allf100 wrote:Hello Beosweyne. I'm grateful for your help.
This is a Chinese joke I heard many years ago, and I added my comment in the last sentence. Would someone please touch it up if there are any errors or unnatural expressions? Thank you very much!
A highflyer hears a young woman calls his boss 'Dad', so he decides to pursue her. If he marries his boss's daughter, he can be promoted in the big company. A week later, he gets the boot. It turns out she is his boss's daughter-in-law.
Whatever we hear, or see is not always the truth.
Hi allf100,
When you say "touch up" (润色) I think of directly making changes to visual art like a photo or a design. Some people may disagree, but here I would prefer "make suggestions" or "let me know if there are any errors." We can't edit your comment directly; all we can do is suggest changes.
I don't use the word "highflyer" and it seems odd or outdated in my dialect. I'd simply say "businessman" or "young businessman." Maybe saying "junior partner" would help give the mental image of someone who wants to get promoted.
hears a young woman calls his boss -> hears a young woman call his boss
if he marries... can be promoted -> if he married... get promoted / get a promotion. I'd say "could" because it's not very certain that he would get a promotion.
in the big company: it's odd to have this part here. You haven't mentioned any particular company yet, and you don't need to say "promotion in the company." I'd put it at the beginning: "A junior partner at a big company..."
"It turns out she is..." sounds like the story is going to continue. But since it's the punchline of the joke, I'd put it in past tense: "It turned out she was his boss's daughter-in-law."
In English, we don't usually have commentary or summary sentences after jokes. I think I've seen it before, but it sounds pretty old-fashioned to me. For your sentence, I would say "What we see or hear may not always be the truth."
A junior partner at a big company hears a young woman call his boss "Dad," so he decides to pursue her. If he married his boss's daughter, he could get a promotion. A week later, though, he gets the boot. It turned out she was his boss's daughter-in-law.
What we see or hear may not always be the truth.
