听播客学英语 144 销售会议

 　　Kevin is very excited. His boss has asked him to go to a big sales conference. You remember that Kevin has written a paper for his company about the market for cat food. One of the top people in his company has seen the paper and likes it. The top person does not actually understand the paper. That is because top people only understand big things like international finance¹, and where shall we play golf next weekend. But the top person said to himself, “This Kevin obviously² understands all about cat food. He must come to the sales conference.”

　　So Kevin makes plans to go to the sales conference. The conference takes place in an executive³ hotel near Heathrow airport in London. This hotel is possibly the least attractive place in England. And it is expensive. But the sales conference has always been held there, every year since 1998, so it has become a tradition.

　　Kevin decides to travel to the conference on the train. Other people come to the conference in their cars. The people from America and Germany come on the plane to Heathrow airport. Other people come on a bus, or on the underground, or in a taxi. The director responsible for the company’s environmental policy comes on her bicycle.

　　This is very confusing, isn’t it – “on a train”, “in a car”, “on a bicycle” – how can we remember when to say “in” and when to say “on”? Well, I am afraid that you just have to learn. But while you are learning⁴, remember that you can nearly always use the word “by” to explain how you are going to travel. So here are some of the ways to get to the sales conference. You can travel by car, or by road; you can travel by train or by rail; you can come by plane or by air; and you can arrive by bus, by tram, by underground, by taxi, by coach, by helicopter, by horse, or by elephant. The only time that you can’t use “by” is when you walk – you arrive “on foot”, not “by foot”. (And you can’t seriously go to the sales conference near Heathrow airport by elephant. I just put that in to see if you were awake!)

　　What is the best way to travel? In English we have a saying that “it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive”. It comes from the 19th century Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson. What does it mean? It is about our journey through life. Some people look forward all the time to new things. They welcome new opportunities, new things to do, new things to learn. Even when they are old, they still want to visit new places and meet new people. They are travelling “hopefully” (that is, “with hope”). Other people have perhaps done many things in their lives, but now they do not want to experience anything new. They have arrived. Which is better, do you think – to travel hopefully, or to arrive?

1 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

2 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

3 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。