第1425期:Are you a team player？

We hear a lot about team building these days. 

这些天我们听到了很多关于团队建设的消息。

Team-building gurus are hired by some corporations to lecture us on how to work more effectively with each other. 

一些公司聘请了团队建设大师来教我们如何更有效地合作。

And they organise awaydays - a time employees spend together away from their usual workplace.

他们还组织休假日——员工们在远离日常工作场所的地方一起度过的时光。

Here in the UK, employees can take part in activities such as Zombie boot camps where military instructors train you how to fight walking 'dead people'. 

在英国，员工可以参加诸如僵尸训练营之类的活动，在那里，军事教官会训练您如何与行走的“死人”搏斗。

For the brainier office workers amongst us there are crime investigations modelled on popular TV dramas like Sherlock Holmes and CSI.

对于我们当中比较聪明的上班族来说，有一些犯罪调查以流行电视剧为蓝本，比如福尔摩斯和 CSI。

Stressed-out city workers might have ukulele lessons made available to them. 

压力大的城市工作人员可能会为他们提供四弦琴课程。

Why is that a good team-building exercise? Ukulele teacher Lorraine Bow says: "The fact that they can play a musical instrument within an hour is quite a fulfilling thing, really.

为什么这是一个很好的团队建设练习？ Ukulele 老师 Lorraine Bow 说：“他们可以在一个小时内演奏乐器，真的是一件很充实的事情。 

It's not competitive – it's quite easy to do and a bit less intimidating than a guitar…"

它没有竞争力——它很容易做到，而且比吉他不那么令人生畏……”

Actually, a horse might be a bit more intimidating than an instrument. 

实际上，一匹马可能比一件乐器更令人生畏。

The animals are used by a company in Abu Dhabi which teaches leadership through horse training. Basically, you have to go in a yard with a horse and persuade it that you're the boss by using body language.

这些动物被阿布扎比的一家公司使用，该公司通过马匹训练来教授领导能力。基本上，你必须带着一匹马去院子里，用肢体语言说服它你是老板。

Kelly Eide, co-founder of True Leadership, says: "The horses don't care if your hair is purple, if you're a man or a woman, if you're old or young... 

真正领导力的联合创始人凯利艾德说：“马不在乎你的头发是紫色的，是男人还是女人，是老是少……

It transcends all of those cultural boundaries – age, gender, religion, tradition etc. – so that's a perfect fit. 

它超越了所有这些文化界限——年龄、性别、宗教、传统等——所以这是一个完美的契合。

And in an organization where you really need groups of people to gel, who come from backgrounds which have no common norms, you can teach that most efficiently with a horse."

在一个你真的需要一群人来凝聚的组织中，他们来自没有共同规范的背景，你可以用一匹马最有效地教授这一点。”

And the horse feels instinctively whether or not you are a natural leader. 

无论你是不是天生的领导者，马都会本能地感觉到。

So if after you've done a good presentation your boss offers you a carrot, you'll know where he might have learnt it from.

因此，如果在你做了一个很好的演示之后，你的老板给了你一根胡萝卜，你就会知道他可能从哪里学到的。

词汇表

team building      团队建设
guru      领袖，权威
corporation      公司，企业
effectively      有效地
awayday      息工日
workplace      工作地点，工作场所
boot camp      训练营
brainier (brainy)      更为精明的
stressed-out      （因精神压力）精疲力尽的
ukulele      尤克里里琴
fulfilling      充实的，令人满意的
competitive      竞争的
leadership      领导能力
to persuade       说服
body language      肢体语言
to transcend      超越
to gel      （团队成员）相互磨合