节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-26
难易度:High
关键字:requisite, chronically, dubious, terminate, ground
In today's lesson we're joining Uncle Bob and Ben.
Of course Uncle Bob is always happy to see Ben.
And Ben is happy to see his uncle, too.
But Ben is not happy about a situation at work.
As we know, he hired some employees.
Two of these employees are great.
But one has some problems.
One of those problems is that he is chronically late.
He's frequently late.
That's not a good thing.
Let's continue to see how this conversation plays out.
(Music).
Managing Difficult Workers.
Dealing with difficult workers can be... difficult.
Did you talk to him about it?
Sure, but he always has some dubious excuse.
And there are other problems, too.
Like what?
He won't follow instructions.
So other people often have to redo his work.
That is a problem.
So what are you going to do?
Well, I know I have grounds to terminate him, but I can't help but feel that
might not be the best solution.
Go on.
It's just that I put so much effort into hiring him, and I really do need the
help.
Well, it sounds like Ben is having a bit of a conflict and can't decide what to
do.
Now Gabe, I think Uncle Bob has the first line here.
Of course!
Did you talk to him about it?
Sure, but he always has some dubious excuse.
Excellent! Excellent.
You said one of our Word Bank words: dubious.
I love this word: dubious.
If something is dubious, that means it is questionable, or maybe you have reason
to doubt about something.
That's right.
So you're not quite sure if it is true.
So here if Ralph has a dubious excuse, then Ben doesn't always believe the
reasons he gives for being late.
It's true.
Well, other things can be dubious as well.
Maybe someone has a questionable reputation, they have a dubious reputation.
Some of the things they do aren't very good.
That's right.
Well, I think I can continue with Ben's line.
And there are other problems, too.
Like what?
He won't follow instructions, so other people often have to redo his work.
That does sound like a problem.
If you have people working for you, your employees, of course it's important
that they follow instructions or directions to do what you want them to do.
But this guy is not doing that, so other people have to redo his work.
What does that mean to redo something?
Well, it means to do it again.
So you see that R-E means to repeat something usually.
And if you have to redo it, then that is kind of a waste of money because Ben
has hired Ralph to do a job.
And if he's not doing it the way he's supposed to and someone else has to go
back and fix it or do it all over again,
then it seems like there's really no point in having Ralph as an employee.
That's true.
So Uncle Bob says:
That is a problem.
So what are you going to do?
Ah. That is a good question.
And Ben has his response:
Well, I know I have grounds to terminate him, but I can't help but feel that
might not be the best solution.
Interesting. I like this. OK.
So Ben is trying to see something good in Ralph.
But Uncle Bob, of course, realizes that Ben has responsibilities.
He has to do something. OK.
Ben says he knows he has grounds to terminate Ralph.
If you have grounds for something, that means you have good reasons to do
something.
That's right.
So he has a good reason to terminate Ralph.
If he's paying him to do a job and the job isn't getting done the way it should
be, that is a pretty good reason.
Now there's also another word in that sentence from our Word Bank: terminate.
To terminate here does not mean to end or get rid of, but it does mean to fire
someone.
So I guess you could say you could get rid of an employee, terminate their
contract so that they are no longer working there.
That's right.
It's a proper or official way to say "fire" - to terminate someone's contract.
OK. So maybe Ben has to be a terminator here.
He will terminate Ralph's contract.
But he doesn't think that's the best solution.
Before we continue this conversation, let's learn something about this sentence
with Liz in the Grammar Gym.
Hello, friends.
My name is Liz.
And thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
We find this statement in today's BUSINESS START-UP article: ... but I can't
help but feel that might not be the best solution.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And it just means that the speaker really feels that might not be the best
solution even if he tries not to feel that way.
Notice the phrase in the sentence: can't help but [verb].
We use this phrase when we want to talk about how someone's thoughts or feelings
are a certain way, and there's no way he or she can change it.
For example,
Clarence's homework is not in his book bag, and he can't help but wonder if it
is at home.
Or: Even though Wanda insists she is too sick to work, her boss can't help but
think she is lying to him.
If you'd like to see some more example sentences, they're available in today's
Grammar Tip section in your magazine.
And that's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Well, Ben can't help but feel that maybe terminating Ralph is not the best
solution.
Uncle Bob?
Uh... well, yes, go on.
Thank you. Thank you.
It's... it's just that I put so much effort into hiring him, and I really do
need the help.
Yes, I know.
Ben does need help.
That's why he hired some new employees.
He put a lot of effort into this.
Let's take a look at that phrase.
Before earlier this year we talked about a phrase "to put thought into
something." That means you were thoughtful when you did something.
Here we see putting effort into something.
That means it was a lot of work.
You put a lot of work into doing something.
For example, you could say I put a lot of effort into my project for school.
That's right.
So you worked really hard to complete it, and maybe it turned out great.
But for Ben, his hard work in hiring Ralph did not turn out so good.
Now it's time for us to learn something new with Michelle in the Language Lab.
All right.
(Chinese).
And let's see what our teachers are up to.
Well, today we've been listening to a conversation between Ben and his uncle Bob
about some problems that Ben is having with one of his employees.
He's a bit of a difficult person to deal with, and he isn't always doing his job
the way he should be.
Now I wonder, have you ever had to work with someone that is very difficult?
Gabe, have you ever had to work with a difficult person?
Are you serious, Carolyn, that's the question you have for us at the end of our
lesson?
That's a really silly question.
I'm not going to answer it.
Um, Gabe, are you OK?
You're being kind of difficult.
Well, of course I'm OK! You... you're calling me difficult?
I'm a difficult person?
Well, your reaction... it's not very positive.
You don't have a very good attitude.
OK. OK. Let me try this again.
All right.
Have I ever worked with a difficult person?
No! How's that?
Well, that's better. But you still need to work on your attitude.
Well, I hope that you will join us again tomorrow for more on our lesson
Managing Difficult Workers here on Studio Classroom.