1.Vocabulary
- tardiness=being late 迟到
- flexibility 灵活性
- sloppy 稀松
- being sloppy 粗心
- argumentative 争论的
- being argumentative 好辩
- offensive 进攻
- being offensive 无礼
- not being flexible 处事不灵活
- not following instructions 不遵守指示
- not meeting deadlines 没有如期完成
- incredible 难以置信
2.Sentence
- He was fired for being offensive.
- You wouldn't believe the people I work with. I have a colleague who never cleans his desk. He is so sloppy. I have a manager who enjoys being offensive. It's just awful. And I have a boss who is never in the office. She's so lazy it's incredible.
3.Dialogue
Dialogue 1
Todd: I asked you here to talk about your occasional tardiness (偶尔迟到).
Harry: Oh, okay.
Todd: You see, it's becoming a bit of problem. Sometimes you're as much as an hour late.
Harry: I know.
Todd: So what's going on?
Harry: I'm really sorry. I've been meaning (一直在想) to talk to you about this.
Todd: Okay, so what's the story?
Harry: Well, as you know, my wife's just got a new job. And it's now me who drives the kids to school every morning. That's what's making me late.
Todd: I know how that is. I have two kids of my own. But regardless(不管，无论如何), we have to figure out a solution to this.
Harry: I agree.
Todd: Another possibility(可能的，可行的) would be for you to stay an hour later in the evenings. We have a lot of engineers who work late. They often have questions for us. You could deal with them. Would that work for you?
Harry: Yeah, that would work. That would definitely work. Thanks, Todd. I appreciate your flexibility on this.
Todd: Let's try this for a couple of weeks, and see how it goes. And I want to emphasize(注重，强调) that we value your work. That isn't a big deal.
Harry: Thanks, Todd.
Dialogue 2
JOSH: My boss wanted to speak with me today. And it wasn't very nice.
PAM: What for?
JOSH: For not meeting my deadline.
PAM: Oh, no. I'm sorry.
JOSH: Yeah, and also for being argumentative.
PAM: Really? Well, you are a bit argumentative – sometimes.
JOSH: Me? Argumentative? No way! I am not.
PAM: You see?
JOSH: What?
PAM: Did your boss mention anything else?
JOSH: Uh, yeah. He said I need to work on being more flexible.
PAM: Yeah … Good luck with that.
Dialogue 3
LARRY: Come in. Ah, Pamela. Thank you for coming. Have a seat.
PAMELA: No problem. What's up?
LARRY: I asked you here today to talk about the team.
PAMELA: What about the team?
LARRY: Well, I know you're a hard worker, but Paul told me that you don't work well with the team. He says you're argumentative. This is something we have to deal with. What's the story?
PAMELA: Excuse me, but Paul is offensive to all the women on the team.
LARRY: Okay. How is he offensive?
PAMELA: He's always making bad jokes about women. And last week, he called Anna fat. He's just so rude. You can ask any woman on the team.
LARRY: Really? Well, we have to figure out a solution for this.
PAMELA: One solution could be for you to talk to the team as a group, not just Paul or me.
LARRY: I think that's a good idea. Would tomorrow work for you?
PAMELA: Yes. Thank you very much.
