Using English at Work：10 Checking Mail,Email,and Voicemail(3)

I use, in the United States, the U.S. Postal¹ Service; I put a stamp on it, I put it in the mailbox, and it is delivered to the other company.

If I want to send something to someone who works for my company - my bank, but in another office, perhaps in the other side of the city, then I put it in inter-office mail.

This way, at the end of the day someone will carry a large bag with all the inter-office mail to the other office, because this is cheaper and usually much faster than using the regular public mail.

And if I need to send something to someone who works in my office in the same building, but I'm feeling lazy and I don't want to take the time to walk to his or her desk, I'll put it in the intra- (intra) office mail, and at the end of the day someone will deliver all the intra-office mail to the right people who work in my office building or put it into the right mail slot² for that person.

My mail slot has a lot of intra-office and inter-office letters and memos⁴.

A "memo³" is short for "memorandum⁵." It's usually a short written document that describes something at your workplace, usually with four lines at the top: the name of the of the person who wrote the memo, the name of the person it's going to, the subject of the memo, and the date it was written.

Busy people often don't have time to listen to people talk about their ideas or to read long reports, so writing up a one-page memo is a good way to let those people know about the most important ideas.

Companies often use memos to provide information quickly to their employees.

Many of the letters and memos I receive are what I call "junk mail."

"Junk mail" is mail or email that doesn't have any useful or helpful information in it; it's the mail that you throw away or delete from your email program without reading.

It's mail that you didn't ask for and that you don't want.

1 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

2 slot   

n.（口）位置，职位，狭长孔，狭槽

参考例句：

• Put a coin in the slot.将硬币放入投币口。
• He's been given a regular ten-minute slot on the radio.电台定期给他十分钟的节目广播时间。

3 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

4 memos   

n.备忘录( memo的名词复数 )；（美）内部通知

参考例句：

• Big shots get their dander up and memos start flying. 大人物们怒火中烧，备忘录四下乱飞。 来自辞典例句
• There was a pile of mail, memos and telephone messages on his desk. 他的办公桌上堆满着信件、备忘录和电话通知。 来自辞典例句

5 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。