Using English at Work：24 Taking a Break and Eating Lunch(1)（在线收听）

Welcome to ESLPod.com's "Using English at Work" lesson five. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, from the Center for Educational Development.

In lesson four of this course, we learned vocabulary related to working at your desk.

In this fifth lesson, I'm going to talk about taking a break and eating lunch.

We'll begin by listening to the story read at a slow speed.

I want to get some coffee, so I walk into the break room.

My coworkers, Diana and Van, are standing next to the water cooler talking about a show on TV last night.

I pick up the coffee pot and pour myself a mug of coffee.

I am feeling really hungry, too, so I walk over to the vending machine.

I'm looking over the candy bars and potato chips when Diana says, "We're taking an early lunch. Do you want to join us?"

I say, "Yes!" and the three of us walk across the street to a restaurant.

I'm happy that we came early because we beat the rush.

The hostess seats us at a table and takes our drink orders.

Our server comes over with our drinks and we place our food orders.

I choose the lunch special and so does Diana.

Van picks the all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar.

While Diana and I wait for our orders to arrive, Van goes to the soup and salad bar and gets a really big plate of food.

"Do you mind if I start?" he asks. "Of course not," Diana and I say.

When we finish eating, the server comes over to clear our plates and to give us our bill.

We forgot to ask for separate checks so we all pay together.

That was a good lunch. It was certainly better than the bag lunch I usually bring from home!

When the story begins, I want to get some coffee, so I walk into the break room.

A "break room" is a room in an office building where employees can go to relax when they aren't working during the day.

Most break rooms have comfortable chairs or couches and coffee, water, and "snacks," or small things for you to eat.