文／dr.j.j.

工作上的決策，很多都具有機密性質，不到最後一刻，是不能對外張揚的，以防生變。對外如此，對內如是，因為往往一個決定會牽扯到太多人的利益，比如說升遷、人事異動等等，因此即使事先知道，也不適宜和別人討論！

中文常說口風要緊些，英文裡我們則用“tight” （緊）+“lip”（嘴唇）的變化來表示。雙唇都緊緊閉住了，當然一個字都不會洩漏出去了啊!

secretary a：oh my god, i just heard by accident that johnny is going to get fired. i swear to god that i wasn’t eavesdropping. it’s just i was going to ask the general manager to sign a document and he was saying this to the hr director.

秘書a：天啊！我剛剛不小心聽到johnny要被炒魷魚了。我發誓我真的不是故意偷聽的，我剛好要請總經理簽一份文件，就聽到他對人資部總監這麼說。

secretary b：this is really shocking. johnny is such an amicable guy. i do feel about this now. what are you going to do?

秘書 b：真是太令人震驚了。johnny人這麼好，我真是感到難過，那現在你要怎麼辦？

secretary a：you tell me! i can’t reveal this to anyone, otherwise it’s me who will also get fired.

秘書a：你教我啊！我又不能洩露出去，不然可能輪到我被炒魷魚。

secretary b：i guess you’re right. no matter how much we like johnny, we need to respect our job, too. since it’s confidential, we can only remain tight lipped!

秘書b：也對！不管我們有多喜歡johnny，這件事既然是個機密，我們也得尊重我們的工作，只好口風緊些囉。

secretary a：right, we can only give him our moral support and perhaps be even nicer to him from now on.

秘書a：沒錯，我們也只能給他精神上的支持，然後從現在開始對他好一點。