节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-11-12
难易度:High
关键字:resistant, continuity, versatile, prohibit, cross-train


























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Have you ever had to say goodbye to a company you were working for?
Or maybe you're the boss, and one of your employees, one of your best employees
had to say goodbye.
Well, we find out here that Ben's best employee Terry had family problems.
And so that's why he had to leave the company.
But Uncle Bob says there are ways to be resistant to problems in case one of
your employees has to leave.
And one of the things he suggests is to cross-train your employees.
That way, they might be able to do each other's work if necessary.
We have more to learn from this conversation.
So let's get started.
(Music).
Saying Goodbye.
That would give me a lot more flexibility and make it easier to maintain
continuity if someone does leave.
Exactly.
It also makes employees more versatile.
You wouldn't have to worry about things like vacation and sick leave, for
example.
Cross-training is probably good for employees, too.
It would help them learn new skills and keep them from getting bored with their
jobs.
That's true.
And having happy employees will help keep people at the company.
Those are great ideas, Uncle Bob.
Just remember, you can't prohibit employees from leaving, but you can make
losing employees more tolerable.
(Music).
Such wise words from Uncle Bob.
Well, let's go back to the beginning of this section.
Uncle Bob has just explained what it means to cross-train employees and how it
would be very helpful when you have someone leave.
Uh, Ben... Gabe, you have the next line.
Yes. Ben Gabe, that's me. OK.
He says: That would give me a lot more flexibility and make it easier to
maintain continuity if someone does leave.
That is a fantastic word, Gabe.
Which one?
Continuity.
I love this word.
If you have continuity, that means that something doesn't change for a long
time.
It's very stable.
That's right.
There is an uninterrupted flow.
If you don't have continuity, it can seem maybe kind of broken.
So if your employee leaves and nobody else is trained to do his job,
that means things might go slower for a while because you have to train that new
person.
If you can cross-train, then there might be more continuity.
But you know, there are other ways you can use this word continuity.
What about continuity on a television show?
You know, sometimes Carolyn and I make mistakes, and we have to cut.
It's not always as smooth as it seems.
But it's important to have continuity so that when you cut, it seems smooth.
That's right.
So it's very important to maintain continuity.
And if you have a business, you want to make sure that your supplier maintains
continuity with the supplies so that you don't have to wait for the things that
you need to run your business.
Well, it seems like there are so many ways to use this word continuity.
It's very important in a company.
Well, Uncle Bob, please continue.
Oh, yes. Thank you.
Exactly.
It also makes employees more versatile.
Versatile.
Wait a minute.
That's a very good word to know, and it's from our Word Bank.
Versatile. What does that mean?
That means one person or thing can do lots of different kinds of tasks.
That's right.
Something that I think of as being very versatile is duct tape.
What?
It's a wonderful silver tape.
And you can use it to fix just about anything.
It is very versatile.
That's really true.
And it's kind of funny.
A lot of people love duct tape for that reason.
If you ever go on a trip, take duct tape with you.
It could come in handy.
Well, what else is versatile, or who is versatile?
Maybe you know some musicians who are very versatile.
Not only can they play many different kinds of instruments, but they can also
play lots of different kinds of music very well.
They are versatile musicians.
Or a versatile performer could sing, dance, play instruments and act.
They could do all sorts of different things.
They are very versatile in their performance.
Well, of course here we're learning about how employees at a company can learn
to be versatile.
And what else does Uncle Bob say?
Ah, yes. He continues:
You wouldn't have to worry about things like vacation and sick leaves, for
example.
Hmm, very good.
Ben says: Cross-training is probably good for employees, too.
It would help them learn new skills and keep them from getting bored with their
jobs.
OK. So this would give Ben more freedom to go on vacation if he needs to.
And of course, it would give his employees more freedom, and it would keep their
jobs interesting.
And Uncle Bob responds:
That's true.
And having happy employees will help keep people at the company.
Having happy employees.
Well, I think that's a very good insight.
Often you think: Am I happy at my company or should I go somewhere else?
But actually, maybe one of the reasons why you're happy is because the people
around you are also enjoying the company.
Well, it's time now for us to learn something with Steve and Ken in the
Information Cloud.
In our lesson today Ben says he's losing one of his best employees.
Steve, let's take a look at this word employee.
An employee is someone who is employed.
That's right.
When we add the suffix "-ee" to some verbs, we get words that refer to people
who are the passive recipients of the action of the verb.
For example, an examinee is someone who receives or takes an exam.
A trainee is someone who receives training.
And again, an employee is someone who is being employed.
And the person who does the employing is the employer.
The suffix "-er" refers to the person giving an action.
That's right.
The suffixes "-er" and "-or" indicate a person initiating an action.
So an employer employs an employee.
A trainer trains a trainee.
And an interviewer is the person conducting an interview.
When you have an interview, the interviewer is the person asking the questions.
And the interviewee is the one who has to answer the questions.
Of course, we can't use this construction with all verbs.
For example, you cannot say a murderer murders a murderee.
You can only use this construction with certain verbs.
Good point.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
Well, Ben, I think you have the next line.
Well, of course.
Uncle Bob just said that having happy employees might keep people at your
company.
Well, Ben says: Those are great ideas, Uncle Bob.
Just remember, you can't prohibit employees from leaving, but you can make
losing employees more tolerable.
And I think we need to take a look at that word "prohibit" from our Word Bank.
That means it's forbidden by some kind of authority.
Or you stop someone from doing something; you prohibit them.
That's right.
So many areas around schools, smoking is prohibited.
You are not allowed to smoke cigarettes near a school.
And of course, in some schools, in some classrooms, cellphones might be
prohibited.
Or using your cellphone could be prohibited by your teacher.
Well, we've learned a lot in today's conversation.
And of course we have more to learn with a review skit.
And then we'll see Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, Uncle Bob.
Well, hello, Ben.
You look tired.
Are you sleeping OK?
No. I'm losing sleep because I'm losing one of my best employees.
Oh, that's a problem.
Well, it's more like an annoyance.
Now I'll have to get a replacement for him.
Oh.
Maybe I should have employees sign a contract.
Well, that may cause resentment.
Yeah. Sometimes employees just have to leave.
Right. Oh, but you can do something to make your company more resistant when
people do leave.
Really? Like what?
You can cross-train your employees.
What does that mean?
Train employees to do different jobs.
Oh. That would give the company more flexibility and more continuity when
someone leaves.
Exactly.
Ooh. And it makes employees more versatile.
So you won't have to worry when employees take vacation or sick leave.
My employees would learn new skills and keep them from getting bored.
They like that.
And having happy employees will help keep them at the company.
And that will keep me happy, too!
And me happy three.
OK.
(Chinese).
And now back to our lesson.
Well, we have been talking about saying goodbye and losing good employees.
Uncle Bob has offered some good advice to his nephew Ben about ways to make this
change more easy for his company... or easier for his company.
Well, what things can you do to encourage your employees to stay?
Gabe, do you have any ideas?
Hmm... Well, I'm not the boss or the CEO of a company.
But yes, I think that if I were the boss, I would have foosball tables and air
hockey tables and lots of games in a game room.
That would encourage my employees to stay.
Well, that would certainly encourage you to stay, Gabe.
And we want to encourage you to stay with us and continue learning next time
here at Studio Classroom.
We'll see you later.