Business English Phrases and Idioms Every Businessperson Should Know

商业英语 — 办公室英语词汇

Hi, I’m Savannah. Welcome to Oxford Online English! 

嗨，我是Savannah。 欢迎来到Oxford Online English！

In this lesson, you can learn some  common vocabulary, phrases and  

在本节课，您能学到一些办公室里 常用的词汇、短语和俗语。

idioms for office life. This class will  help you understand English speakers at  

本节课会帮您理解在工作 时那些讲英语的人所要表达的，

work and use a wider range of English  vocabulary in your office conversations. 

以及使用 更广范围的在办公室场景会话里的英语词汇。

Before we start, you should check out our website:  Oxford Online English dot com. You can find all  

在开始前，您要看下我们的网站：  Oxford Online English dot com。您可以找到我们

our free English lessons. We also offer online  classes with professional teachers, where you  

所有的免费英语课程。我们也提供 有专业老师的网上课程，

can study speaking, prepare for IELTS, improve  your pronunciation, or whatever else you want!

您可以学口语、准备雅思、提高 您的发音或任何您想要的！

So, how are things looking?

那么，看起来怎呀？

Not good, to be honest… We’re way  behind our forecasts. We missed our  

不好，老实地说… 我们远远落后于 我们的预计。我们错过了

targets for Q1 and it’s not looking  positive for this quarter, either.

第一季度的目标，并且本季度 看起来也不是很理想。

OK, so what’s going wrong?

好吧，有什么东西错了吗？

We’re not really sure…

我们真的不确定…

Right now, I’m afraid that’s not good enough.  

现在，我担心还不够好。

You’re the sales manager –  you need to have answers.

您是销售经理 –  您必须有答案。

Well, one problem is that cold calling doesn’t  seem to be working as well as it did in the past.

好，一个问题是推销做得不像 过去做的那么好。

So? You’re in charge. If it’s not working,  

那么？您负责的。如果那没用，

change it. We may be a big company, but  we still need to be quick on our feet.

改变它。我们可能是一个大公司，但是 我们仍然需要走快一点。

I take your point, but I can’t turn  everything around overnight. A case  

我知道您的意思了，但是我不能一夜 之间改变所有的。在这点的一个

in point is our high staff turnover. Many of  our sales team are relatively inexperienced.

事例是我们的高员工流失率。我们销售 团队的很多人相对缺乏经验。

But we have a good product…

但是，我们有一个好产品…

Of course, but inexperienced salespeople don’t  have that deep understanding of our USP that  

当然，但是缺乏经验的销售人员没有那种 对我们的独特销售卖点的深刻理解，

comes from working here for a while. And, in  B2B sales, buyers can smell that inexperience.

那是要在这工作一阵之后形成的。并且在B2B 销售，买方能嗅出那些缺乏经验的。

Either way, this is your domain. You  need to come up with some answers.

无论哪种方式，这是您管的。您 需要给出答案。

Here, you heard some words and  phrases to talk about sales.  

在这，您听到一些谈论销售的 单词和短语。

You’re going to see some  sentences from the dialogue, *but*  

您将会在对话里看到 一些句子，*但是*

the highlighted phrases all have a mistake.  Can you correct the mistakes? Let’s look. 

所有标识的短语有一个错误， 您可以纠正错误吗？我们看看。

Think about your ideas. Can you  remember the correct phrases?  

考虑下您的看法。您能  记得正确的短语吗？

Pause the video and find your answers now. Could you do it? Let’s see the correct phrases. 

暂停视频并现在找到您的回答。您可以 做吗？让我们看看正确的短语。

How did you do? Did you get all the right answers?  

您怎么做的？您得到所有正确的回答吗？

And, do you know what these  words and phrases mean? 

并且，您知道单词和 短语什么意思吗？

‘Cold calling’ is a sales technique. It means  calling someone you’ve never spoken to before  

“Cold calling”是一种销售技术。它意思是 打电话给您之前从未和他讲过话的

and trying to convince them to  buy whatever you’re selling. 

某人并试图去劝说他们去买 您在销售的什么东西。

‘Quick on your feet’ means flexible  – if you’re quick on your feet,  

“Quick on your feet”意思是灵活的  – 如果您走快一点，

you can adapt to new situations easily. 

您可以更早地适应新环境。

‘Turnover’ in this dialogue means how  often staff arrive and leave. If staff  

“Turnover”在这个对话里意思是新员工 有多常来到和员工有多常离开。

often leave your company and need to be  replaced, then you have high turnover. If  

如果员工常离开您的公司并需要替换人员， 那么你们有高流失率。如果

employees tend to stay at your company for  a long time, then you have low turnover.

雇员试图长期待在您的公司， 那么你们有低流失率。

‘Turnover’ also has other meanings. In particular,  

”Turnover“也有其他意思。特别是，

it can mean the total amount of money  that goes in and out of a business. 

它可以意思是资金总额在 一个生意的流入和流出。

Finally, what about USP? What does this stand for? 

最后，那USP呢？那是什么意思？

USP stands for ‘unique selling proposition’,  or sometimes ‘unique selling point’.  

USP是”unique selling proposition“缩写， 或有时是”unique selling point“。

This is about what makes your product  or service different from competitors.  

这是关于您的产品或服务与 竞争对手不同的原因。

Maybe your product is higher  quality, or maybe it’s cheaper,  

也许您的产品是更高质量的， 或也许是更便宜的，

or maybe it has features that competing  products don’t. These could all be USPs.

或也许它有竞争产品所没有的特点。 这些都可以是USPs。

USP is an *abbreviation.* You heard two other  abbreviations in the dialogue. Do you remember? 

USP是一个*缩写*。您在对话里 听到了缩写。您记得吗？

You heard ‘Q1’ and ‘B2B’. The ‘Q’ in ‘Q1’ stands  for ‘quarter’, meaning a three-month period.  

您听到了“Q1”和“B2B”。在“Q1”里的“Q”意思 是“quarter”，意思是一个三个月的周期。

Generally, Q1 means January to March. B2B stands for ‘business to business’.  

通常来说，Q1意思是一月到三月。 B2B意思是“business to business”。

You can also talk about ‘B2C  sales’ – business to customer. 

您也可以谈“B2C sales” –生意对客户。

Everything clear? Remember that you can  always review a section if you need to.  

都清楚了吗？记得，如果您需要， 您总是能复习一个单元。

Turn on subtitles or adjust the playback speed to  make it slower if you find it difficult to follow.

如果您觉得很难跟着，可以打开 字幕或调慢播放速度。

For now, let’s look at our next topic.

现在，我们看看我们的下一个主题。

I don’t seem to have a copy of the agenda for  next week’s meeting. Has it not been sent out yet?

我好像没有下周会议议程的副本。 它还没有寄出来吗？

What? We’re not doing the meeting.  We’re having a conference call instead,  

什么？我们将不开会了。 我们会有一个电话会议来取代，

so that the team in Singapore can be involved.

所以在新加坡的团队可以参与进来。

Really? No one told me.

真的吗？没有人告诉我。

I can forward you the details. Actually, do  you have any free time later? I’d  

我转发给您细节。实际上， 晚点您有空吗？我想

like to touch base with you about  some of the proposals we’ll be making.

和您聊一下我们将会做的 提案中的一些。

Er… What proposals? Seems like I’m really out  of the loop here. No one’s told me anything.

呃… 什么提案？看起来像是我真的在这的圈外。 没人告诉我任何事情。

I mean the new product lines we’re  launching for the East Asian market.  

我的意思是我们将会在东亚市场 投放的新产品线。

We talked about it at some  length in the last team meeting.  

我们在上次团队会议上 有谈过一些时间。

You were there, right? Anyway, if you need to  refresh your memory, you can read the minutes.

您有出席，对吗？随便，如果您要在回顾 一下，您可以读会议记录。

I wasn’t there – I was in Paris for  the conference that week, remember?

我不在那 – 开会的那周 我在巴黎，记得吗？

Ah… Right…

啊… 对哦…

In that case, let’s find a time later this  week. You can catch me up so that I’m ready.

这件事，让我们本周晚点找个时间。 您可以追上我，这样我会准备好。

Yes, agreed. I’d like your input  on a few things. I’ll send you  

好的，同意。我想您写上几件事。 我会发给您

the materials and we can fix a time by email.

材料，我们可以通过电子邮件 来确定一个时间。

In this dialogue, you heard some vocabulary  for talking about meetings and teamwork.

在这个对话里，您听到了一些谈论 会议和团队工作的词汇。

Let’s see if you can remember what you  heard. Can you complete the missing words?

让我们来看看您是否能记得您听到的。 您可以完成填写缺失的单词吗？

If you’re stuck, you can always rewind  and listen to the dialogue again.  

如果您卡住了，您可以随时倒 回头，再听下对话。

Either pause now, or review, and get your  answers. You’ll see the answers in a few seconds. 

现在暂停或复习，得到您的答案。 您会在几秒钟之内看到答案。

Ready? Let’s check together. 

准备好了吗？让我们一起检查一下。

How many did you get? Have you heard  these words and phrases before? 

您有做了多少？您之前有听到了  这些单词和短语吗？

‘Touch base’ means ‘talk’ or ‘have a discussion’.  It’s a conversational, idiomatic phrase. 

“Touch base”意思是“talk”或“have a discussion”。那是一个对话性的习惯用短语。

If you’re out of the loop, then you  don’t know what’s going on. For example,  

如果您在圈外，那么您会不知道 怎么回事。例如，

if go on vacation for two weeks and don’t check  your emails, when you get back to work, you  

如果您去度假两周，您没有看您的电邮， 在您回来工作时，您

might be a bit out of the loop – you won’t know  what’s happening and what people are working on.

也许有点离开圈子了 – 您会不知道 什么事正在发生，以及什么人在做事。

You can also use the opposite phrase – ‘in  the loop’ – meaning that you’re speaking  

您也可以使用反义的短语 – “in  the loop” – 意思是您在有规律地

to your colleagues regularly and you know  everything that’s happening in your office. 

和您的同事沟通，您知道办公室里 发生的每一件事。

‘Catch up’ is a phrasal verb. If someone says  ‘You can catch me up’, this means that there  

“Catch up”是一个短语动词。如果某人说 “You can catch me up”，这意思是

are some things which I don’t know, and which  you can tell me about. It has the idea that I’ve  

有一些我不知道的事，您可以告诉我 关于这些的事。它的意思是

missed something – there’s something I should  know, but I don’t, and you’re going to tell me.

我遗漏了一些东西 – 那是一些我必须知道 但我不知道的事情，您将会告诉我。

From experience, ‘catch up’ can be  difficult to translate into other languages.  

根据经验，“catch up”可能是很难 去翻译成其他语言的。

If you’re confused about this, check  an online dictionary and look for more  

如果您对此混淆，查一下在线 字典找到更多的解释句子。

example sentences. Longman and Lexico  are good online dictionaries to use. 

朗文和牛津是好的可以用的在线字典。

Finally, what about ‘input’? If someone says  ‘I’d like your input’, it means that they want  

最后，那“input”呢？如果某人说 “I’d like your input”，它的意思是

your ideas and opinions. Got it? Let’s move on.

他们想知道您的想法和观点。 理解了吗？我们继续。

Let me tell you about my vision. Instead of having  bricks-and-mortar offices in just a few countries,  

让我来告诉您我的意见。我们把我们的 销售基础架构100%移到网络，

we move our sales infrastructure  100% online. This will not only…

 取代仅在几个国家设有实体店。 这将不仅会…

Whoa, whoa, hold on a second. You’re talking  about your ‘vision’ and your ‘mission’,  

喔，喔，停几秒。您在谈论您的 ”vision“和您的”mission“。

but your branch is still losing money every  month. Don’t you think you’re overreaching?

但是您的分公司仍然每个月都在亏钱。 您不觉得您太过分了吗？

Well, I have a comprehensive business plan.  

好，我有一个全盘的商业计划。

We put together a road map for digitising our  national operations, as a first step, and…

我们为我们的国内运营数字化整理了 一份路线图，作为第一步，然后…

How about you focus more on breaking even  on a month-to-month basis, and spend less  

您如何更专注于每月收支平衡，并 少花点时间在这些天上

time on these pie-in-the-sky ideas? Besides,  this is way beyond your pay grade. You need to  

掉馅饼的想法？此外，这已经 超出了您的职务级别。您需要

deal with your own branch, your own team, and  your own KPIs. It’s not that you shouldn’t make  

应付您自己的分公司、您自己的团队和 您自己的KPIs。这并不是说您

suggestions for improving things, but  you should get the basics right first.

不应该为改善事情而提出建议， 但是您 应该首先掌控好基本的事情。

Yes, but…

是的，但是…

No buts! The number one priority for you right now  is making sure your branch at least breaks even.  

没有但是！现在您的头等大事是 确定您的分公司至少收支平衡。

You’re a young branch, so losing  money at the start is expected,  

你们是一个年轻的分公司，在初始 阶段亏钱是可以预期的，

but we need to see a path to profitability. Right  now, I’m not sure you’re on the right track.

但是我们要看到一条通往盈利的道路。现在， 我不确定你们是在正确的轨道上。

But in the current business environment…

但是在目前的商业环境…

Look, I don’t want to hear it. You need to  get your house in order. Put your team first,  

看，我不想听它。 您要整理好您自己的 事情。把您的团队放在首位，

and build a successful regional branch office.

并建立成功的地区分公司。

This dialogue was about  business planning and strategy.  

这个对话是与商业计划和战略有关。

Let’s start with one question: did  you notice the title of this section?  

我们来看一个问题：您注意到 本单元的标题了吗？

It was ‘pie in the sky’? What could this mean?  You also heard it in the dialogue. Any idea? 

那是“pie in the sky”？这是什么意思？ 您也在对话里听到了它。有任何想法吗？

‘Pie in the sky’ means an impossible dream.  In the dialogue, you heard this sentence.

“Pie in the sky”意思是一个不可能的梦。 在对话里，您听到了这个句子。

‘Pie-in-the-sky ideas’ are ideas which  sound nice, but which aren’t realistic.

“Pie-in-the-sky ideas”是那些听上去 很好，但是是不现实的想法

Let’s look at some more language which you heard. 

我们来看看您听到的更多的一些说法。

Look at the highlighted words and phrases. Imagine  you want to explain them in English to someone who  

看标注的单词和短语。想像您想用英语 向不知道其含义的某人

doesn’t know the meaning. How would you do it?  Pause the video and think about your answers. 

解释它们。您会怎么做？ 暂停视频，然后考虑您的答案。

‘Overreaching’ means to go too  far, or to try to do too much.  

“Overreaching”意思是离开太远了， 或是试着做太多了。

For example, if you agree to do a project which  you don’t have the skills or experience for,  

例如，如果您同意做一个您没有 掌握技巧或没有经验的项目，

you could say that you overreached. 

您可以说您太超过了。

A road map is a detailed plan, showing  exactly how you will achieve something.  

 一个路线图是一份几乎可以显示您会  如何实现目标的详细的计划。

It’s often used for large,  complex projects and plans. 

它通常用于大型、 复杂的项目和计划。

‘Beyond your pay grade’ refers to  something which is not your job.  

“Beyond your pay grade”指的是 某事这不是您的工作。

If someone asks you to do something, and you say  

如果有人要您做某事，您说

‘that’s beyond my pay grade’, you mean  that you aren’t responsible for this  

“that’s beyond my pay grade”，您意思是 您不是负责这事的，

and you won’t do it. In the dialogue, the phrase  was used as a criticism. Telling someone else  

您不想做这事，在对话里，这个短语 常用于做为一个驳斥。告诉某人

‘that’s beyond your pay grade’ is a way to say  that they’re trying to do something which isn’t 

“that’s beyond your pay grade”是一种说他们正在做那些不是他们本职工作的事情的方式；

part of their job; it suggests that the person  you’re talking to should stick to their own job. 

那建议那个正在和你谈话的人必须 坚持做他们自己的工作。

‘On the right track’ means ‘going in the right  direction’. If you’re working on a project,  

“On the right track”意思是“going in the right  direction”，如果您在一个项目工作，

and you say ‘everything’s on the right track’,  you mean that things are going to plan. 

您说”everything’s on the right track“， 您意思事情都在计划之中。

‘Get your house in order’ means to  sort out your own responsibilities.  

”Get your house in order“意思是 厘清您自己的职责。

An alternative – with the same meaning  – is ‘put your house in order’.  

另一个意思相同的说法是 “put your house in order”。

It’s most often used as a criticism. For  example, if someone who is weeks behind on  

那更常被当作一个驳斥来用。例如， 如果工作进度落后几周的人批评

their work criticises you for being slow or lazy,  you might tell them to get their house in order,  

您的速度太慢或太懒惰，您可能会 告诉他们整理好自己的房子，

meaning that they should do their own work  on time before they start criticising others. 

这意思是他们在开始批评其他人之前 应该先按时做好自己的工作。

One more point: there is more language in  these dialogues that you might find useful.  

还有一点是：在这些对话里有更多 说法您会觉得是有用的。

We suggest reviewing each dialogue at least once,  

我们建议要每个对话至少复习一次，

and make notes of any words or  phrases you want to remember.

记下任何您想要记住的单词或短语。

Now, let’s go to our last section.

现在，我们开始最后一个单元。

So, what do you think?

那么，您怎么考虑的？

About what? Is that everything?

关于哪些？那是全部吗？

Well, yeah… I worked all week on it.

好的，对的… 我整个星期都在做这个。

It’s just two pages, with hardly any detail.  

那只是两页，没任何细节。

What about the technical infrastructure?  What about cost estimates? Look, I won’t  

技术基础设施如何？ 大约成本呢？看，我不会

beat around the bush: I can’t do anything  with this. I’d get laughed out of the room.

拐弯抹角：这样我什么都做不了。  离开房间我会被笑话。

Perhaps I have bitten off more than  I can chew… I’m not so familiar with  

可能我咬到的那些东西超过了我 能咬的程度 … 我不熟悉

the technical side of things. I thought we  could fill some of those details in later.

事情的技术面。我觉得我们 可以稍候填那些细节。

Doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid.  Either you bring me something I can use,  

不是那样的，我有点担心。 要么您带给 我一些我可以用的东西，

or you go back to the drawing  board, or you give up.

要么您重新做，要么您放弃。

I don’t suppose you could assign someone  to help me to work on the IT angle?

我不认为您可以指派某人 来帮我在IT角度上工作？

My hands are tied, I’m afraid. We’re under  a lot of pressure right now. You said that  

我担心我的手被缚住了。目前，我们 处于极大的压力之下。 您说

you could make this work; now you need to put  your money where your mouth is, to be blunt.

您可以做这个工作；我直言不讳， 现在您要说话算话。

OK, I’ll have a think about it.  Back to square one, I guess…

好的，我会考虑一下。 从头做起，我猜…

In this dialogue, you heard several idioms.

在这个对话里，您听到了几个俗语。

Do you remember the idiom from the title of the  last section? It was ‘pie in the sky’. You heard  

您记得在上一个单元的标题里的俗语 吗？那是“pie in the sky”。在这，

more idioms like this here. Can you remember them? You heard idioms with these meanings. 

您听到了更多像这样的俗语。您能记得它们吗？ 您听到的俗语带有这些意思。

Can you remember the idioms which match  these meanings? For the third meaning – start  

您能记得哪些俗语匹配这些意思吗？ 对第三个意思 — 开始

something again from the very beginning  – you heard two idioms in the dialogue.

从最初时又再次开始某事 – 您在对话里听到了两个俗语。

Pause the video, or review the dialogue and  try to find the idioms with these meanings!  

暂停视屏，或是复习对话，试着找到 有这些意思的俗语！

Try to find all six – remember  there are two answers for one point. 

试着找到所有六个 – 记得 每点有两个答案。

Did you get all six? Let’s check.

您有找到了六个吗？我们检查一下。

‘Beat around the bush’ means  to speak in an indirect,  

“Beat around the bush”意思是 以非直接的、不清楚的方式来说。

unclear way. If someone’s beating around the  bush, they’re not saying what they really think.  

如果某人是拐弯抹角，他们不是正在说 他们真正地考虑。

This is often used in the negative; for example,  if you tell someone ‘don’t beat around the bush’,  

这通常是用于负面的；例如， 如果您告诉某人“don’t beat around the bush”，

you want to say ‘get to the point  and tell me what I need to know.’ 

您想说“get to the point  and tell me what I need to know.”

‘Bite off more than you can chew’ means to  try to do something which is too difficult.  

“Bite off more than you can chew”意思是试着 去做某些很困难的事情。

The meaning here is more direct – imagine trying  to put too much food in your mouth at one time. 

这里的意思是很直接的 – 想像一下试着 一次放很多食物到您的嘴巴里。

For the third meaning, there were two phrases:  ‘go back to the drawing board’ and ‘back to  

对第三个意思，有两个短语； “go back to the drawing board”以及“back to

square one’. You can use these phrases as  verbs, with ‘go’, or as a simple exclamation,  

square one”。您可以把这些短语与“go”合用 当动词，或者不带动词“go”

without the verb ‘go’. So, you could say  ‘We need to go back to the drawing board,’  

当一个简单的感叹。那么，您可以说 “We need to go back to the drawing board,”

or just ‘Back to the drawing board!’  The meaning is the same either way. 

或者就是“Back to the drawing board!” 意思是相同的。

‘My hands are tied’ means that I can’t help  you. If you say this, it suggests that you  

“My hands are tied”意思是我不能 帮您。如果您这样说，那表明

aren’t free to choose. You can use it to  mean ‘I want to help you, but I can’t.’

您没有选择。您可以用它来表示 “I want to help you, but I can’t.”

Finally, ‘put your money where your mouth  is’ means to back up your words with actions.  

最后，“put your money where your mouth  is”意思是要实际行动，而不是空口白话。

If you tell someone ‘You need to  put your money where your mouth is’,  

如果您告诉某人“You need to  put your money where your mouth is”，

you’re telling that person to stop  talking and do something instead.

您正在告诉那个人不要只是 说，要立即做某事。

Have you heard any of these idioms before? You  

您之前有听说过这些俗语里 的任何一些吗？您

can use them and hear them in many  situations, not just in the office.

可以在很多情形下使用或听到 它们，而不仅是在办公室。

That’s all for this class. Thanks for watching!

本节课到此结束。感谢观看！

See you next time!

下次见！