Jingjing works for a company in Beijing. Mark is visiting as a representative of an international company. Jingjing is meeting him in the lobby of his hotel on the first morning of his visit.

　　京晶在一家北京公司工作。马克是一名跨国公司的代表来京访问。来访的第一天早上，京晶在马克的酒店大厅等他。

　　Jingjing: Good morning, Mark. Have you eaten breakfast already?

　　京晶：早上好，马克。您吃过早餐了吗？

　　Mark: Yes. I did. Because of the time difference, I got up super early.

　　马克：吃过了。因为有时差，今天起得特别早。

　　Jingjing: Oh, you should have texted me to come meet you earlier!

　　京晶：噢，那您应该早一点发信息让我过来接您。

　　Mark: That's alright. It gave me a chance to catch up on some work and go for a morning walk.

　　马克：没事的。这也给了我一个机会赶完一些工作，还散了个晨步。

　　Jingjing: Oh, so you got to see some of Beijing already.

　　京晶：哦，看来您已经欣赏了一部分北京的样子。

　　Mark: Well, it wasn't exactly a tour. Anyway, I got your text. Thanks for making the arrangements for me to visit your office.

　　马克：那个，倒也不是观光。对了，我收到您的信息了。感谢您为我安排前去访问您的办公室。

　　Jingjing: No problem. We thought it'd be nice to introduce you around, take you out for lunch. Then, just as I said in the text, I'm available to take you to one of the famous historical sites.

　　京晶：没问题。我们曾想最好是把您介绍给大家，带您出去吃午餐。然后，就像我刚才在短信里说的，我有时间可以带您去一个北京著名的名胜古迹。

　　Mark: I think the Temple of Heaven would be best. From what I read about it, it's not too far away, not too crowded—great for a quick afternoon. That way, we can focus on business.

　　马克：我觉得天坛是最好的选择。从我了解到的来看，这地方不远，也不拥挤——对于一个时间并不太充裕的下午来说简直完美。这样的话，我们就可以专注在我们的生意事宜上。

　　Jingjing: Ok. Well, I have the car waiting out front. Are you ready to head out now?

　　京晶：好的。我已经让车在外面等着了。您准备好出发了吗？

　　Mark: Sure. How far is it to the office?

　　马克：好了。这里离公司有多远？

　　Jingjing: It should take us half an hour, 45 minutes tops. Traffic was pretty light on my way over.

　　京晶：应该花我们半小时吧，最多45分钟。我来的路上路况挺顺的。

　　Mark: That's reasonable. Let me just make sure I have everything... Yep, let's get started.

　　马克：有道理。让我检查一下我东西都带齐了…好的，我们出发吧。

　　Jingjing: It's that silver SUV just outside the door.

　　京晶：就是门外那辆银色的SUV.

　　Mark: Oh, it's a different car from yesterday evening.

　　马克：哦，和昨晚那辆不一样。

　　Jingjing: Yeah. We have a small fleet.

　　京晶：是的。我们有个小车队。

　　New words: 习语短语

　　Time difference 时差

　　When the time in your city of origin is very different from that of the city you are visiting, due to different time zones, you feel odd because of the time difference.

　　Introduce someone around 把某人介绍给大家

　　Make introductions to whoever is there at the office, without being too careful to introduce the visitor only to certain people. This is an expression of openness, and is somewhat informal, though used often in professional settings.

　　Head out 出发，外出

　　start going out, i.e. from a hotel

　　tops （估计）最多

　　maximum estimate

　　(This is tagged at the end of the actual estimate, i.e. "The repairs will cost us 20,000 tops.")

　　Traffic was pretty light 路况比较通畅

　　(This is a common adjective-noun collocation: light traffic.)

　　fleet 车队

　　a set of vehicles (cars, vans, SUVs, even buses) belonging to a company

　　Dialogue 2

　　Jingjing and Mark are talking in the car.

　　京晶和马克在车里交谈

　　Jingjing: Well, traffic seems to be a little heavier going this way. Is the AC alright back there?

　　京晶：嗯，看上去回去这条路交通稍微拥堵了一些。后座上的空调还行吗？

　　Mark: Yeah. I'm not really picky about the temperature.

　　马克：还行。我对温度不太挑剔。

　　Jingjing: That's good. Beijing has a pretty wide range of temperatures throughout the year. It's unusually hot today, for this time of year.

　　京晶：那就好。北京一年四季温差大，今天有种这个季节反常的热。

　　Mark: It looks like it'll be a nice day. When I was out for a walk, I was amazed to see people starting their day so early. A lot of old people are really active in this city.

　　马克：看上去会是个好天。我刚才出来散步时，很惊讶地看到人们那么早就开始了一天的生活。这个城市里很多老年人真的很活跃。

　　Jingjing: I'm glad you noticed that. Oh, now that we're on the expressway, it's sure to be no more than 10 or 15 more minutes.

　　京晶：很高兴您注意到这一点。现在我们上高速了，可以肯定不超过10-15分钟左右我们就要到了。

　　Mark: Great. So, am I going to get to meet the leader this morning?

　　马克：太好了。今天早上我会见到你们领导吗？

　　Jingjing: Oh, well, I wasn't sure when I sent the text last night. But I've been told she's coming back from her business trip this afternoon. You'll most likely meet her at dinner this evening.

　　京晶：那个，最晚给您发信息的时候我还不太确定。但我已被告知她今天下午出差返回。今晚晚餐时您很可能会见到她。

　　Mark: OK. I'm looking forward to meeting your team. I'm a little out of my element looking into a tech transfer. So, it'll be nice to get to know some of your people before any talk of a deal.

　　马克：好的。非常期待与您的团队会面。考察技术转移这件事上我还有点外行。所以，达成协议之前能了解一下您方人员是很好的。

　　Jingjing: Yes. You've probably heard that Chinese business people don't like talking about deals right away.

　　京晶：是的。您可能也已经听说过了中国商人不喜欢一上来就聊生意。

　　Mark: That's what I've been told. Say, I heard a funny story about a guy who visited a company in Shanghai for several days, and no one would talk directly about any deal between his company and the China partner. Finally, at a banquet, the company director made a speech and had made all kinds of assumptions about what the two companies would be bringing to the table.

　　马克：他们就是这么跟我说的。比如，我听到过一个好玩的故事，说有个人来访上海的一个公司几天，没有任何人直接跟他谈他公司和中国合作伙伴的任何事。最后，在一个宴会上，公司负责人发表了一个演讲，对双方将能带来什么有价值的东西做了各种假设。

　　Jingjing: That sounds interesting.

　　京晶：这个听上去挺有趣的。

　　Mark: It was frustrating. The guy visiting wasn't authorized by his company to agree with everything the Shanghai director had taken for granted, and at the same time the guy didn't want to refuse anything, especially over dinner.

　　马克：这太令人沮丧了。这个来访的人并未得到他公司的批准同意上海负责人这边认为理所当然的事情，同时，他也不想拒绝任何事，尤其在晚餐场合。

　　Jingjing: Are you sure the guy hadn't been given any details about the deal during the earlier days of his visit?

　　京晶：您确定这个人来访前期一丁点合作的细节都不知道吗？

　　Mark: You know, it's just one of those stories you hear.

　　马克：你知道，这就是个你听到的故事。

　　Jingjing: Well, we're here to arrive at a win-win. I don't think you need to worry about being taken for a ride.

　　京晶：我们这儿合作是为了达到双赢的目的。我觉得您不用觉得太担心被忽悠了。

　　Mark: Oh, speaking of rides, it looks like we're getting off the expressway now.

　　马克：噢，说到乘车，看上去我们正在下高速了。

　　Jingjing: This is our exit. You see that tall building on the left-hand side of the bridge? That's our office.

　　京晶：这是我们的出口。您看到桥左手边的高楼了吗？那就是我们公司了。

　　Mark: Wow, it's an impressive building!

　　马克：哇，十分引人注目的一栋楼！

　　New words: 习语短语

　　Traffic seems to be a little heavier 交通看上去有些拥堵了

　　(This is a common adjective-noun collocation: heavy traffic.)

　　Out of my element 我觉得有些外行，有些格格不入

　　Doing something I don't feel especially suited or qualified forany talk of any discussion about (the topic isn't mentioned)

　　Bringing to the table 合作中带来有价值的东西

　　Offering something valuable in a cooperative venture (knowledge, skills, abilities, capital, etc)

　　over dinner 在晚餐场合

　　to talk about something in a setting other than a meeting room, alternately, over lunch, over coffee

　　it's just one of those 就是那些……其中的一个

　　(This is a way to refer to something about which you only know a little. "Well, it's just one of those things...")

　　win-win 双赢

　　a situation of mutual benefit

　　Being taken for a ride 被带去兜风，被欺骗，被忽悠

　　Getting into a situation that is not beneficial for you, and is likely to take too much of your time or money