When doing business with Native Speakers of English you will hear a lot of metaphors and idiomatic expressions used. They can relate to all sorts of areas like war, fire, health.
當(dāng)和母語為英語的人做生意時，你會聽到他們使用很多隱喻和慣用用語。它們可以涉及到戰(zhàn)爭、火災(zāi)、健康等各種領(lǐng)域。

One of the biggest areas is sports. If you want to use these Business English phrases like a native speaker, it would be useful to have an understanding of what they are and what they mean.
體育是這些隱喻和慣用語涉及最大的領(lǐng)域之一。如果你想像本地人一樣使用商務(wù)英語短語，了解有哪些短語和它們的意思是非常有用的。

In this blog post, I’d like to explore the strong relationship that exists between sports and business. If you look at the qualities that sports and business share, you’ll begin to see why Business English has so many sporting metaphors.
在這篇博文中，我想探討體育與商業(yè)之間的緊密關(guān)系。如果你看看體育和商業(yè)之間的共同點，你就會明白為什么商業(yè)英語有這么多的體育隱喻。

Kick off
踢開

to start
開始

Good Morning everyone. Shall we kick off the meeting then? ?(Football)
大家早上好。那么我們開始開會好嗎？（足球）

On target
瞄準(zhǔn)目標(biāo)

making good progress and likely to achieve what has been planned
取得很好的進(jìn)展并有可能實現(xiàn)計劃中的目標(biāo)

It looks like we are pretty much on target with this project. (Archery)
看來我們在這個項目上的目標(biāo)是有可能實現(xiàn)的。（射箭）

Up to scratch
達(dá)到標(biāo)準(zhǔn)

to be of a good standard
達(dá)到很棒的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)

I know we have a great team whose work is really up to scratch. (Track and?Field)
我知道我們有一個很棒的團隊，他們的工作真的很出色。（田徑）

Know the ropes
知曉內(nèi)情

to be able to do something well
能夠做好某事

Our new Sales Director has a lot of experience and really knows all the ropes. (Sailing)
我們的新銷售主任經(jīng)驗豐富，而且懂得一切訣竅。（帆船）

Ballpark figure
大概的數(shù)字

a rough estimate
粗略的估計

Can you give me a ballpark figure on the total sales costs? (Baseball)
你能給我一個大概的總銷售成本數(shù)嗎？（棒球）

Jump the gun
搶跑

to do something too soon, especially without thinking about it carefully
做事太快，尤其是不仔細(xì)考慮

We still have some costs to factor in and I don’t want to jump the gun. (Track and Field)
我們還有一些成本要考慮，我不想草率決定。（田徑）

In pole position
跑道內(nèi)圈的位置

to be in the best possible position
處于有利地位

We are in pole position to win the contract. (Motor Racing)
我們在贏得合同方面處于有利地位。（賽車）

Neck and neck
并駕齊驅(qū)

to have the same chance of winning as someone else
有與別人一樣的獲勝機會

We are neck and neck with our competitors, so we really need to work hard to maintain our market share. (Horse Racing)

我們與我們的競爭對手并駕齊驅(qū)，所以我們真的需要努力保持我們的市場份額。（賽馬）

The ball in our court
我們場上的球

to be in a position to make the next step
處在推動下一步的位置上

We have done what we can, the ball is in your court now. (Tennis)
我們已經(jīng)盡力了，現(xiàn)在該你們來推動下一步如何走下去了。（網(wǎng)球）

Take our eye off the ball
將視線從球上離開

to make a mistake, especially by doing something carelessly
犯錯誤，尤指粗心地做某事

We really cannot take our eye off the ball with this deal as it will be a real winner for us. (Football)
對于這筆交易，我們真的不能掉以輕心，因為我們很可能會是贏家。（足球）