地道美语听力播客:Unkind Comments

地道美语听力播客English as a Second Language Podcast (ESLPod)，是一家位于美国加州洛杉矶的英语教育研究机构推出的英文听力会话，于2005年7月23日首播， 主播Dr. Jeff McQuillan为南加州大学的语言学博士， 现专注于外国语学生的英语学习研究。该播客在iTunes store播客的教育子分类中，与Grammar Girl Just Vocabulary常居前三甲.

Yesterday, I was talking to an ex-colleague of mine who, quite frankly¹, has something of a big mouth. I bumped² into him at the beach, where he was walking his dog. Anyway, as I was saying, he's the kind of guy that's always bad mouthing his co-workers. So he comes up to me and says, "Hey, Jeff. Long time, no see. What've you been up to?" "Ah, not much, " I said. "Well, guess who I saw yesterday? John Robeson, the guy from accounting³ at Firth Industries. You remember him, the guy with big ears and and an ego⁴ to match." It takes one to know one, I thought, but I kept it so myself. "Oh, really. How interesting," I replied.

"Yeah, well, I hate to talk behind someone's back, but ever since he and I had that falling out last year, I've never really cared for the guy." "How come?" I asked. "Well, he's a bit of a backstabber, always trying to outdo the other guy." "I know what you mean," I said. I knew at this point it was time to make my exit, otherwise, this guy would go on about John Robeson for the next 10 minutes. "What time do you have? " I asked him. "It's quarter after five." "Geez, already? Man, I've got to hit the road. I'm supposed to meet my brother at the pier⁵ in a few minutes. But, hey, it was sure good to see you again. You take care!" With that, I made my exit. I've got better things to do than to listen to him gripe all day.

Script by Dr. Jeff McQuillan
 

1 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

2 bumped   

凸起的，凸状的

参考例句：

• In the dark I bumped into a chair. 我在黑暗中撞上了一把椅子。
• I bumped against an old friend in town today. 我今天在城里偶然碰见了一个老朋友。

3 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

4 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

5 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。