Using English at Work：24 Taking a Break and Eating Lunch(1)

Welcome to ESLPod.com's "Using English at Work" lesson five. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, from the Center for Educational Development.

In lesson four of this course, we learned¹ vocabulary related² to working at your desk.

In this fifth lesson, I'm going to talk about taking a break and eating lunch.

We'll begin by listening to the story read at a slow speed.

I want to get some coffee, so I walk into the break room.

My coworkers, Diana and Van, are standing³ next to the water cooler talking about a show on TV last night.

I pick up the coffee pot and pour myself a mug of coffee.

I am feeling really hungry, too, so I walk over to the vending⁴ machine.

I'm looking over the candy bars and potato chips when Diana says, "We're taking an early lunch. Do you want to join us?"

I say, "Yes!" and the three of us walk across the street to a restaurant.

I'm happy that we came early because we beat the rush.

The hostess seats us at a table and takes our drink orders.

Our server comes over with our drinks and we place our food orders.

I choose the lunch special and so does Diana.

Van picks the all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar.

While Diana and I wait for our orders to arrive, Van goes to the soup and salad bar and gets a really big plate of food.

"Do you mind if I start?" he asks. "Of course not," Diana and I say.

When we finish eating, the server comes over to clear our plates and to give us our bill.

We forgot to ask for separate checks so we all pay together.

That was a good lunch. It was certainly better than the bag lunch I usually bring from home!

When the story begins, I want to get some coffee, so I walk into the break room.

A "break room" is a room in an office building where employees can go to relax when they aren't working during the day.

Most break rooms have comfortable chairs or couches⁵ and coffee, water, and "snacks," or small things for you to eat.

1 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

2 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 vending   

v.出售（尤指土地等财产）( vend的现在分词 )；（尤指在公共场所）贩卖；发表（意见，言论）；声明

参考例句：

• Why Are You Banging on the Vending Machine? 你为什么敲打这台自动售货机？ 来自朗文快捷英语教程 2
• Coca-Cola had to adapt almost 300,000 vending machines to accept the new coins. 可口可乐公司必须使将近三十万台自动贩卖机接受新货币。 来自超越目标英语 第5册

5 couches   

n.长沙发椅( couch的名词复数 )；睡椅；（病人受检查时躺的）长榻；（尤指诊室内的）诊察台

参考例句：

• In the small room we disguise our beds as couches.during the day. 在这间小房间里，白天我们把床改作长椅用。 来自辞典例句
• The furniture was old and comfortable-leather couches, newspaper racks, priceless antique tables. 家具古老而舒适——有皮靠背椅，报纸架，无价的古董桌子。 来自辞典例句