実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (1/18,19)
こんにちは。NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。
Lesson 19のテーマは、’Ethical Values’（倫理観）でした。Vignetteでは、忘れ物（や落とし物）を届けた場合に謝礼を受け取るかどうかについて、異なる見解が示されました。また、贈り物を行う文化と企業倫理、最近の倫理観の低下などが話題になりました。
“Talk the Talk”では、倫理観にかける某国の慣行などが紹介されます。会話中、杉田先生が使われた「心付け、賄賂」を意味するbaksheesh、英単語になっていたことに驚きです。エジプト旅行で教わった「バクシーシ」（喜捨）ではありませんか・・・。
*英文の終わりに語注をつけました。
Ethical Values
（S: 杉田敏先生 H: Heather Howardさん）
S: Our current vignette describes how Alyce Collins returned a lost smartphone and turned down the owner’s offer of a reward.
Opinions differ on whether she should have taken the money.
What’s your position, Heather?
H: I’m with Alyce and Pat McMillan.
To the greatest extent possible, I think good deeds should not be transactional.
Do we really want to live in a world where people only help each other if they think they can get something our of it, or have to pay other to be decent?
If I incur some truly significant expense or put myself at serious risk, oh, OK, maybe then I should be compensated.
But even then I think I would try to avoid it, except in extreme cases.
There’s enough greed in the world, enough people who always want to know what’s in this for me.
I don’t want to add to the avarice.
S: So, you wouldn’t want part of the money if you found wallet in Tokyo.
H: No. I couldn’t accept it.
That’s someone else’s money earned through their hard work―I hope they earned it through hard work.
They would already have gone through the stress and inconveniences of losing their wallet, and then I take away some of the relief of getting it back by helping myself to a slice of their money?
Some might say, “Well, you did help them get their money back, so shouldn’t you be compensated in a way for that service?”
Again, I’d say no because I think I have a moral obligation to try and help them get their money back.
If I helped a lost child find their mother and the mother tried to give me money in thanks, I’d absolutely refuse it.
I think it’s the same sort of thing.
S: The vignette also talks about how different counties have different customs.
What some see as friendly gestures or kind of business expense, others consider graft or bribery.
H: I was traveling once in a foreign country―let’s not say which―and I was at a local travel agency arranging to go on a boat cruise or something.
All of a sudden in walks a policeman.
He didn’t say a single word, and neither did the staffer who was helping my husband and me.
She just pulled an envelope out of a drawer, with nothing written on it, and handed it to the cop.
He walked out and she went right back to helping me.
Another tourist we met on that trip was involved in a traffic accident.
She said that three different policemen showed up almost immediately after the crash, demanding bribes from her taxi driver.
S: I’ve heard similar stories.
For example, when I was running a public relations firm in Tokyo, one of my clients was a new general manager for a certain country in a certain corner of the world.
He was having trouble getting his furniture through customs, and the customs officials dropped hints that a little backsheesh could perhaps speed up the whole process.
They wanted a few hundred dollars.
That wasn’t too bad, but irrespective of the amount, it was against company policy to pau money under the table.
H: Then what happened?
S: The customs officials said, “All right then, we’ll go through the regular procedure and keep your stereo set, sofa and other stuff in our temporary warehouse. You’ll probably get them all by the end of the rainy season―in a month or two. Oh, by the way, there’s no roof on our warehouse.”
It was a catch-22.
What’s right, what’s fair and what’s in your best interest may be different things to different folks.
H: How was it resolved in the end?
S: You don’t want to know, Heather, I assure you.
H: Well, now I’m really intrigued.
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Words and Expressions
baksheesh: 心付け、賄賂
pay money under the table: 賄賂を贈る（払う）
catch-22: お手上げ状態、身動きが取れない矛盾
intigued: 興味をそそられて
お疲れさまでした。お読み下さり、ありがとうございます♪
