上週六是新春開工第一週的補班日，緊接著本週六還要再補班一次，許多連續工作六天的民眾認為根本是討假還假，其實這樣的補班機制是為了要讓勞動階層有長假可休。但也有不少人在補班日直接請假，選擇好好休息，本次介紹與假期相關的英文，以及要如何有禮貌、合宜地請假？在職場情境及TOEIC測驗中都很實用喔。
1. 請假先通知inform
請假的第一步就是要通知長官，職場上正式的通知用法是inform「告知」，但是因為這個單字較為官方，所以會更加建議使用request「請求」。
Photo courtesy of TOEIC Program Taiwan / TOEIC Program Taiwan 粉絲團
The manager informed the employees of the changes to the company’s policies.
（經理告知員工公司政策上的改變。）
request是「請求」的意思，inform是通知自己一定要做這件事，比較適合用在病假或是喪假這類的假期。若是要請事假或是因為要安排度假，較適合用request。
The customer sent a request to the company for a refund on the defective product.
（客戶針對有瑕疵的產品對公司提出退款請求。）
The employee made a request to the HR department for additional time off due to a family emergency.（該員工因家庭緊急情事，對人資部門提出額外休假的請求。）
2. 要說明原因due to
要請假就得說明原因，請假的種類有許多種，常見的假期分別有病假（sick leave）、個人事假（personal leave）、家庭事假（family leave）、喪假（bereavement leave）、產假（maternity/ paternity leave）、健檢／回診假（medical leave）、度假（vacation leave）。
要特別注意的是產假（照護假）現在已經有分成父親（paternity leave）與母親（maternityleave）的類別。而「不假缺席」則是No Call, No Show，表示「沒打電話，也沒出現」。要說明這些原因，最常用的片語是due to，後方直接加上成因即可。
The company’s profits increased due to the successful launch of its new product line.
（由於新產品線的成功推出，該公司的利潤有所增加。）
3. 工作缺席叫absence
出席是presence，缺席是absence。這組是典型的字根字首反義字，後方的sence 是「存在」的意思。
The manager allowed a flexible work schedule to accommodate the employee’s absence for a family vacation.（經理允許彈性工作時程，來讓員工可以安排家庭假期。）
The employee’s sudden absence caused concern among the team.
（該員工突然的缺席引起了團隊的擔憂。）
4. 職務代理人substitute
即使長官准假，自已的工作也需要有職務代理人，處理後續工作。不論是職務代理人或是代理老師，都可以使用substitute這個字。
The company is going to hire a substitute while I’m on maternity leave.
（在我休產假期間，公司會雇用一名職務代理人。）
The school was in need of a substitute teacher after the regular teacher called in sick.
（該學校在正式老師致電請病假後，需要一個代課老師。）
找人幫忙暫代工作，可以用片語fill in for，因為fill in有「填空」的意思是，與「填補空缺」意思相符，介係詞for後面加上代理的對象；或是更口語的cover「掩護」。
Jack will cover my duties during my leave.（在我休假期間，杰克將負責代理我的職務。）
5. 急事請聯繫emergency
請假之後，長官最擔心的通常就是團隊工作出狀況，所以如果工作內容有人處理，緊急時候又可以聯繫，那准假的機會就會大幅提升。
The company activated their emergency response plan after receiving reports of a potential security breach.
（該公司在收到了潛在的安全入侵報告後，啟動了緊急應變計畫。）
bridge holiday VS. make-up day
連假是透過把部分假期橋接起來所達成的假期形式，所以用bridge holiday來表示，而make-up有「補償」的意思，所以把上班時間「補」回來，就是make-up day。
The employees were excited about the upcoming bridge holiday, which would give them a much-needed break from work.
（員工對即將到來的連假很興奮，將可以從工作中好好休息一下。）
The employees were required to attend a make-up day to compensate for the missed training session due to an unexpected power outage.
（員工需要出席補班日來補上因為意外停電而錯過的訓練課程）
【多益模擬試題】
1. The teacher had to find a ________ before taking a sick leave.
(A) spice (B) substitute (C) stripe (D) star
2. The fire department was called to handle the ________ situation.
(A) emergency
(B) emerging
(C) exclusive
(D) encoding
【解析】
1. 正解為(B)。題意為「該老師在請病假前要找一位代課老師。」(A)香料，(B)代課老師，(C)條紋，(D)星星。只有(B)符合句意，故為正解。
2. 正解為(A)。題意為「消防局收到電話要處理緊急狀況。」(A)緊急，(B)漸漸出現的，(C)獨家的，(D)編碼的。只有(A)符合句意，故為正解。
SOURCE: https://www.toeic.com.tw/info/article/toeic-power/news/make-up-day
文章由TOEIC Program Taiwan · Chun Shin提供：
www.facebook.com/ToeicProgramTaiwan
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