In most parts of the world, having lunch or dinner together is an important part of doing business. In places such as North America, eating meals is a way of building a relationship or celebrating a partnership. And in other cultures, such as China, much of the real work of making deals actually often gets done over the dinner table.
No matter where you are doing business, it’s important to be able to handle the basics of dining out. This includes ordering food, recommending dishes, proposing a toast, and paying for the check, among other things. These skills will be the focus of this episode.
在聆聽中, we continue to follow Mario and Francesca, who represent the Italian fashion company Viva, on their visit to the U.S. As planned, they are having dinner in Las Vegas with their distributor Adriana, who works at the American company Foxtrot. Bill, one of their new customers, has also joined them.
When the dialog begins, the group has already made some small talk and looked at the menu. Now they are ready to order.
聽力問題:
1) Why doesn’t Francesca want to try the “steak tartare?” 2) How does Francesca signal that she’s ready to go back to the hotel? 3) Who pays for the meal?
This is the second in a two-part Business English Podcast lesson on resolving conflict, in which we’ve been focusing on solving everyday disagreements in the office. Ben, a new training specialist at a manufacturing company, feels that he is doing an unfair share (那是, too much) of the work in his department. 格里, Ben’s manager, talks with him to solve the problem.
在第一集中, we studied how Gerry opened the discussion in an informal, non-threatening way, and we looked at how he listened actively to Ben to win his trust.
在這一集, we’ll pay attention to how Gerry and Ben work together to come up with a solution. 尤其, we’ll focus on how they state common goals, raise concerns, and agree action.
我們上次停下來的地方, Gerry had just asked a question to resolve the conflict: Gerry wants to know what Ben would suggest doing to fix the situation.
聽力問題
1) What solution does Ben propose? 2) In which area does Ben feel he could make a real contribution? 3) What action do Ben and Gerry agree on?
