{"id":337,"date":"2025-02-28T16:39:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T08:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/?p=337"},"modified":"2025-11-20T14:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:56:13","slug":"english-pod-4-%e2%80%90the-office-%e2%80%90-i-need-an-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/?p=337","title":{"rendered":"English Pod 4 \u2010The\u00a0Office\u00a0\u2010\u00a0I\u00a0need\u00a0an\u00a0assistant!\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dialogue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/static.eudic.net\/MediaPool\/7db4f543-73ff-4e20-b504-30c0305087b5\/data\/f54a10a5-9492-49ee-97b0-1aae39cbdced.m4a?stamp=1718621703523\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: \u2026like I told you before, we just don\u2019t have the <strong>resources<\/strong> to hire you an assistant. <br>B: I understand that, but the fact is we\u2019re <strong>understaffed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: <strong>The timing is just not right.<\/strong> The economy is bad, and it\u2019s too risky to take on new staff. <br>B: Yeah, I guess you\u2019re right\u2026. here\u2019s an idea, what if we hire an intern? She would take some of the <strong>weight off my shoulders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: She?<br>B: Yeah, you know, a recent graduate. She could <strong>give me a hand <\/strong>with some of these projects and we could keep our costs down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A: <strong>That sounds reasonable<\/strong>\u2026 let me see what I can do. <br>A: Tony, I\u2019d like to introduce you to your new assistant. <br>B: OK, great! Let\u2019s meet her!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>C: Hi, I\u2019m Adam. <br>B: Oh\u2026 hi\u2026 I\u2019m Tony\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/static.eudic.net\/MediaPool\/54c1bba5-1e6f-11e7-be40-000c29ffef9b\/data\/7dd66abf-9984-4bd9-b964-74cf0931678b.m4a?stamp=1726883147945\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Vocabulary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>resources<\/strong> \u2014 common noun, plural money<br><strong>understaffed<\/strong> \u2014 Adjective not enough people to do the job<br><strong>the timing is just not right<\/strong> \u2014 phrase it is not a good time now<br><strong>weight off my shoulders<\/strong> \u2014 phrase remove pressure or stress<br><strong>give me a hand<\/strong> \u2014 phrase help<br><strong>that sounds reasonable<\/strong> \u2014 phrase is OK<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>recruit<\/strong> [r\u026a\u02c8kru\u02d0t]\u2014 principle verb, infifinitive hire<br><strong>overworked<\/strong> \u2014 Adjective working too much<br><strong>short staffed<\/strong> \u2014 Adjective not enough people to do the job<br><strong>cut costs <\/strong>\u2014 phrase reduce spending<br><strong>overstaffed<\/strong> \u2014 Adjective having too many employees<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Example\uff1a<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>timing is just not right.\u2014<\/strong>\u2014 it\u2019s just not a good time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Example one.<br>A: I was gonna sell my house, but the timing is just not right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Example two.<br>B: Honey, I think we should have a baby.<br>C: The timing is just not right<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>give me a hand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Example one.<br>A: Can you give me a hand with these boxes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Example two.<br>B: Neil, I\u2019ll need you to give me a hand with this sales report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Example three.<br>C: Here, let me give you a hand with your suitcase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dialogue A: \u2026like I told you before, we just don\u2019t have the resources to hire you an assistant. B: I understand that, but the fact is we\u2019re understaffed. A: The timing is just not right. The economy is bad, and it\u2019s too risky to take on new staff. B: Yeah, I guess you\u2019re right\u2026. here\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,33,29],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","tag-english","tag-english-pod","tag-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4462,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions\/4462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainyjames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}