englishpod_C0013pb

E: Hello everyone! And welcome to EnglishPod! My name’s Erica.

M: And I’m Marco.

E: So, Marco, how’re you doing today?

M: I’m great! I’m really happy to be back, ready to deliver another great podcast for all our

listeners.

E: That’s right! And we’ve got an intermediate lesson today about spending money.

M: Yeah, specifically, spending money in a company.

E: That’s right, we’re going to be listening to a business meeting as a company describes

how they’re spending money.

M: Right, and they’re actually looking at their profit and loss statement, so…

E: Okay.

M: That’s kind of interesting.

E: Well, Marco, can you tell us a little bit about a profit and loss statement? 

M: Uh, yeah, sure! Well, all companies come out with a profit and loss statement every

year or every three months and it’s basically a document that shows all the money that the

company is spending and all the money the money that the company is earning.

E: So, it’s a document that outlines how much money the company makes and how much

it… it spends.

M: Right, so, in the end, basically, it’ll tell you we’re making money or we’re losing money.

E: Okay, so, we’re gonna be listening to, uh, some people discuss a profit and loss

statement in just a moment. But before we do that, it’s time for “vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

M: Okay, great! So, today on our vocabulary preview we have two words for you, so, let’s

take a look at the first one.

E: Expenses.

M: Expenses.

E: Expenses.

M: Expenses.

E: So, expenses are things that you have to spend money on regularly.

M: Right, so, for example, in a company regular company expenses are salaries or office

supplies or the phone bills, internet bills.

E: Okay, and maybe in a household or a family your expenses might be your food, perhaps

your transportation or your rent or your heating bills, so, these are all things you spend

money on regularly. They’re expenses.

M: Expenses, great! Let’s take a look at our second word – through the roof.

E: Through the roof.

M: Through the roof.

E: Through the roof.

M: So, when something is through the roof, it’s…

E: Really, really, really, really high.

M: Really high. Hehe. So, for example, we can talk about gas prices are through the roof

lately. 

E: Yeah, that’s totally true. Gas prices have gone really high in the past couple of

months.

M: So, when we talk about through the roof, it means that the number is really high.

E: That’s right, we typically use this word with numbers. It also gives you the idea that the

number has risen really quickly.

M: Yeah, exactly! Hehe.

E: Okay, so, through the roof.

M: Through the roof.

E: Alright, Marco, do you think it’s time for the dialogue?

M: Yup, let’s listen to the dialogue. As always the first dialogue is gonna be a little bit fast,

so, it might be a little bit difficult, but…

E: Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything, because we will explain all the key

language in a minute.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

E: Okay, so, this accountant, she is, uh, pretty thorough, hey?

M: Hehe. She’s really persistent about her job and the manager apparently is a little bit

embarrassed.

E: Hm, I wonder why that could be.

M: Hehe. Well, we’ll talk about that in a little while. Why don’t we take a look at our

language takeaway for today?

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: In today’s language takeaway we’re going to look at three words and the first word is

expenditures.

M: Expenditures.

E: Expenditures.

M: Expenditures.

E: So, expenditures sounds pretty close to expenses, right?

M: It’s pretty similar, but it has a little bit of a difference, so, why don’t we listen to some

examples and see if we can understand?

Voice: Example one.

A: ??? to president I will increase expenditures on health and education by twelve per cent

(12%).

Voice: Example two.

B: We really need to control our travel expenditures. From now on all managers will fly

economy class.

Voice: Example three.

C: Because of the rise in oil prices expenditures on food are higher than they have ever

been.

E: So, expenditures is the total amount of money that you’re spending on something.

M: Right, that’s the total amount of money versus expenses is the things that you spend

money on.

E: Okay, that’s really clear.

M: Uhu.

E: Our next word is out of control.

M: Out of control.

E: Out of control.

M: So, when something is out of control, it’s…

E: It’s crazy.

M: Crazy, you can’t control it.

E: Exactly, you can’t stop it.

M: You can’t stop it, right.

E: Out of control.

M: Okay, great! Now, let’s take a look at our last word for today – go over.

E: Go over.

M: Go over.

E: Go over.

M: So, go over is a pretty simple word. Why don’t we listen to some examples, so we can

understand go over?

Voice: Example one.

A: I need to go over this report one last time to make sure there’re no mistakes.

Voice: Example two.

B: Can you help me go over my presentation? I want to make sure it’s perfect.

Voice: Example three.

C: Let’s go over these numbers one more time and make sure there’re no mistakes.

E: Yeah, this is a really common word and it basically means “look at carefully”.

M: Yeah, or review.

E: In English we often find simple little words, they fit together really well and you think

“Oh, they’re so easy”. Like the word go, over. So easy.

M: Hehe. Yeah.

E: But it’s the way that they interact with each other that makes them…

M: Or it makes you sound much better.

E: Exactly, so, go over in this case, we might say, um “Let’s go over the lesson”.

M: Let’s go over the lesson, yeah.

E: Yeah.

M: Or…

E: That sounds great.

M: Yeah, that’s… and that’s more, uh, natural way of saying something like that.

E: Okay, so, we’ve taken look at our language takeaways for today. I think it’s time to listen

to the dialogue one more time.

M: And this time the dialogue will be slower, so we can understand and listen to all the

words we just talked about.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

E: Okay, so, I got it.

M: Yeah, it’s clear now.

E: Yeah, and you know, I heard a lot of really great phrases in this dialogue that I’d like to

at now in “fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

M: Great, so, today on fluency builder we have three words for you. Let’s start by looking at

the first one – off the charts.

E: Off the charts.

M: Off the charts.

E: Off the charts.

M: So, this word is very similar to through the roof. 

E: Exactly, it also means really high.

M: Right, so, let’s listen to some examples of how we can use off the charts in a different

situation.

Voice: Example one.

A: Oil prices have gone up and our costs are off the charts.

Voice: Example two.

B: Excellent job Susan! Your sales are off the charts this year.

Voice: Example three.

C: Our losses are off the charts! That’s it! No bonuses for anyone!

E: So, Marco, do you think I can change off the charts for through the roof in these

examples?

M: Yeah, you can. Definitely, you can use off the charts or through the roof, both of

them mean the same thing.

E: Okay, so, two ways of saying really, really, really high.

M: Really high. But they’re very commonly used in a business setting.

E: Yeah, that’s true. Okay, so, this next word is a phrase that you can use if you want to tell

somebody that you’ll check something or you’ll investigate something.

M: Right, and we heard it in our dialogue, so, let’s listen to the clip.

Phrase 1: I’ll look into it. I’ll look into it.

E: So, look into that that means I’ll check something.

M: Yeah, I’ll see what’s happening.

E: Yeah, does that mean you’re gonna take action?

M: No, it doesn’t.

E: Okay, so, I think we’ve got another word that does mean you’re going to take action.

Phrase 2: I’ll take care of it. I’ll take care of it.

M: So, this word means that you’re going to do something about it.

E: I’ll take care of it. I will take responsibility.

M: Exactly, so, I will do something about it.

E: Yeah.

M: I will investigate and I’ll do it.

E: Yeah, ex… again, two great phrases – I’ll look into it; I’ll take care of it.

M: Okay, so, now let’s listen to the dialogue a third time. It’s gonna be at its normal speed,

but now you have all the tools you need to understand it a lot better.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

E: Well, Marco, I guess one of the benefits of being an executive in a company, especially a

large company, is you get a lot of amazing benefits.

M: Yes, when you are a manger or a CEO of one of these big companies, you get a lot of

great things like… I don’t know, a private jet, maybe…

E: Wow, that’s… that’s nice, hey?

M: Hehe. Or, um, they… um, the company often pays for your house…

E: Yeah.

M: Or for your car, they’ll give you a company car.

E: Uhu.

M: Um, they’ll pay for your kids or your children’s, uh, tuition for high school. 

E: So, there’re school fees.

M: Yeah, yeah.

E: Okay.

M: And also I’ve heard about entertainment bonuses.

E: Yeah, so, you can go out to a restaurant, get the receipt and claim the expenses at

work.

M: Hah, those are some great benefits, right?

E: So, Marco, I’m curious to know what our listeners’ expenses are.

M: Yes, we definitely want to know what crazy expenses you have, for example…

E: Well, let’s see, my spending on coke zero has gone through the roof since we started this

podcast.

M: Hehe. Yes, you spend a lot of money on coke zeros every week, right?

E: Uh, yeah, I probably have, uh… I don’t know, ten a week.

M: Well, for examples, I spend, uh, a lot on DVDs each week. I usually buy two or three

movies.

E: That is off the charts.

M: Hehe. That is off the charts for DVD spending.

E: Okay.

M: So, we want to know what you spend your money on, be sure to l… go into our

community website and tell us what you spend money on. 

E: That’s right, you can find us at englishpod.com and Marco and I are always there to

respond your questions and comments.

M: Great, so, we’ll see you there and until then it’s…

E: Good bye!

M: Bye!