初入职场之生存法门：“沉默是金”
导读：毕业生们走出校门，融入社会。而在这个竞争激烈的大环境中，怎样才能力争上游？除了应用所学知识以外，更重要的是你的处世之道 (philosophy of life)，当然我不是教你尔虞我诈，也并不鼓励你去拍上司马屁。你要知道什么是祸从口出，何时要保持缄默。现如今，你并不需要一直顺从父母、老板、或者是其他一些权威人士。你可以更自由地表达自己，让他们知道“你的真实想法”。
Nowadays, you don’t always have to agree with your parents, your boss, or other authority figures. You have more freedom to express yourself, letting them know “how you really feel”.
但在发表武断言论或做出鲁莽行为之前，请你三思！在下文中，一位将军和一名足球运动员的遭遇将提醒你，不要忘了适时保持沉默。
But think twice before you say or do anything rash–in the following, “incidents” of a general and a soccer player may remind you just when to shut your mouth.
言语之失 丢掉工作 There goes a career
在《滚石》杂志的专访中，前美军驻阿富汗最高指挥官斯坦利•麦克里斯特尔将军强烈谴责了自己的老板，美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马，之后他告别了自己34年的军旅生涯。
General Stanley A McChrystal, once the US military chief in Afghanistan, ended his 34-year Army career after criticizing his boss, US President Barack Obama, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
在该报道中，他评价美国总统“胆小懦弱且过于闲散”； 称美国国家安全顾问是“小丑”；反驳美国副总统乔•拜登的主张并大肆抨击外交高官及其同盟。
In the story, he is quoted as calling the president “timid” and “disengaged”. He called the national security adviser “a clown”, dismissed the words of US Vice President Joe Biden and also trashed top diplomats and allies.
这已经不是该将军第一次公然藐视白宫了。去年9月，《华盛顿邮报》就曾刊登过《麦克里斯特尔备忘录》，麦克里斯特尔将军在文中表示阿富汗战争至少还需要超过4万名的增兵，否则将会面临“功亏一篑”的危险。尽管麦克里斯特尔及其部下一再宣称他们并没有泄露这份本应送达五角大楼的报告，但白宫方面还是大为光火。
This wasn’t the first time the general publicly defied the White House. Last September, The Washington Post cited a McChrystal memorandum in which the general said he needed at least 40,000 more troops for the war in Afghanistan or risk “mission failure”. McChrystal and his staff said they did not leak the report, which was sent to the Pentagon, but it angered the White House nonetheless.
当月，麦克里斯特尔还现身伦敦，表示拜登主张的阿富汗军事行动收编提案将会导致“阿富汗乱作一团”。
That month, McChrystal also appeared in London and said Biden’s scaled-back proposal for military action in Afghanistan would lead to “Chaos-istan”.
奥巴马自然对于麦克里斯特尔将军的最新公开诽谤很不满。他说：“我很愿意看到我们内部的争论，但我绝不容忍这种分裂行为。”上周在不到30分钟的总统办公室会议上，他正式接受了麦克里斯特尔的辞呈将其革职。
Of course, Obama wasn’t happy about the general’s latest public slander. “I welcome debate among my team, but I won’t tolerate division,” Obama said. He fired McChrystal–officially, he accepted his resignation–last week during an Oval Office meeting that lasted less than 30 minutes.
不要公然反驳 Not in public
麦克里斯特尔的失误并不在于同奥巴马之间的分歧。公开挑战上级才是他的错误所在。美国防部部长罗伯特•盖茨就曾提醒他，战争决策的参与者们应坦率且私下向总统提交最佳建议。
Having a disagreement with Obama wasn’t McChrystal’s error. Challenging his superiors publicly was where he went wrong. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates once warned him that participants in war deliberations should give the president their best advice “candidly, but privately.”
对于那些控制战争的国家统治者而言，如此这般的分歧已然成为政治事件。麦克里斯特尔忽视了一项关键问题，那就是拥护总司令、总统奥巴马的权威。他在报道中对那些领导人所进行的私人攻击也使得整个事件雪上加霜。
For people who control a war and run a country, such disagreements are also political issues. McChrystal ignored the importance of preserving the authority and credibility of the commander in chief, President Obama. His personal attack on those leaders in the article just made the matter a lot worse.
没有老板能够容忍这般被公开羞辱，更不必说奥巴马了。
No boss could stand such overt humiliation–let alone Obama.
人心散 则必败 A divided team will fall
法国球星尼古拉斯•阿内尔卡因辱骂教练雷蒙德•多梅内克，且拒绝对自己火爆脾气进行道歉，而被法国足协开除出法国世界杯国家队。
The France Football Federation (FFF) removed French soccer star Nicolas Anelka from France’s World Cup team after he insulted coach Raymond Domenech in a crude manner and refused to apologize for his unacceptable outburst.
据报道，本月初，在一场最终以2：0输给墨西哥的比赛进行到中场休息时，这位切尔西前锋辱骂了多梅内克，他向多梅内克宣称“去死吧，你这个婊子养的。”
The Chelsea striker reportedly made obscene comments to Domenech at halftime of the team’s 2-0 loss to Mexico earlier this month, telling Domenech to “go screw yourself, dirty son of a whore”.
阿内尔卡事后承认自己和多梅内克间有过争吵。阿内尔卡在接受《法兰西晚报》采访时表示：“我和教练间确实有过激烈争吵，但这局限于更衣室内，我和教练之间，以及在我们的队友及同事面前。那些事情绝对不应该外泄。”
Anelka later confirmed he had an argument with Domenech. “I indeed had a heated conversation with the coach, but it happened within the confines of the changing rooms, between the coach and me, in front of my teammates and the staff,” Anelka told the France Soir newspaper. “That should never have come out of the changing rooms.”
阿内尔卡在当天晚上就离开了法国队集训营。
Anelka left the Team France Camp on the same evening.
要知道，没有老板能够容忍这般被公开羞辱。所以当遇到分歧时，你最好选择与老板私下沟通。
谁才是老板？ Who’s the boss?
法国队在世界杯的失利在部分程度上要归咎于球队内部的不合。
France’s bad luck at the World Cup should partly be attributed to disharmony inside the team.
尽管阿内尔卡强调争吵仅限于球队内部，一些“叛徒”走漏了消息，但这并不能改变他做出无礼举动的事实。你可以和老板讨论事情，甚至可以争得面红耳赤。然而一旦说出咒骂的言语，大多数老板都会做出相同反应：“你被解雇了！”
Although Anelka emphasized that the argument was meant to stay within the team and was leaked by some “traitor”, this didn’t change the fact that he did something disrespectful. You can talk things over, or even argue, with your boss. But once curse words come out, most bosses will have the same response: “You’re fired!”
道歉始终是明智之举，无论道歉的人真诚与否。
Apologizing is always the right and smart thing to do–whether or not the person making the apology is actually being genuine.
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