【彭蒙惠英语】对抗科技术语（2/4）
Technobabble Battle(2/4)
Can we break down a wall of computer jargon*?
Soft support
Support.com, which offers remote tech support, is hiring call center “solutions engineers” based not just on their technology expertise but also for their people skills, says Anthony Rodio, chief marketing officer. What’s more, their training includes discussions and role-playing about empathy*, as well as how much tech jargon to use. It’s bad enough to have a tech-related problem, Rodio says, without having to deal with a condescending* consultant.
David Goldberg, 40, president of an audio-video production facility, says that although his company doesn’t do tech support, he has received calls from people who’ve tried so-called easy applications*, gotten stuck and called on him to finish the job. He just heard from a woman who recorded a seminar on a digital micro-recorder but couldn’t master the $44 software program she bought to convert the spoken word to text or the software to create a podcast.*
Goldberg says his former role as a support specialist for an electronics company has made it easier for him to explain technical things to people who may have “short fuses* and limited skill sets.”
Information overload
Robber Berkman, who teaches online classes from his home, says, “So many good things are being created. But we can also have too much of a good thing* when we can’t keep up with these Net tools.”
While many applications for your computer are touted as easy to master, “nothing ever works perfectly,” he says. This learning period can eat up* time and cause frustration.
Kevin Kelly, president of Big Buzz Communications, an interactive design and marketing company, says he’s seeing more non-techies becoming the website point person* at smaller companies---in part, he says, because, when the subject of beefing up* the company website came up, they “didn’t step back quick enough.”
Vocabulary Focus
empathy (n) --- the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in their situation
condescending (adj) --- treating someone as if you are better or more important than they are
short fuse (exp) --- the characteristic of getting angry very easily
too much of a good thing (idom) --- when something pleasant becomes unpleasant because you have or do too much of it
beef up (phr v) --- to make stronger or more important
Specialized terms
application (n)--- 应用程序 a computer program that is designed for a particular purpose
podcast (n)--- 播客节目 a Web-based audio broadcast
point person (n)--- someone who is appointed to take the lead in a project or task
