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It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational company.
邮件里的一个小小单词，却导致一家跨国公司蒙受了巨额经济损失。
The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague for whom English was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in his dictionary. He acted on the wrong one.
公司里一名以英语为母语的员工，发了一封英文邮件，给以英语为第二语言的同事。由于不确定一个词的意思，这位同事查了词典，发现存在两个完全矛盾的意思，结果他偏偏选中了错的那个。
Months later, senior management investigated why the project had flopped, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It all traced back to this one word,” says Chia Suan Chong, a UK-based communications skills and intercultural trainer, who didn't reveal the tricky word because it is highly industry-specific and possibly identifiable. “Things spiralled out of control because both parties were thinking the opposite.”
项目失败了。数月后，公司管理层为了调查原因，耗费了数十万美元。身在英国的跨文化沟通技能培训师蔡孙重（Chia Suan Chong）表示：“最后，一切都归因于这个词。双方的理解南辕北辙，于是一切都乱了套。”但她没有透露这个棘手的单词具体是什么，因为这个单词高度行业化，一旦透露，就很有可能暴露企业信息。
When such misunderstandings happen, it’s usually the native speakers who are to blame. Ironically, they are worse at delivering their message than people who speak English as a second or third language, according to Chong.
蔡孙重说，类似的误解，通常是英语母语者的过错。讽刺的是，与将英语作为第二或第三语言的人相比，英语母语者反而更不擅长传达信息。
A lot of native speakers are happy that English has become the world’s global language. They feel they don’t have to spend time learning another language,” says Chong.
蔡孙重表示：“英语成了全球语言，许多英语母语者觉得志得意满，觉得根本不用再花时间学习其他语言。”
The non-native speakers, it turns out, speak more purposefully and carefully, typical of someone speaking a second or third language. Anglophones, on the other hand, often talk too fast for others to follow, and use jokes, slang and references specific to their own culture, says Chong.
蔡孙重还说，非母语者讲英语时，和所有其他以英语为第二或第三语言的人一样，更具有目的性，也更为小心谨慎。反之，英语母语者往往语速过快，叫人跟不上，或者爱讲只有欧美文化背景的人才听得懂的笑话、俚语和段子。
“The native English speaker… is the only one who might not feel the need to accommodate or adapt to the others,” she adds.
“英语母语者就是意识不到自我调整，关照他人的必要性，”蔡孙重补充道。
With non-native English speakers in the majority worldwide, it’s Anglophones who may need to up their game.
鉴于世界上大部分人口，并非以英语为母语，英语母语者还是很有必要加强自身的沟通交流能力。
“Native speakers are at a disadvantage when you are in a lingua franca situation,” where English is being used as a common denominator, says Jennifer Jenkins, professor of global Englishes at the UK’s University of Southampton. “It’s the native English speakers that are having difficulty understanding and making themselves understood.”
任职英国南安普敦大学(University of Southampton)的全球英语教授詹尼弗·詹金斯（Jennifer Jenkins）表示：“周围的人都把英语作为通用语的情况下，英语母语者实际上处境不利，因为他们难以理解别人，也很难传达自己的意思”。
Non-native speakers generally use more limited vocabulary and simpler expressions, without flowery language or slang. And then there’s cultural style, Blattner says. When a Brit reacts to a proposal by saying, “That’s interesting” a fellow Brit might recognise this as understatement for, “That’s rubbish.” But other nationalities would take the word “interesting” on face value, he says.
非英语母语者通常词汇量较为匮乏，表达也相对简单，不会运用华丽的辞藻或俚语。布拉特纳（Blattner）认为，这就导致了文化差异。一名英国人说一项提议“很有趣”，其他英国人大概会觉得，这不过是“很垃圾”的委婉说法，但外国人就会从字面上去理解这句话。
“English speakers with no other language often have a lack of awareness of how to speak English internationally.”
“不懂其他语言的英语母语者，往往缺乏国际意识，不懂得用英语和外国人妥善沟通”。
In Berlin, Coulter saw German staff of a Fortune 500 company being briefed from their Californian HQ via video link. Despite being competent in English, the Germans gleaned only the gist of what their American project leader said. So among themselves they came up with an agreed version, which might or might not have been what was intended by the California staff.
库尔特（Coulter）在柏林亲眼见过，一家世界500强企业，从加利福尼亚总部通过视频，向德国员工传达指示。德国员工尽管英语水平不错，但也仅能勉强抓住美国项目领导的大意。于是他们自己内部商定了一种理解，至于是否如实反映了总部的实际意图，谁也说不准。
“Too many non-Anglophones, especially the Asians and the French, are too concerned about not ‘losing face’ — and nod approvingly while not getting the message at all,” he says.
库尔特说：“不少非英语母语者，尤其是亚洲人和法国人，都太过纠结‘面子’问题，即使完全听不懂，也会点头表示赞同”。
That’s why Nerriere devised Globish — a distilled form of English, stripped down to 1,500 words and simple but standard grammar. “It’s not a language, it’s a tool,” he says. Since launching Globish in 2004 he’s sold more than 200,000 Globish text books in 18 languages.
为此，内里埃（Nerriere）发明了全球语，这是一种简化版的英语，词汇量精简到1500词左右，语法既简单又规范。他说：“全球语不是语言，只是工具”。自2004年推广全球语以来，内里埃已经卖出超过20万册全球语教材，涵盖了18种语言。
“If you can communicate efficiently with limited, simple language you save time, avoid misinterpretation and you don’t have errors in communication,” Nerriere says.
内里埃表示：“简化语言，限定词汇，有效沟通，就能节省不少时间，还能避免引起误解，杜绝交流失误”。
When trying to communicate in English with a group of people with varying levels of fluency, it’s important to be receptive and adaptable, tuning your ears into a whole range of different ways of using English, Jenkins says.
詹金斯表示：用英语交流时，面对水平各异的人，我们应该怀着灵活包容的态度，去适应形形色色的英语用法，这一点很重要。
“People who’ve learned other languages are good at doing that, but native speakers of English generally are monolingual and not very good at tuning in to language variation,” she says.
她补充道：“学过外语的人擅长这点，但英语母语者由于只会一种语言，并太擅长适应各种语言变体”。
In meetings, Anglophones tend to speed along at what they consider a normal pace, and also rush to fill gaps in conversation, according to Steggles.
斯特格勒斯（Steggles）表示，开会的时候，英语母语者容易语速过快，还自以为语速正常，而且经常急着插话。
He recommends making the same point in a couple of different ways and asking for some acknowledgement, reaction or action.
他建议，英语母语者用多种方式来表达同一个观点，同时请对方就对内容作出确认、反馈或反应。
气候变化已不是单纯的环境保护问题，而成为人类生存与发展问题。中国需要改变以煤为主的能源结构和高污染、高能耗的产业结构，以治理环境和应对全球气候变化。同时，积极应对气候变化也是中国参与全球治理的责任，也是实现可持续发展的迫切需要。中国作为世界最大的发展中国家，需要积极推动经济与能源的转型，以推动全球可持续发展。
To address climate change, more than an environmental protection issue, but one of subsistence and development of mankind, it is imperative for China to change its carbon-oriented energy mix and the industrial structure featuring heavy pollution and high energy consumption, in an attempt to govern the environment and address global climate change. Meanwhile, it’s both an international duty for China to take a positive approach in combating climate change and an urgent need to render sustainable development a reality. As the largest developing country around the globe, China is impelled to spur the transformation of economy and energy, thereby promoting global sustainable development.
长期以来，中国高度重视气候变化问题，把积极应对气候变化作为国家经济社会发展的重大战略，把绿色低碳发展作为生态文明建设的重要内容，采取了一系列行动，为应对全球气候变化做出了重要贡献。
China attaches great importance to addressing climate change since long, making it a significant national strategy for its social and economic development and promoting green and low-carbon development as an important component of the ecological civilization. It has already taken a series of climate actions which represent a significant contribution to combating the global climate change.
到2020年单位国内生产总值二氧化碳排放比2005年下降40%-45%，非化石能源占一次能源消费总量的比重达到15% ， 森林面积比2005年增加4000万公顷，森林蓄积量2005年增加13亿立方米。
China announced that by 2020 it will lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40% to 45% from the 2005 level, increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to about 15% and increase the forested area by 40 million hectares and the forest stock volume by 1.3 billion cubic meters compared to the 2005 levels.
中国还将在农业、林业、水资源等重点领域和城市、沿海、生态脆弱地区形成有效抵御气候变化风险的机制，提高抵抗能力。
Moreover, China will continue to proactively adapt to climate change by enhancing mechanisms and capacities to effectively defend against climate change risks in key areas such as agriculture, forestry and water resources, as well as in cities, coastal and ecologically vulnerable areas.
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