在本商务英语Pod课程中, 我们继续研究词汇和搭配 discussing a budget.

A budget is a plan for spending money. And you’ll often hear the word “budget” used as a noun. But “budget” is also a verb. We can budget carefully or poorly. We can budget not only money but also time. And how we budget can help or harm our business. If we spend too much money, we may decrease profits. But if we don’t spend enough money, the business may not grow or thrive. It’s all about balance.

A typical budget includes a long list of items that we need to spend money on. And in a budget meeting, you’ll hear people talk, or argue, about where to spend more and where to spend less. 所以, how do we do this? 出色地, in today’s dialog, we’ll learn some of the common expressions we use when we discuss budgets.

在我们听之前, 让我们谈谈 英语搭配. 搭配是母语人士经常一起使用的一组词. 正确的搭配听起来很自然, 虽然不正确的搭配听起来不自然. 例如, in English we say “budget cuts” to talk about lower spending. But we can’t say “budget slices” or “budget chops,” even though “slice” and “chop” mean “cut.” Those simply aren’t natural expressions.

你会在今天的对话中听到很多有用的搭配. 当你听, 试着挑出这些自然的单词组合. 然后我们将解释它们的含义以及如何在汇报中使用它们.

Today we’ll rejoin Kate, 哈利, and Linda as they discuss the budget for their IT department. Kate and Harry are managers, and Linda is their supervisor. 上次, they talked about the past year’s budget. 今天, you’ll hear them making a plan for the upcoming year.

听力问题

1. What does Kate say the finance department wants to focus on?
2. What is Harry’s concern about replacing the workstations?
3. What does Kate think can be changed to save money?

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