When doing business with Native Speakers of English you will hear a lot of metaphors and idiomatic expressions used. They can relate to all sorts of areas like war, fire, health.
当和母语为英语的人做生意时，你会听到他们使用很多隐喻和惯用用语。它们可以涉及到战争、火灾、健康等各种领域。

One of the biggest areas is sports. If you want to use these Business English phrases like a native speaker, it would be useful to have an understanding of what they are and what they mean.
体育是这些隐喻和惯用语涉及最大的领域之一。如果你想像本地人一样使用商务英语短语，了解有哪些短语和它们的意思是非常有用的。

By the way, using phrases will help you to speak English fluently.
顺便说一下，这些短语可以使你的英语更加流利。

In this blog post, I’d like to explore the strong relationship that exists between sports and business. If you look at the qualities that sports and business share, you’ll begin to see why Business English has so many sporting metaphors.
在这篇博文中，我想探讨体育与商业之间的紧密关系。如果你看看体育和商业之间的共同点，你就会明白为什么商业英语有这么多的体育隐喻。

Kick off
开始

to start
开始

Good Morning everyone. Shall we kick off the meeting then?  (Football)
大家早上好。那么我们开始开会好吗？（足球）

ON TARGET (english phrase)
瞄准目标

making good progress and likely to achieve what has been planned
取得很好的进展并有可能实现计划中的目标

It looks like we are pretty much on target with this project. (Archery)
看来我们在这个项目上的目标是有可能实现的。（射箭）

Up to scratch
达到标准

to be of a good standard
达到很棒的标准

I know we have a great team whose work is really up to scratch. (Track and Field)
我知道我们有一个很棒的团队，他们的工作真的很出色。（田径）

Know the ropes
知晓内情

to be able to do something well
能够做好某事

Our new Sales Director has a lot of experience and really knows all the ropes. (Sailing)
我们的新销售主任经验丰富，而且懂得一切诀窍。（帆船）

Ballpark figure
大概的数字

a rough estimate
粗略的估计

Can you give me a ballpark figure on the total sales costs? (Baseball)
你能给我一个大概的总销售成本数吗？（棒球）

Jump the gun
抢跑

to do something too soon, especially without thinking about it carefully
做事太快，尤其是不仔细考虑

We still have some costs to factor in and I don’t want to jump the gun. (Track and Field)
我们还有一些成本要考虑，我不想草率决定。（田径）

In pole position
跑道内圈的位置

to be in the best possible position
处于有利地位

We are in pole position to win the contract. (Motor Racing)
我们在赢得合同方面处于有利地位。（赛车）

NECK AND NECK (english phrase)
并驾齐驱

to have the same chance of winning as someone else
有与别人一样的获胜机会

We are neck and neck with our competitors, so we really need to work hard to maintain our market share. (Horse Racing)
我们与我们的竞争对手并驾齐驱，所以我们真的需要努力保持我们的市场份额。（赛马）

The ball in our court
我们场上的球

to be in a position to make the next step
处在推动下一步的位置上

We have done what we can, the ball is in your court now. (Tennis)
我们已经尽力了，现在该你们来推动下一步如何走下去了。（网球）

Take our eye off the ball
将视线从球上离开

to make a mistake, especially by doing something carelessly
犯错误，尤指粗心地做某事

We really cannot take our eye off the ball with this deal as it will be a real winner for us. (Football)
对于这笔交易，我们真的不能掉以轻心，因为我们很可能会是赢家。（足球）

A great way for you to familiarise yourself with sports idioms is to check out the70 Remarkable Sports Idioms You Can Use In Business And Daily Life.
一个让你熟悉体育习语的好方法是看看你可以在商业和日常生活中使用的70个著名的体育习语。

Try and find different ways it is used in a business context. You may find these in advertisements, articles or hear them. Decide which one you find most interesting and try to use them in a similar situation with English speakers.
尝试在业务环境中找到不同的使用方法。你可以在广告、文章中找到或听到它们。决定哪一个你觉得最有趣，并试着在一个类似的情况下与英语为母语的人使用它们。

This is just a taster of the sports idioms there are in the English Language. Do you know others? Do you know how and when to use them? Do share them with us. And if you think that your friends and colleague could benefit from these expressions, please share this blog post with them.
这只是一个品尝英语中体育习语的人。你认识其他人吗？你知道如何以及何时使用它们吗？一定要和我们分享。如果你认为你的朋友和同事可以从这些表达中获益，请与他们分享这篇博文。