ESL Podcast 920 – Leasing Business Equipment

 　　Olena: We need to keep pace with changing technology, but how are we going to raise capital to upgrade our equipment?

　　Joel: I’m not sure. Maybe we can find a supplier who will extend credit to us. We can pay in installments¹.

　　Olena: That’ll be hard to do. No one wants to extend credit these days.

　　Joel: I know what my brother did when his company needed new equipment.

　　Olena: What?

　　Joel: He leased it instead of buying it.

　　Olena: Leasing equipment? I’ve never considered it. I don’t want to end up paying more for the equipment over time than it’s worth, and still not own the equipment at the end of the contract.

　　Joel: The flip² side is that you won’t be saddled with outdated³ equipment that’s hard to offload. My brother says that there are other advantages to leasing. You can have the maintenance included in your contract, so you won’t have to worry about high repair bills.

　　Olena: I don’t know...

　　Joel: And my brother also told me that he was able to negotiate a purchase option. You can do the same if you really want to own the equipment.

　　Olena: Your brother really seems to know what he’s talking about. Why isn’t he working for me?

　　Joel: You have someone even better. You have an employee who listens and steals the competitors’ good ideas.

1 installments   

部分( installment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The first two installments were pretty close together in 1980. 第一次和节二次提款隔得很近，都是在1980年提的。
• You have an installments sales contract. 你已经订立了一份分期付款的买卖契约了。

2 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

3 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。