Unit 03
Weak ties matter
新知思想/自我提升
New Knowledge/Self-Development
BRAIN STORM
Share your ideas with your teacher and try to make sentences.
How do you describe your own network of people or your circle of professional friends?
VOCABULARY
Repeat these sentences after your teacher.
1. in the know (phr.) 知情，消息靈通
You seem like a guy who is in the know.
你看起來像個有識之士。
2. overlap (v.) 重合，重疊
There is an overlap of the party and my work.
聚會和我的工作重疊。
3. travel in the same circles (phr.) 處在同一圈子
The culprits are caught yesterday evening.
罪魁禍首是昨天晚上被抓的。
4. closely knit (phr.) 系緊密;緊密相連
If a group of people are close-knit, they all help and support each other.
如果一群人關係緊密，他們都會互相幫助和支持。
5. depriving (v.) 剝奪
Stop depriving yourself some sweets.
停止剝奪自己一些糖果。
6. peripheral (adj.) 週邊的;次要的
I can see you in my peripheral vision.
我可以在周圍的視野中看到你。
7. tap into (v.) 使用… 以取得好結果;利用
Can I tap into your contacts?
我可以利用您的聯繫人嗎？
8. hubs (n.) 中心;樞紐
Atlanta is the hub of Delta airlines.
亞特蘭大是達美航空的樞紐。
Dialogue
Read the dialogue aloud with your teacher.
Jim, you strike me as a guy who’s always in the know. Where do you get your information?
Jim，我印象中你就是一個萬事通，你的消息都是從哪兒來的？
Well I depend a lot on my network of weak ties, which is a fancy way of saying my “acquaintances.”
這很大程度依賴於我的弱關係網，其實就是一些”熟人”交情。
That sounds exhausting. I’m spent just making sure my friends and family are
happy.
聽起來好心累啊。 能保證與家人、朋友相處愉快就已經很耗費精力了。
It’s not always easy, but when we limit our networks to only our strong ties, we’re leaving a lot of potential value on the table.
這確實不是件容易的事，但是如果我們的關係網隻局限在強關係時，勢必會失去很多可利用的潛在價值。
I guess there is a lot of information overlap among my friends and family since we all travel in the same circles.
我覺得從親戚朋友那裡得到的很多資訊都是重合的，因為我們生活在同一個圈子裡。
Right, if your network is too closely knit, you could be depriving yourself of valuable information coming from peripheral networks.
是的，如果你的圈子局限於緊密聯繫的那一層，你就會失去圈外有價值的資訊。
Like job opportunities or a potential career change, right? So any tips on how I can develop more weak ties?
像工作機遇或者未來職業轉型，對嗎？ 那你建議怎麼發展更多的弱關係呢？
Well, I found that joining business groups and attending conferences really helped me to tap into other network hubs.
我發現加入商業團體、參加一些會議確實能幫助我接觸到其他圈子的核心。
I suppose if anything, it’s a good way to broaden my horizons.
我想這至少是一個長見識的好方法。
Grammar
on the table
Did you know that tables are useful? It‘s true! Not only in life, but also in language. While the idea of the table can refer to many different things, in English when we say “something is on the table,” we mean that something “is available to take or use.”
Perhaps it could be a job offer that is on the table. Perhaps it’s a good offer. Perhaps it’s a bad one. We can see that in today’s lesson when Jim tells Judy that ignoring weak ties can lead us to leave a lot of potential value on the table. In other words, he’s saying that ignoring weak ties means that we are not making use of this valuable thing.
Basically, the three verbs we use with this idea of table are “put,” “take,” and “leave.” However, we can also say, “it’s still on the table” when we talk about valuable things like job offers.
1.I know you don’t feel entitled to the benefits, but you shouldn’t just leave them on the table.
2.Giving me that promotion was never really on the table, was it?
3.Well should you ever decide to give it another thought, the offer is still on the table.
DISCUSSION
Make a conversation with your teacher.
1.Why do you think is it important to have a network of professional people?
