胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯039：協作 The Collaboration
There’s nothing more powerful than collaboration between colleagues. How does that coinage go? “Two heads are better than one.” I wonder who coined that phrase. A collective effort can render even the most confusing problem coherent. Coherence is the key to understanding and resolving dilemmas.
沒有什么力量能比同事間的協作更強大的了。那句新造的話是怎么說來的?“三個臭皮匠賽過一個諸葛亮。”不知是誰新造了那個說法。集體努力能將最為錯綜復雜的問題變得條理清晰，而條理清晰正是理解和化解種種窘境的關鍵所在。
By coincidence, my best friend and I ended up working at the same advertising firm. We’ve had a cohesive relationship ever since we accidentally collided into each other on bicycles in college. Fortunately, nobody was hurt from the collision and we quickly became friends. Since then, we have cohered through thick and thin. Remember the market collapse of 1967? When he needed a loan to recover from his losses, I helped him. When I needed collateral to secure a home loan, he helped me. When a snake coiled is 4-year-old son and sent him to the hospital, we were there with him all right. The cohesion benefits both sides and makes each side twice as strong as before.
純屬巧合，我最好的朋友和我竟在同一家廣告公司工作。自從在大學里意外騎車相撞后，我們之間就建立起了緊密的聯系。幸好那次碰撞事件中沒有人受傷，我們很快成了朋友。打那以后，無論艱難險阻，我們都會團結一致，并肩作戰(zhàn)。還記得1967年的市場崩潰嗎?當他需要一筆貸款來彌補損失時，我伸出了援助之手。當我需要抵押品來擔保一筆家庭貸款時，是他幫助了我。當他4歲的兒子被蛇纏住、送進醫(yī)院時，我們兩一起守護了他一整夜。這一凝聚力對對方都有利，并使得每一方變得比以前堅強上兩倍。
That’s why I’m so glad that my colleague and I are collaborating on this special project. There’s nothing coincident about how we ended up in the same group. However, it is a coincidence that the starting dates of our present collaboration coincides with the time we first met last year.
所以，我很高興能在這個特別的項目上與我的同事合作。我們能分到同一組毫無巧合可言。但確實湊巧的是，我們目前這個合作項目的開始日期碰巧跟去年我們第一次相遇時的日期相同。
So what is the purpose of our collaboration? Our purpose is to come up with an advertising slogan that’s catchy and that uses colloquial English. By using a colloquialism, we hope we can turn the slogan into a household phrase.
那么，我們合作的目的何在? 我們的目的就是要想出一個既引人注目又語言通俗的廣告詞。通過使用通俗語言，我們希望這一廣告詞能成為家喻戶曉的用語。
Words:
cohere vi. 粘著，附著;連貫，緊湊;(為了共同的利益或主義等)團結一致
coherence n. 一致
coherent adj. 粘在一起的;連貫的，有條理的
cohesion n. 附著力，凝聚力
cohesive adj. 粘在一起的
coll n. (一)卷;線圈;vt. 盤繞，卷
coin n. 鑄幣;vt. 創(chuàng)造(一個新的詞或短語)
coinage n. 造幣，貨幣制度;創(chuàng)造新的詞語(或用法等)
coincide vi. (事情等)同事發(fā)生;相符合，相巧合
coincidence n. 一致;同時發(fā)生或同時存在(尤指偶然)的事
coincident adj. 一致的，巧合的
collaborate vi. (文藝、科學等方面)協作，合作
collaboration n. 合作
collapse n. 倒塌，崩潰
collateral n. 抵押品，擔保物;adj. 間接的
colleague n. 同事，同僚
collective adj. 集體的，共同的
collide vi. 碰撞;沖突;
collision n. 碰撞;沖突;抵觸
colloquial adj. 口語的，通俗的
colloquialism n. 俗話，白話，口語
