陈豪在美国ABC公司工作.他经常要用电子邮件和公司内外的人联系.今天他见到了一个他不认识的英文词,所以就去请教美籍华人Mary.

　　(Office ambience)

　　C:Hey, Mary,我知道etiquette这个词的意思是礼节,礼貌.可是,什么是netiquette? NETIQUETTE.

　　M:Netiquette是人们新创造的一个词.意思是网上礼节,也就是good behavior on the Internet.

　　C:网上还有礼节!Why don't you give me an example.

　　M:比如说,你最好不要全用大写来写email.If you type in all capital letters, people would think you are shouting your message.

　　C:噢,怪不得那天销售部的Robert问我:Why did you yell at me? 可有的人给我email全用小写,那是什么意思呀?Whisper?说悄悄话呀?

　　M:No. 那天财务部的Kevin不是给我们俩写的email都用小写吗?全用小写一般是不正式的,like chatting with your friends.

　　C:Email本身就是不正式的.

　　M:That's true, but that does not mean you can ignore appropriate etiquette.我得去开个会,午饭时再接著谈吧!

　　C:Fine! See you at the cafeteria at 12:00pm.

　　******

　　M:哟,陈豪,你怎么吃那么快呀!

　　C:我刚才真是饿死了,不过我很想知道还有哪些网上礼节.

　　M:首先,在你送出e-mail 之前,check if there are mistakes such as spelling, grammar, punctuation and word choice. If your e-mail is sloppy, you will be perceived as sloppy and disrespectful to the recipients.

　　C:我有两次发e-mail给客户时忘了附件.几个客户马上回e-mail问我:What attachment?

　　M:是呀,一旦e-mail发出去以后,你就没法收回了.发现错误后最好的办法就是纠正错误,再重新发一次.你应该在subject line里写:corrected version with attachment included.

　　C:下回我一定这样做.

　　M:最好是不要出这样的差错.Before you hit the send button, check your spelling, grammar, punctuation and word choice. Sloppiness gives people a bad impression and is disrespectful to others. When mistakes are found, correct them and resend the e-mail. Typing in all capital letters seems that you are shouting, or typing in all lower keys are like chatting with your friends.