一定會讓他們付出慘痛的代價。

康斯坦絲：好吧，毫無節制地傷害別人只能使問題更嚴重，讓我進監獄，盡管我是完全正義的行為。

約書亞：當你面對法官的時候，至少你有一個好的論點：你在職場中一直受到雇主的冷暴力，直到你崩潰而爆發出來。那家公司甚至要付你錢讓你對他們不公平的行為守口如瓶。

康斯坦絲：我想你一定是知道了點什么……

Smart Sentences

① It’s such a load off my mind to know that I’m not simply imagining it all. 知道自己不是對這些事憑空想象讓我如釋重負。

a load off sb.’s mind： a great relief for sb.（如釋重負）。例如：

It’s really a load off our minds knowing you came out of the train accident unscratched.

知道你在列車事故中毫發未損真讓我們如釋重負。

② It’s been going on for years， and I’ve just kept it bottled up inside. 這種情況已經好幾年了，我一直壓抑著自己的情緒。

bottle up： restrain one’s emotions（抑制自己的感情）。例如：

Sis， you can’t bottle everything up like this. You could break down.

姐，你不能這樣抑制自己的感情，不然你會崩潰的。

③ And it made her feel better to knock you down a peg with her condescending tone and snide remarks. 她用居高臨下的語氣以及諷刺的話語來滅你的威風，這樣會讓她舒服一點。

knock sb. down a peg： make sb. realize they are not as important as they think they are（殺一下某人的威風）。例如：

I think the teacher really needs to knock Joe down a peg so he knows his place.

我覺得老師真的應該殺殺喬的威風，讓他知道自己幾斤幾

兩。

④ She is always talking smack about me behind my back， and then to my face acts like a mother scolding a naughty child. 她總是在我背后說壞話，然后當著我的面就像媽媽在教訓一個淘氣的孩子那樣。

talk smack about sb.： bad mouth sb.（說某人的壞話）。例如：

I think you might be wrong， Mary. George has never talked smack about anyone.

瑪麗，我覺得你可能搞錯了，喬治從來都不說其他人的壞話。

⑤ And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. 而這只是冰山一角。

the tip of the iceberg： one small part of a much larger problem， usu. used to refer to negative situations（冰山一角，用以比喻問題的一小部分，通常指負面的情形）。例如：

The loss of manpower recently is only the tip of the iceberg.最近人員的流失只是問題的冰山一角。

⑥ If I were in your shoes， heads would be rolling at this point. 如果我跟你一樣的情況，一定會讓他們付出慘痛的代價。

heads will roll： sb. will get fired or punished（有些人將被

解雇）。例如：

Heads will roll when the chief editor sees the colossal error.等主編看到這個大錯誤，就會有人丟飯碗了。

⑦ Well， going on a killing spree would only exacerbate the problem， and land me in prison. 好吧，毫無節制地傷害別人只能使問題更嚴重，讓我進監獄。

killing spree： hurting others in an excessive way（無節制地傷害他人）。例如：

You can’t go on a killing spree just because you beat all the others and got this position.

你不能因為擊敗了其他人，得到了這個職位，就毫無節制地加害其他人。

⑧ I think you might be on to something there… 我想你一定是知道了點什么……

on to sth.： find some important information about sth.（找到與某事相關的重要資料）。例如：

Olivia， are you on to something？ Come on， tell us. We’re all worried about the case.

奧利維亞，你是不是知道了點什么？告訴我們吧，我們都關心這個案子呢。