2011年ESL之商务英语 11 Ending a Business Relationship（打印版）

2011年ESL之商务英语 11 Ending a Business Relationship（在线收听）

11 Ending a Business Relationship

GLOSSARY

to break the news – to tell someone something he or she does not want to hear;to share bad news with someone

* The hardest part of being a doctor is having to break the news to the familywhen the patient has passed away.

to pull the plug – to end a project, relationship, or agreement; to stop doingsomething

* Why did you decide to pull the plug on the contract negotiations?

contract – a legal agreement; an official, written agreement

* According to the contract, we have to pay the full amount by the 4th of eachmonth.

to be up – to end; to finish on a particular date and time

* The lease is up at the end of the summer, and then we’ll need to look for newtenants.

to hold off on – to delay; to postpone; to wait to do something until later

* Please hold off on buying your airplane tickets until you’re sure you are eligiblefor a visa to enter the country.

in the hopper – active; currently being used or worked on; in process

* Grant has published five novels, and he has two more in the hopper.

to drag (one’s) feet – to procrastinate; to do something very slowly or later thanone should

* If we hadn’t dragged our feet this morning, we could have left work early thisafternoon.

professional courtesy – something that one does or says in a businessenvironment because it is nice, kind, and polite

* As a professional courtesy, please call to tell us if you’re going to arrive late.

to let (someone) down – to disappoint someone by not meeting expectations orby not doing what one was supposed to do

* Pierre promised he could get $2 million in sales last year, so he really let usdown by getting only $750,000.

airtight – completed very carefully so that there are no mistakes or errors;having no weaknesses

* This proposal is airtight. There’s no way they won’t choose us over ourcompetitors.

old habits die hard – a phrase used to mean that it is difficult for people ororganizations to change, and they are more likely to continue doing things asthey have done them in the past, even if those ways are not very good

* Mariah weighs 300 pounds and she says she would like to lose weight, but oldhabits die hard.

on (one’s) last legs – about to die or fail; very weak and worn out; almostfinished

* The investigation is on its last legs, and if the detectives don’t find a suspectsoon, they’re going to close the case.

it’s only a matter of time – a phrase used to mean that something will happenin the future, although one doesn’t know exactly when

* It’s only a matter of time before someone invents a car that can fly.

at the rate (one) is going – a phrase used to refer to how someone is acting orperforming or how someone has been acting or performing in the recent past,assuming that it will not change in the future

* At the rate they’re going, they will have spent all their savings by the end of theyear.

PR rep – a public relations representative; a person whose job is to influencehow people view a particular company or organization, especially whether theythink it is good or bad

* The company hired a PR rep to help management deal with the scandal.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What will happen when they pull the plug on Tech Experts’ services?

a) They’ll unplug all the equipment.

b) They’ll ask the company to work more quickly.

c) They’ll stop working with the company.

2. According to Camila, what will happen to Tech Experts?

a) It will go out of business.

b) It will start charging a higher hourly rate.

c) It will learn to work faster.

______________

WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

to be up

The phrase “to be up,” in this podcast, means to end or finish on a particular dateand time: “Time is up. Please put down your pencil and turn in your exam.” Thephrase “to be up to (someone)” means that someone can make a particulardecision: “Do you want to sign up for a Basic or Premium Membership? It’s up toyou.” The phrase “to be up to (something)” means to feel prepared to dosomething: “I don’t think Harouki is up to medical school.” The phrase “to be upto doing (something)” means to want to do something: “Are you up to going to theparty tonight?” Finally, the phrase “to be up on (something)” means to have a lotof knowledge or to be very well informed about something: “Are you up on eventsin the Middle East?”

to let (someone) down

In this podcast, the phrase “to let (someone) down” means to disappointsomeone by not meeting expectations or by not doing what one was supposed todo: “I think I let my parents down by not becoming a lawyer.” The phrase “to let(oneself) go” means to stop paying attention to one’s physical appearance or tostop trying to look nice: “After getting married, Kaitlin really let herself go, gainingalmost 30 pounds.” The phrase “to let (something) go” means to stop worry aboutsomething or to decide to forget something: “That happened more than 10 yearsago! Why can’t you just let it go?” Finally, the phrase “to let up” means to becomesofter or gentler: “Why don’t you stay here where it’s warm and wait for the stormto let up?”

CULTURE NOTE

Common Legal ClausesLegal contracts contain many common “clauses” (sections of a legal contractdealing with one particular part of the law) that are seen “over and over again”

(many times). Often these clauses are just copied and pasted from one contractto the next, and only a small “portion” (part) of the contract is actually written“from scratch” (without using a model).

For example, an “arbitration clause” “stipulates” (states) how “conflicts” and“disputes” (disagreements) should be “resolved” (ended by reaching a solution).

They often establish how the “parties” (the people or organizations that sign acontract) should communicate their dispute and when a “mediator” (a person whohelps the parties resolve their conflict) should be brought into the situation. Theclause also indicates whether the arbitration will occur within a specific“jurisdiction” (the area where a particular person or entity can make legaldecisions).

Another common contract clause is the “statute of limitations.” This clauseestablishes the maximum amount of time after a particular event that somethingmay happen. For example, a statute of limitations might state that people can be“prosecuted” (charged in court) for certain crimes for only five years after thecrime occurred. If more than five years have “elapsed” (passed by), they cannotbe taken to court for the crime.

An “attorney fees clause” establishes that if there is “litigation” (legal action)between the two parties, the party that does not win must pay all the“reasonable” (fair and just) “legal fees” (amounts of money paid to a lawyer)“incurred by” (needing to be paid by) the winning party.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 688: Ending aBusiness Relationship.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 688. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is eslpod.com. Go there to download a Learning Guide for thisepisode that will help you improve your English even faster. Even faster thanwhat, you ask? Even faster than drinking beer!

On this episode, we’re going to hear a dialogue between Jerry and Camila aboutwhat happens when two companies or two people decide to end their businesspartnership or relationship. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Jerry: Who’s going to break the news to Tech Experts?

Camila: You mean about pulling the plug on using their services?

Jerry: Yeah, the contract we signed with them last year is almost up, and as wedecided last month, we’ll be going with another company.

Camila: I think we should hold off on telling them until after all of our currentprojects are done. We still have two more in the hopper.

Jerry: Okay, but I don’t want to drag our feet in telling them, even if we’re nothappy with their service. As a professional courtesy, we should let them knowsoon.

Camila: That may be true with other companies, but Tech Experts has really letus down this past year. If we didn’t have an airtight contract with them, we wouldhave switched companies long ago.

Jerry: Well, maybe they’ll learn from their mistakes. After all, they’ve been inbusiness a long time.

Camila: Yeah, but old habits die hard. And if you ask me, the company is on itslast legs. It’s only a matter of time before they lose most of their customers, atthe rate they’re going.

Jerry: I don’t know about that, but I do know one thing. It’s a good thing you’renot their PR rep!

[end of dialogue]

Jerry says to Camila, “Who’s going to break the news to Tech Experts?” TechExperts is the name of a company. The expression “to break the news” meansto tell someone something that he or she does not want to hear, to give badnews to someone. People may say something like, “I hate to break the news, butit’s raining today and our baseball game is cancelled. We won’t be playingbaseball.” So Jerry, here, is asking who’s going to break the news, who’s goingto give this company they’ve been working with the bad news.

Camila says, “You mean about pulling the plug on using their services?” “To pullthe plug” (plug) here means to end a project or to end a relationship oragreement. More generally, it means to stop doing something. The expressioncomes from or has its origin in the fact that when you have a machine manytimes it needs electricity, and the wire that runs between the machine and, forexample, the wall, where there is a place to put the wire into to get electricity, thatwire is called a “cord.” The thing that goes into the wall itself is called a “plug.”

So, “to pull the plug” means the same as to disconnect, “to unplug,” you couldalso say, a machine. Here, it means to end a relationship. So, Camila answersJerry’s question about who’s going to break the news to Tech Experts withanother question, clarifying what news Jerry is talking about. She says, “Youmean (the news) about pulling the plug on using their services (on keeping TechExperts as one of the businesses they have a relationship with)?”

Jerry says, “Yeah (an informal way of saying yes), the contract we signed withthem last year is almost up.” A “contract” is a legal agreement, typically writtenthough it doesn’t have to be. “To be up” is an expression – a phrasal verbmeaning to end, to finish at a particular time or date. Someone might say to you,“Your time is up.” A teacher, for example, to her students if they are taking a testand the hour is finished, she might say, “Your time is up,” you have no more time,you must stop. Well here, Jerry is saying that the contract is up, meaning thecontract will end. He says, “as we decided last month, we’ll be going withanother company,” meaning we’ll be using another company after the contractbetween their company and Tech Experts is finished.

Camila says, “I think we should hold off on telling them until after all of ourcurrent projects are done.” “To hold off on (something)” is a phrasal verbmeaning to delay, to postpone, to wait to do something until later. For example:

“John decided to hold off on asking the pretty girl in his Spanish class for a dateuntil he ended his relationship with the other pretty girl from his math class.” Isn’tJohn a nice guy? He’s going to wait, he’s going to hold off on getting a newgirlfriend until he gets rid of his old girlfriend. Camila uses this same structure,“to hold off on,” and then later in the sentence “until.” She says, “I think weshould hold off on telling them until after all of our current projects are done.” Forthose interested in the grammar behind this expression, notice that “on” is apreposition, and so the object of the prepositional phrase must be a noun.

“Telling” is a gerund, which is a form of a verb that acts as a noun. So, you can’tsay, “I’m going to hold off on to tell him,” because “to tell” is a verb. You can say,“I’m going to hold off on telling him,” because “telling” is a noun in this case.

Anyway, getting back to the story, Camila says, “We still have two more in thehopper.” She means we have two more projects with this company in the hopper(hopper). Something that is “in the hopper” is something that is in process,things that you are currently working on. You haven’t finished them yet, but youare working on them or will be working on them very soon. Camila says we stillhave two projects with this company, we shouldn’t tell them we’re going to endafter the expiration of their contract until we finish with these projects.

Jerry says, “Okay, but I don’t want to drag our feet in telling them.” “To drag yourfeet” means to do something very slowly, more slowly than you should, to delay,to procrastinate. “I’ve been dragging my feet on cleaning the kitchen.” Really Ihave, I need to clean my kitchen. My wife is not happy with me just between meand you, don’t tell anyone! Anyway, Jerry says, “I don’t want to drag our feet intelling them.” Notice “in” is also a preposition, and therefore it needs a noun,“telling” is a noun form and that works. You can’t say, “I don’t want to drag ourfeet in to tell them,” just like the previous example of “to hold off on.” Jerry says,“As a professional courtesy, we should let them know soon.” He’s saying eventhough they are not happy with the service that Tech Experts has given them, asa professional courtesy we should tell them about our decision soon.

“Professional courtesy” is something that you do or say in business because it isconsidered the correct, the polite, the nice thing to do. You don’t have to do it,but it’s nice if you do do it.

Well, Camila doesn’t want to be nice. She says, “That may be true with othercompanies (that is, we should let them know as a professional courtesy), butTech Experts has really let us down this past year.” “To let (someone) down”

means to disappoint someone, to do something not as well as someone was expecting you to do, or not do what someone was expecting you to do. You letthem down, they became disappointed. Camila says, “If we didn’t have anairtight contract with them, we would have switched companies long ago.”

“Airtight” (one word) means very carefully written, something that has nomistakes, no errors. It’s often used to describe something in a legal situation,where a contract, for example, doesn’t have any weaknesses; there are no thingsyou can use as an exception. That’s “airtight.”

Jerry says, “Well, maybe they’ll learn from their mistakes. After all, they’ve beenin business a long time.” That is, Tech Experts will learn from their mistakes.

Camila doesn’t agree; she says, “Yeah, but old habits die hard.” This expressionmeans it’s difficult for people or organizations to change. They are much morelikely to continue doing the same things they have done in the past even if they’renot very good or very successful. “Old habits die hard.” “Die hard,” just like themovie Die Hard, “to die hard” means it dies a difficult death, it is something thatdies with a lot of pain perhaps. That’s also what is going on here when we say“old habits die hard,” it’s very difficult for you to change or kill your habits, thethings you’re used to doing.

Camila says, “And if you ask me, the company is on its last legs.” “To be on yourlast legs” (legs), like the legs you walk on, means that you are about to die orabout to fail, that you’re very weak, that you’re almost finished. In this case,we’re talking about a company on its last legs. Camila says, “It’s only a matter oftime before they lose most of their customers.” “It’s only a matter of time” meansthat it is, we would say, “inevitable,” that is, it’s going to happen, it’s notsomething you can avoid. It will happen, it’s just a matter of when it will happen;it could be today, it could be next week, it could be 10 years from now, buteventually this thing will happen. Camila says it’s only a matter of time beforeTech Experts loses most of their customers at the rate they’re going. Theexpression “at the rate they’re going” is used to show how someone isperforming or acting, assuming that it will not change. So for example, you’respending 10 dollars every week on buying sandwiches. At the rate you’re going,by the end of the year you will have spent 520 dollars on sandwiches if youcontinue doing what you have done in the past. That’s the idea.

Jerry says, “I don’t know about that (meaning I’m not sure you are correct), but Ido know one thing. It’s a good thing you’re not their PR rep!” He’s making a littlejoke; he’s saying Camila is being so critical of the company it’s a good thing shedoesn’t work as that company’s public relations or PR rep. “Rep” stands forrepresentative. A “PR rep” is someone who works for a company who tries togive a positive image – a good image of the company, especially to newsorganizations, to newspapers, television stations, and so forth. “Public relations”

is about getting a positive message out about your company to your customersor your potential customers, people who might want to buy your product orservice.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.