地道美语听力练习:Planning a Business Luncheon准备商务午宴

地道美语听力播客English as a Second Language Podcast (ESLPod)，是一家位于美国加州洛杉矶的英语教育研究机构推出的英文听力会话，于2005年7月23日首播， 主播Dr. Jeff McQuillan为南加州大学的语言学博士， 现专注于外国语学生的英语学习研究。该播客在iTunes store播客的教育子分类中，与Grammar Girl Just Vocabulary常居前三甲.

One of my co-workers, Betty, was retiring this month after working for the company 23 years. I was put in charge of planning a retirement lunch in her honor at a restaurant nearby. The company was picking up the tab and it was up to me to set a day and time. After asking the people in the department and finding out their availability , I called the restaurant to make a reservation.

Manager: Bruno's.

Jeff: Hi, I'm calling from Nika Corporation. We would like to hold a business lunch at the restaurant.

Manager: Oh, certainly. I'm Linda, the manager. I can help you with that. How many will there be in your party?

Jeff: There will be about 18 people.

Manager: Okay. For a party that size, we have a separate banquet room in the back.

Jeff: Is there an extra charge to reserve the room?

Manager: No, as long as you can guarantee at least 15 guests, there is no extra charge.

Jeff: That's great. I'd like to go ahead and reserve the room, then, for Friday, December 2, at around noon. This is a retirement party and we’d like to bring a cake for the guest of honor and some bottles of champagne. Will that be acceptable?

Manager: The cake is no problem at all, but we do charge a corkage fee of $15 a bottle for any alcohol not purchased from the restaurant.

Jeff: Oh, that's fine.

Manager: Great. I have the banquet room reserved for a luncheon for Nika Corporation on the 2nd of December. May I have your name and contact information?

Jeff: Sure. I'm Jeff McQuillan and my number is 323-555-6840, extension 42.

Manager: Thanks, Mr. McQuillan. I'll give you a call a week in advance to confirm the arrangements.

Jeff: Sounds good. Thanks for your help.

Manager: Thank you for choosing Bruno's. We look forward to seeing you on the 2nd.

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse