节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-05-16
难易度:High
关键字:exceptional, amenity, formulate, perk, nap pod, craft
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And thank you for joining us for today's lesson.
We're talking about our BUSINESS START-UP.
We're going to be enjoying a conversation between Ben and his Uncle Bob today.
Our lesson is called Wants and Needs.
So I guess when you're starting a business, you need to think about what you
want and maybe what you really need for that business.
Well, it's getting close to the weekend.
That's when a lot of people go shopping.
And Carolyn, are you doing anything this weekend?
Well, I... I do really need this pair of shoes.
And they're on sale right now at the mall.
So I think I'm going to have to go buy them this weekend.
Oh, really?
Yes.
Oh. Well, I guess you are going shopping, and you're going to get these shoes.
Um, do you need these shoes, Carolyn?
Uh... Well, yeah. I mean, they're really perfect for this event that I have
coming up.
I'm supposed to be singing and I... I need to wear these special shoes, and they
just look perfect.
Uh huh. They look perfect.
So it sounds like you... you want these shoes, but maybe you don't need them.
No. But I don't have shoes this color. I need them.
Oh. Right.
Well, interesting.
I guess we need to think about our wants and needs.
Let's get started with our lesson right now: Wants and Needs.
Wants and Needs.
Knowing the difference between wants and needs can save your company.
Ben and Sandy Johnson have just moved their company into a new office.
Business is good, and Ben thinks it might be time to have fun.
Hey, Ben. How's the new office?
It's really nice.
You should visit some time.
I'd like that.
Wait until we finish the game room, though.
It's going to be exceptional.
Game room?
Why are you putting a game room in your office?
I think it might be beneficial for our working environment.
How will it benefit your staff?
Well, lots of tech companies have amenities in their offices, and it seems to be
working for them.
That doesn't mean that everything can be formulated the same for every company.
It sounds to me like you're confusing wants and needs.
Well, we don't want to confuse wants and needs.
That's very important.
Well, at the beginning here we see that knowing the difference between wants and
needs can save your company.
So it's very important in business to know the difference between wants and
needs.
Mmhm. And we see here that Ben and Sandy Johnson have just moved their company
into a new office.
Business is good, and Ben thinks it might be time to have fun.
Interesting.
So that's where this conversation begins.
Uncle Bob is talking here.
His first line is:
Hey, Ben. How's the office?
Well uh... um, do you want to be Ben?
Um, sure, sure.
Oh. So you're asking me about my new office.
Oh, right. Well...
It's really nice.
You should visit some time.
Well, I'd like that.
Oh, really?
You want to come visit my office?
Well, of course.
I'd like to do that.
You should visit some time.
A great way to answer is you could say: I'd love that, or I'd like that.
That's right.
Well, Ben is going to be having some fun in his office soon, so he says:
Wait until we finish the game room, though.
Oh, we're going to have a game room.
Did you know that?
Wait. You're going to have a game room.
Ben is going to have a game room.
Carolyn, what is a game room?
Well, a game room is exactly what it sounds like.
It's a room where you can play games.
OK. So maybe you're seeing some of these pictures here at Studio Classroom, a
picture of a pool table.
Maybe you'll have a pool table at... or in your game room.
I love foosball.
That's another kind of game that you can play.
And you would... you might find one of those in a game room.
And some companies do have game rooms.
That's right.
Well, Ben wants a game room in his company, and he says it's going to be
exceptional.
Wait a minute.
Carolyn, you were exceptional just now playing Ben.
Oh, well, thank you.
And "exceptional" is a great word from our Word Bank today.
It means to be very special, to be better than something.
It is an exception to what you might think normally.
That's right.
So maybe you have lots of people in a room, many people can't do the job.
But there's one person who does a great job.
They are exceptional at doing what they do.
So you can use this word to talk about other things, too.
Maybe you have an exceptional student in your class.
Maybe you are that exceptional student, and you can do something especially
well.
That's right.
Well, I think, Uncle Bob, it is your line now.
Of course.
Uncle Bob has a question here.
Game room?
Why are you putting a game room in your office?
Oh. So I guess Uncle Bob doesn't think it's a very good idea.
But Ben says:
I think it might be beneficial for our working environment.
How will it benefit your staff?
That's a good question, Carolyn.
Well, it is a good question.
It's important to think about how things are going to help you or benefit your
staff.
Well, Ben says: Well, lots of tech companies have amenities in their office, and
it seems to be working for them.
All right.
Ben, you've got a good idea here.
Some companies do have amenities in their office.
Let's take a look at that Word Bank word: amenity.
An amenity is something that, well, you don't need, but it's nice to have
around, like a game room.
That's right.
And it's something that you enjoy usually.
It's something extra that a place provides.
So a company might have a game room for their employees.
But you also might stay at a really nice hotel, and they have very special
amenities for their customers or for their guests.
Maybe they have a swimming pool or an exercise room or really nice bathrooms
with lots of things to use for your guests.
All right.
Well, now it's time for us to join Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud.
One reason we might find it difficult to distinguish between wants and needs is
because we're too busy keeping up with the Joneses.
This popular idiom describes the need people have to achieve or own as much as
the people around them.
By doing this, they feel they are popular, successful or cultured.
For example, maybe your neighbor just bought the latest cell phone, built a game
room in his house, or he bought a new expensive sports car.
So then, to prove to others that you are just as good, you go out and do the
same thing - even though you don't really need it.
Or maybe even if you can't afford it.
Right.
And that is where keeping up with the Joneses gets dangerous.
The urge to avoid appearing socially inferior is so strong that some people will
actually borrow money or use credit just to make people think they're
successful.
In essence, they're buying their social status, even going into debt to do it.
Sounds like a trap.
Ken, I think it is.
Friends, there's no need for you to keep up with the Joneses.
So don't let the Joneses influence how you spend your money.
(Chinese).
Well, Ben was talking about how he wants to be like other companies and have
these amenities.
Uh, Uncle Bob, what is your next line?
All right.
That doesn't mean that everything can be formulated the same for every company.
And I'd just like to interrupt Uncle Bob right here.
He said a key word "formulated." Let's take a look at that word.
When you formulate something or if something is formulated, that means there's
kind of like the same form or the same formula for everything.
Maybe there is a mold, and everyone just follows that pattern.
You formulate something.
And you formulate a plan.
So this is the kind of plan that they're going to have.
And he's saying: Well, you don't have to have the same plan that other companies
have.
What does he continue to say?
Well, he says: It sounds to me like you're confusing wants and needs.
And there we see our title Wants and Needs.
But there's something else in this sentence we want to talk about: when you
confuse something and something else.
You can also say you're confusing wants with needs.
But how else might you use that sentence pattern, Carolyn?
Well, this is a great little phrase that we can bring up: confusing thing and
something else.
A lot of times people ask me where I'm from, and I say: Oh, I'm from West
Virginia.
But they don't know where that is, and they think I said Virginia.
They're confusing two states.
They're confusing West Virginia and Virginia.
Sometimes people ask me a similar question, and I'll say: Oh, I'm from Taiwan.
And they'll be like: Oh, Thailand? How's Thailand?
They're confusing Taiwan with Thailand.
So it's easy to confuse some things in life.
That's how you use this phrase: to confuse something and something else.
Right now it's time for us to learn a little bit more with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.