Spring is a busy time for accountants in the U.S. and many other countries. That’s because spring is when corporations and individuals have to file a tax return with the government. It’s our yearly reminder that we don’t get to keep everything we earn.
當然, those busy accountants aren’t just calculating your revenue and costs. They’re looking for ways to reduce the amount you – or your business – have to pay in tax. And that’s why the chatter around offices and board rooms is all about ways to avoid handing over too much money to the tax man.
Listen to these conversations and you’ll notice many useful expressions. For example, I’ve already used the phrase “file a tax return.” That verb “file” always goes with “return” when we talk about our annual submission to the government. You can learn those words together, as one expression or “collocation.”
A collocation is just a natural combination of words that native English speakers learn as a chunk. WithEnglish collocations, we don’t have to go searching for every word in our brain. 代替, we pull out a string of words that matches our intended meaning. Learning these strings of words is more efficient, and will make you sound more natural. 當您收聽今天的對話時, 嘗試挑選一些搭配，我們將在稍後的匯報中討論它們.
In the dialog, we’ll continue with a conversation about the tax situation of a company called Brando Equipment. Christie has been giving an update to two senior managers: Glen and Ivana. Last time, Christie gave them an overall picture of the tax situation, and today she’s providing more detail.
聽力問題
1. What does Christie say is one factor that increased their reported income? 2. What helped reduce the company’s reported income by about $50,000? 3. What important issue does Ivana want to discuss in more detail at the end of the dialog?」
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson onaccounting Englishfor discussing taxes.
There’s an old saying in English that “nothing is certain except death and taxes.” 但, 雖然稅收是確定的, 您需要支付的確切金額不是. 只要問任何會計師. 對於公司和個人, 有各種各樣的方法來降低您的稅單. 較低的稅單意味著我們口袋裡有更多的錢, 或在我們股東的口袋裡. 為此原因, 稅收是一個熱門話題, 尤其是在春季，大多數稅款到期.
In thisaccounting English 課, 我們將聽白蘭度設備公司的三位經理討論他們的稅收情況. 談話中, 經理們使用很多與稅收相關的常用表達方式. We call these expressions “collocations.” A collocation is just a group of words that go together naturally.
Some English collocations, 例如“抓住機會,” are widely used. 但是許多搭配是特定於某個工作領域或主題的. 並從事該領域或討論該主題, 您需要了解這些特殊表達. 說到稅收, 例如, you need to know that we use the verb “file” with “taxes” to talk about our yearly report to the government. 在不同的領域學習類似的搭配會發展您的詞彙量，並幫助您聽起來更自然.
In the dialog, 我們會聽到克里斯蒂, 格倫, 和伊凡娜（Ivana）討論白蘭度設備（Brando Equipment）的稅收情況, 他們公司最近購買的子公司. Glen和Ivana是公司經理, 克里斯蒂（Christie）是會計師. 這三位同事在談論白蘭度設備欠多少稅時，使用了許多針對稅的英語搭配和詞彙.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson onEnglish collocationsfor talking about sales.
Saleshas never been tougher. In the digital age, competition for people’s attention is fierce. And customers are armed with more knowledge than ever before. 由於這些原因, companies can’t get lazy about their approach to sales. They need to be strategic; they have to find new ways to manage customer relationships, and they need effective ways to track how they’re doing.
在本課中, we’ll listen to a pharmaceutical sales team discuss new strategies to improve and track their performance. 在他們的討論中, you’ll hear a lot of what we call collocations. Collocations are just groups of words that combine naturally. For example, if you want to say that someone finishes making a sale, you can say that he “closes a sale.” Everyone uses that verb “close.” Nobody says “shut” a sale or “do” a sale. The correct collocation is “close a sale.”
Native speakers learn and use these collocations naturally. And if you want to improve your vocabulary and sound more fluent, you can learn to use them too. 當您聽對話時, 嘗試挑選一些搭配，我們將在稍後的匯報中討論它們.
In the dialog, we’ll listen to a discussion between Fran, 格斯, 和尼克. 在我們的最後一課中, the team discussed the need to improve their company’s sales. Now they’re talking about ways to do that. 在他們的討論中, 他們使用很多 English collocations 與銷售有關.
Listening Questions
1. What does Nick think his colleague Dennis is doing wrong? 2. What does Nick believe is an outdated way of measuring their success? 3. What does Nick believe will happen if they improve their performance metrics?
