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Baidu executive tells staff: ‘I’m not your mum’
The head of public relations at Chinese search giant Baidu has created her own PR crisis after posting several videos on social media demeaning staff, in the latest example of the sometimes brutal workplace practices in China’s tech sector.“I can make you jobless in this industry,” said Baidu vice-president Qu Jing in one video. She added she needed employees dedicated enough to do 50 straight days of business travel at her side and did not care if it affected their personal lives. “I’m not your mum,” she said. “I only care about results.”The executive posted the videos on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, intending the clips to serve as examples to her team of how to use social media to promote Baidu. Instead, they have reignited criticism of the workplace culture at Chinese tech companies.As of Thursday, the discussion had drawn 150mn views and a former employee said Qu was no longer with the company, echoing reporting in Chinese media outlets.By Thursday, Qu had removed the videos from her Douyin account and apologised, saying she had “earnestly read people’s opinions and criticisms” and would “deeply reflect” on them.Baidu executive tells staff: ‘I’m not your mum’职场英语中，名词executive颇为特殊。一方面，它可以是个entry-level job「初级岗位」，比如广告或公关公司的account executive「客户执行」；另一方面，当它单独出现的时候，大都是指公司的「管理人员，高管」，既可以指某个公司的管理人员（比如标题中的Baidu executive「百度高管」），也可以作集合名词，指代整个公司的「管理层」：The union’s executive has/have yet to reach a decision.
The head of public relations at Chinese search giant Baidu has created her own PR crisis after posting several videos on social media demeaning staff, in the latest example of the sometimes brutal workplace practices in China’s tech sector.中国搜索巨头百度的公关负责人在社交媒体上发布了几段贬低员工的视频，从而给自己带来了公关危机。中国科技行业的职场行为有时堪称残酷，这次事件便是最新例证。▼ public relations n. 公共关系；公关工作广告和公关行业有一句可以解释广告与公共区别的老话——广告是自己夸自己，公关是让别人来夸自己。比起直接宣传产品优点的广告来说，企业公关工作的目的在于向公众树立一个良好的public image「公众形象」，进而达到促进商品销售的目的。public relations通常简称PR，不同公司具体的公关部名词可能略有不同，比如PR department「公关部」、department of media relations「媒体关系部」或department of communications「传播部」等。即影响某个组织或企业声誉的负面事件，比如消费者的大量投诉、代言名人遭封杀，乃至社交媒体的大量批评都可能酿成一场公关危机。I love reading her posts because I learn so much.盘点一下英语中「侮辱、贬低」这个含义相关的几个正式表达。debase：前缀de-「下降」和base「低」都算不上好词，base作为形容词更是有「下流的」这个含义，所以debase「贬低、羞辱」这个含义就不难理解了；demean：词源上来说，demean是照着debase的模子刻出来的词，联想一下mean的形容词含义「刻薄的」，应该也可以记住demean「贬低」这个含义；belittle：同样可以用联想法来记忆，将belittle理解为to make sth. small「让某事变小」，由此来记忆belittle「贬低」这个含义。上述三个词的共同点有二：其一，都是及物动词；再者，都是比较正式的用词，写作时使用当然无妨，但在日常口语中使用就有点不太合适了。追根溯源，brutal最早与动物相关，表示「兽性的」。随着语言的演变，它衍生出了两个含义：一是「残暴的」，用于修饰murder「谋杀」、 assault「袭击」等词；另一个则是「冷酷的，残酷的」，用于修饰让人不适的事物：The dip in prices this summer will be brutal.
“I can make you jobless in this industry,” said Baidu vice-president Qu Jing in one video. She added she needed employees dedicated enough to do 50 straight days of business travel at her side and did not care if it affected their personal lives. “I’m not your mum,” she said. “I only care about results.”
百度副总裁璩静在一段视频中说：「我可以让你在行业里找不到工作」。她还补充道，她需要员工足够敬业，能在她身边连续出差 50 天，而且并不在乎是否会影响员工的个人生活，她说：「我不是你妈，我只关心结果」。此外，straight也可以用作副词，表示「连续不断地」，比如：They had been working for 16 hours straight.▼ be at sb’s side 在某人身边（照顾或支持他们）side既可以是方位上的「边，侧」（比如the north side of the city「这座城的北边」），也可以是争吵、战争时的「一方，一派」，比如take sides就是在争论中选择支持其中一方，也就是「表明观点」：She didn't think it was wise to take sides in their argument.基于side的这个含义，我们应该就不难理解be at sb’s side的含义了。字面上，该短语指的是「在某人身旁」，而且侧重指在身旁支持着他们，颇有风雨同舟的感觉：He faced the reporters with his wife at his side.The executive posted the videos on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, intending the clips to serve as examples to her team of how to use social media to promote Baidu. Instead, they have reignited criticism of the workplace culture at Chinese tech companies.
这位高管将这些视频发布在抖音（即TikTok中文版）上，意在向她的团队展示如何利用社交媒体推广百度。然而，这些视频却再次引发了对中国科技公司职场文化的批评。▼ intend vt. 打算，想要
文中出现的用法是intend sth. to do sth.「打算让某物做某事或取得某效果」，也就是希望让clips「视频片段」来serve as examples of how to use social media to promote Baidu「作为展示如何使用社交媒体来推广百度的案例」，中间插入的to her team说明了高管意图展示的对象，即「向员工」。
▼ reignite vt. 重新点燃
ignite既能「点燃」实实在在的火焰，也能「激起，引发」看不见的激情与热情，比如：
There was one teacher who really ignited my interest in words.
曾经有一位老师真正激起了我对文字的兴趣。
因此，给ignite加上前缀re-「重复」（比如reapply「再次申请」），就有了reignite「再次点燃」，宾语同样既可以是「火焰」，也可以是某种情感，比如本句中的reignite criticism「再次引起了批评」。
As of Thursday, the discussion had drawn 150mn views and a former employee said Qu was no longer with the company, echoing reporting in Chinese media outlets.自（上）周四以来，该讨论已吸引了1.5亿次浏览，一名前员工称璩静已离职，这与中国媒体的报道相吻合。By Thursday, Qu had removed the videos from her Douyin account and apologised, saying she had “earnestly read people’s opinions and criticisms” and would “deeply reflect” on them.截至本周四，璩静已经从她的抖音账号上删除了这些视频并道歉，称自己「认真读了大家的意见和批评」，并将「深刻反思」。也作as from，后接某个具体的时间或日期，表示「自这个时间起」，比如：Our phone number is changing as from/of May 12.作为名词，echo的原本含义是「回声」。回声本质上是同一种声音的回放，因此，echo也就衍生出了「重复，附和」的名词含义：His words were an echo of what she had heard many times before.继续延伸。既然echo作名词是「重复（的事物）」，那作为动词，它是不是就变成了「重复」这个动作？不过要注意，echo的这个用法是及物动词，后面的宾语一般是word「言语」、view「观点」这类词。所以文中的echo reporting in Chinese media outlets的字面意思就是「与中国媒体的报道相重合」。The pictures were available free to all media/news outlets.![]()
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