两个老板一见面，便彼此交换经营心得。
其中一个老板抱怨道："我不能容忍公司的三个员工。
一个吹毛求疵，整天嫌这嫌那；
一个杞人忧天，总为一些莫名其妙的事情担忧；
而另一个游手好闲，喜欢在外面闲逛。
”另一个老板想了想，说："干脆让他们三个人到我的公司上班吧，这样也省了你解雇他们的麻烦。
”第一个老板高兴地答应了。
第二天，这三个人到新公司报到，新老板早已为他们安排好了工作：爱吹毛求疵的一位负责质量监督；
杞人忧天的一位负责安全保卫；
而喜欢闲逛的负责外出做宣传和调查。
一段时间后，这三个人在各自的工作上做出了优秀的业绩，那个老板的公司也因此迅速发展起来。
有时候，短处与长处不是绝对的，只要善于运用，短处也可以转化为长处，关键是要具备第二个老板的智慧和眼光，试着从多个角度去看待同一个问题。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL1N0cmVuZ3RoX2FuZF9XZWFrbmVzcy01MDU3Lm1wMw&filename=Strength-and-Weakness.mp3&signature=384960da87c4254aaa2c8d5496193a9e58c6a4bf357aacfd0d144284fa3fe6f5
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 两 | liǎng | two / both / some / a few |
| 个 | gè | classifier for people or objects in general |
| 老板 | lǎo bǎn | boss / business proprietor |
| 一 | yī | as soon as |
| 见面 | jiàn miàn | to meet; to see each other |
| 便 | biàn | equivalent to 就[jiu4]: then / in that case |
| 彼此 | bǐ cǐ | each other; one another |
| 交换 | jiāo huàn | to exchange / to swap / to switch (telecom) / to commute |
| 经营 | jīng yíng | to engage in (business etc); to run; to operate |
| 心得 | xīn dé | what one has learned (through experience, reading etc) / knowledge / insight / understanding / tips |
| 其中 | qí zhōng | among / in / included among these |
| 抱怨 | bào yuàn | to complain / to grumble / to harbor a complaint / to feel dissatisfied |
| 道 | dào | to say (introducing a direct quotation, as in a novel) / (bound form) to express; to extend (polite words) |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 不 | bù | no; not so |
| 能 | néng | can / to be able to / might possibly |
| 容忍 | róng rěn | to put up with / to tolerate |
| 公司 | gōng sī | company; firm; corporation |
| 的 | de | possessive particle (of; 's) / modifying particle (used after an attribute to modify a noun or to form a nominal expression) |
| 三 | sān | three / 3 |
| 员工 | yuán gōng | staff; personnel; employee |
| 吹毛求疵 | chuī máo qiú cī | lit. to blow apart the hairs upon a fur to discover any defect (idiom); fig. to be fastidious / nitpick |
| 整 | zhěng | (bound form) whole; complete; entire; (before a measure word) whole; (before or after number + measure word) exactly / (bound form) in good order; tidy; neat |
| 天 | tiān | day |
| 嫌 | xián | to dislike |
| 这 | zhè | this; these |
| 那 | nà | (specifier) that; the; those / (pronoun) that (referring to persons, things or situations) |
| 杞人忧天 | Qǐ rén yōu tiān | lit. like the man of 杞[Qi3] who feared the sky would fall (idiom) / fig. to entertain groundless fears |
| 总 | zǒng | in every case; always; invariably |
| 为 | wèi | because of / for / to |
| 一些 | yī xiē | some; a few; a little; (following an adjective) slightly ...er |
| 莫名其妙 | mò míng qí miào | (idiom) baffling; bizarre; without rhyme or reason; inexplicable |
| 事情 | shì qing | affair; matter; thing; business |
| 担忧 | dān yōu | to worry / to be concerned |
| 而 | ér | but (not) / yet (not) / (indicates contrast) |
| 另 | lìng | other / another / separate |
| 游手好闲 | yóu shǒu hào xián | to idle about |
| 喜欢 | xǐ huan | to like; to be fond of |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 外面 | wài miàn | outside |
| 闲逛 | xián guàng | to stroll |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about) / to think of; to devise / to think (that); to believe (that) |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to talk; to say |
| 干脆 | gān cuì | simply / just / might as well |
| 让 | ràng | to permit / to let sb do sth / to have sb do sth / to make sb (feel sad etc) |
| 他们 | tā men | they; them |
| 人 | rén | person; people |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive / to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point) / (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point) |
| 上班 | shàng bān | to go to work / to be on duty / to start work / to go to the office |
| 吧 | ba | (modal particle indicating suggestion or surmise) / ...right? / ...OK? / ...I presume. |
| 这样 | zhè yàng | this way; like this; so |
| 也 | yě | also; too; as well; (not ...) either |
| 省 | shěng | to save; to economize; to be frugal / to omit; to delete; to leave out |
| 你 | nǐ | you |
| 解雇 | jiě gù | to fire / to sack / to dismiss / to terminate employment |
| 麻烦 | má fan | trouble; inconvenience |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number) |
| 高兴 | gāo xìng | happy / glad / in a cheerful mood |
| 地 | de | -ly / structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 答应 | dā ying | to answer; to respond / to answer positively; to agree; to accept; to promise |
| 二 | èr | two / 2 |
| 新 | xīn | new; newly |
| 报到 | bào dào | to report for duty / to check in / to register |
| 早 | zǎo | long ago |
| 已 | yǐ | already |
| 安排 | ān pái | to arrange / to plan / to set up |
| 好 | hǎo | (verb complement indicating completion) |
| 工作 | gōng zuò | job / work / task |
| 爱 | ài | to be inclined (to do sth); to tend to (happen) |
| 位 | wèi | classifier for people (honorific) |
| 负责 | fù zé | to be responsible for; to be in charge of; to bear responsibility for |
| 质量 | zhì liàng | quality / quality and quantity |
| 监督 | jiān dū | to control / to supervise / to inspect |
| 安全 | ān quán | safety; security |
| 保卫 | bǎo wèi | to defend / to safeguard |
| 外出 | wài chū | to go out / to go away (on a trip etc) |
| 做 | zuò | to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc) |
| 宣传 | xuān chuán | to disseminate / to give publicity to |
| 和 | hé | and; together with |
| 调查 | diào chá | investigation / inquiry / survey / (opinion) poll |
| 段 | duàn | classifier for stories, periods of time, lengths of thread etc |
| 时间 | shí jiān | time |
| 后 | hòu | afterwards / after |
| 各自 | gè zì | respective |
| 上 | shàng | (noun suffix) on; above |
| 出 | chū | (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) |
| 优秀 | yōu xiù | outstanding; excellent |
| 业绩 | yè jì | achievement; accomplishment / (in more recent usage) performance (of a business, employee etc); results |
| 因此 | yīn cǐ | thus; consequently; as a result |
| 迅速 | xùn sù | rapid / speedy / fast |
| 发展 | fā zhǎn | to develop / to grow / to expand |
| 起来 | qǐ lái | indicating the beginning and continuation of an action or a state / indicating an upward movement / indicating completion / expressing preliminary judgment |
| 有时候 | yǒu shí hou | sometimes |
| 短处 | duǎn chù | shortcoming / defect / fault / one's weak points |
| 与 | yǔ | (formal) and; together with (linking parallel nouns, verbs, or phrases) |
| 长处 | cháng chù | good aspects / strong points |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 绝对 | jué duì | absolute; unconditional |
| 只要 | zhǐ yào | so long as; provided; if |
| 善于 | shàn yú | to be good at; to be adept at |
| 运用 | yùn yòng | to use / to put to use |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can / may / possible / able to |
| 转化 | zhuǎn huà | to change; to turn; to convert / (genetics) to transform |
| 关键 | guān jiàn | crucial point / crux / key |
| 要 | yào | will; shall; about to / need to; should / if |
| 具备 | jù bèi | to possess / to have / able to fulfill (conditions or requirements) |
| 智慧 | zhì huì | wisdom; intelligence |
| 眼光 | yǎn guāng | gaze / insight / foresight / vision / way of looking at things |
| 试 | shì | to test / to try |
| 着 | zhe | aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state |
| 从 | cóng | from; through; via / (bound form) retainer; attendant / (bound form) assistant; auxiliary; subordinate / (bound form) related by common paternal grandfather or earlier ancestor |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of |
| 角度 | jiǎo dù | angle / (fig.) point of view |
| 去 | qù | to go, to go to |
| 看待 | kàn dài | to look upon; to regard |
| 同 | tóng | like / same / similar / alike |
| 问题 | wèn tí | question / problem / issue / topic |