What do you do?

认识新朋友的时候，第一句通常问对方叫什么名字，然后会问人家做什么工作：What do you do? (你是做什么工作呢？)，其它的说法还有：What’s your work (job)?/What’s your occupation? (你的职业是什么？) /What’s your title? (你的职衔是什么？)/Where are you employed?(你在哪儿受聘？)

对 话

Joseph: I haven’t seen you since school. What have you been doing?

Ian: I’ve been very busy with my job. I travel throughout the city everyday.

Joseph: That sounds fascinating. What do you do?

Ian: I’m a senior disposable waste management consultant.

Joseph: That’s impressive, I thought you’d only end up as a “garbage- man” or something.

约瑟夫：自从离开校园后我都没见过你，你最近在做什么？

伊恩：我忙于自己的工作，我每天要在市内到处跑来跑去。

约瑟夫：听起来很不错啊，你是做什么职业？

伊恩：我是用后即弃废物的资深管理顾问。

约瑟夫：好厉害喔，我还以为你会成为一个 ‘废人’或类似的东西。

约瑟夫问老同学伊恩：What do you do?伊恩说：I’m a senior disposable waste management consultant。

一般而言，What do you do?或What does your wife do?等，是问‘你的工作是什么？’或‘你太太的工作是什么？’不是问你闲暇时做些什么。当然，假如人家问What do you do at weekends?（你周末通常做什么？）你就应该说I usually go hiking with my wife.（我常常和内子去远足）等等。

问人家的职业，What do you do?或What do you do for a living?是最常用的说法。此外，你还可以说What’s your job/occupation/trade?或What line (of business/work)are you in? Trade除了解作‘贸易’，还可以指‘工作’，所以trade union是‘工会’，谚语Two of a trade never agree是说‘两个同业的人，不会合得来’。Line是‘行业’，I am in the catering/public relations line即‘我从事外烩业/公共关系业务’。

回答What’s your job?之类问题，你可以说：I’m a dentist/salesman（我是牙医/售货员）等，但千万不要说My job is a dentist之类：你可以做牙医，你的工作(job)却不可以做牙医。I’m a senior disposable waste management consultant即‘我是用后即弃废物的资深管理顾问’，其实是捡破烂。捡破烂者，英文叫ragpicker（直译是‘捡破布者’）。俚语则叫totter，例如：I earn my living as a totter.（我靠捡破烂维生）。