ESL Podcast 940 – Ending Excessive Spending

 　　Raphael: Sorry to be a buzzkill, but this gravy¹ train we’ve been on is about to end.

　　Kelly: What do you mean?

　　Raphael: There have been a lot of complaints about our department’s spending on extraneous² things, and to quell³ the masses, the department head is making some major changes.

　　Kelly: Like what?

　　Raphael: Like no more frivolous⁴ and excessive spending on travel and entertainment at conferences.

　　Kelly: But those are the only things that make this job bearable. Those perks⁵ are part and parcel of working for a government agency – at least that’s what I used to think.

　　Raphael: Well, once the press got wind of some of our spending practices, they started to question our budget allocations. The long and short of it is that those days are about to end.

　　Kelly: And I was planning to take you and a few other employees to St. Lucia for a retreat in the spring.

　　Raphael: I think you’d better change those plans, at least the venue⁶. You’d have better luck getting it approved if you picked Cleveland!

1 gravy   

n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快

参考例句：

• You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
• The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。

2 extraneous   

adj.体外的；外来的；外部的

参考例句：

• I can choose to ignore these extraneous thoughts.我可以选择无视这些外来的想法。
• Reductant from an extraneous source is introduced.外来的还原剂被引进来。

3 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

4 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。

5 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

6 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。