The Apprentice 剧情讨论 第一季第一集（全英文口语训练 转贴自英语学习区）
[b]Apprentice?[/b] Sixteen candidates arrived in the New York City to compete at a fourteen week job interview for the “dream job for a lifetime” – working as the president of one of Donald Trump’s companies, being his “apprentice” and learning from him. ([b]Question:[/b] Who is Donald Trump?)
[b]Setting up the rules.[/b] Teams. Eyes and ears. Firing. (Follow with details for each of the three areas.)
[b]The task – lemonade.[/b] Seed money $250. The most profit. One day. (Ask a student to summarize covering the three points.)
[b]Why did the men lose and the women win?
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[b]Location: [/b]Kwame was made the single-handed “location guy” and he made the wrong choice by choosing the seaport. (Details: Were there really a lot of tourists the men sold the lemonade to?) (The men’s team looked really organized and efficient compared with the women’s team. But what should they have done to choose a better location? A brainstorm session?)
[b]Price point: [/b]$1 vs. $5. Why were the women able to charge such a high price. (Sex sells.) (Did the women cross the line?)
[b]Sam’s drastic measures at drastic moments: [/b]Getting a woman passer-by to help. $1000 for a cup of lemonade. (Creativity vs. workability. But what if it worked out? That’s why Sam got to stay for the next week. By the way, we see that later on Bill sold for $2 a glass. That sounds more practical.) (Bill: It’s a volume’s game. Don’t spend too much on one single potential customer.) (Question: Under what circumstances is it more advisable to hang on with one particular potential customer. Big-item sales?)
[b]Tammy’s lunch & Omarosa’s reaching out: [/b]If you were Tammy, what would you do: 1) when you get hungry; 2) when Omarosa told you what other women think of you? Next, what do you think was Omarosa’s intention to tell Tammy? (Personally, I think she’s being a politician, trying to ingratiate Tammy and criticizing Ereka as a leader.)
[b]What do you think of Omarosa’s criticism of Ereka’s leadership? [/b](She’s right about Ereka’s being an emotional person and lacking control over the group planning phase, which could partly explain the chaotic start of the women’s team. However, I think Omarosa, thinking of herself as a strong woman, just didn’t like the idea of being led by another person, especially when it was a woman and when she showed some weaknesses. So she just wanted to shine herself by criticizing the leader instead of letting the leader shine. Anyway, I don’t think Omarosa would have made a good leader herself under the particular circumstances of this task. That leads to the next question…
[b]What could have Ereka done to lead better? [/b](I don’t think there’s a lot that can be done with her being emotional. She has her own personality. On the other hand, there is something she could have done better to deal with Tammy’s issue – perhaps she should have taken the role of Omarosa to inform Tammy of other teammates’ problem with her having lunch. However, overall I think she did a good job as a leader. If we say that it’s the women’s natural advantage to sell through sexual appeal, then the other strength of theirs – a better location – was indeed an achievement. It’s not very clear from watching the episode how the women came out with their location choice. But Ereka should be given credit for having, or at least allowing, the brainstorming session, which could be where the choice came from.)
[b]Boardroom – Who to fire?
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[b]David: [/b]Why did David use the unconventional funny sales techniques? (Possible answers: He didn’t take the task seriously. He looked down upon selling lemonade.)
[b]Sam: [/b]What did Sam do right in the boardroom to stay? (First, he was diplomatic with his comments on Troy’s leadership. Second, his impassioned plea could be a good fit for Trump’s style and could have pleased the man’s ego. Third, he attacked the right person, David, who did look weak in this task. And, of course Trump’s comment “I haven’t figured it out yet” is the openly stated reason for keeping Sam.)
[b]Troy: [/b]He showed leadership quality despite the failure and some room to improve with the task. He stepped up. He delegated. He motivated his teammates well. He sold himself. Finally, he identified rightly the weakest links in the team to bring them back into the boardroom.
[b]Kwame: [/b]He got to stay perhaps because there were two other weaker players that Troy brought back into the boardroom. And his calm demeanor could have helped, too.
[[i] 本帖最后由 FeiWuEnglish 于 2007-8-16 12:59 编辑 [/i]] Good,TKS!
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