2014年ESL之商务英语 03 Recording an Outgoing Voice Mail Message

 

Recording¹ an Outgoing Voice Mail Message

I hate the sound of my own voice. I always have. When I’m speaking to an audience, I always sound forced and unnatural². So when we had to set up our new voice mail system’s outgoing message, it took me a few tries to get it right: 

“Hello, you’ve reached Martin Navra at McQ Corp. I’m not available to take your call right now. Please leave a message and I’ll call you back as soon as I can. Thank you for calling.” 

No, that wasn’t quite right. I gave it another shot. 

“Hello, you’ve reached the voice mail for Martin Navra at McQ Corp. I’m in a meeting or away from my desk. Please leave a message and I’ll call you back as soon as I can. If your call is urgent, please contact Julia Mann at 555-434-3232. Thank you.” 

That seemed okay, but since I was leaving on vacation next week, I needed to record a temporary outgoing message as well. This is what I came up with. 

“Hello, you’ve reached the voice mail of Martin Navra at McQ Corp. I will be on vacation from March 3rd through March 10th. If you need to reach someone immediately, please call Julia Mann at 555- 434-3232, or dial “0” to reach reception. Otherwise, please leave a message and I’ll return your call when I return. Thank you.” 

I was finally done. The good thing is, whenever I call to retrieve³ my voice mail messages, I can bypass⁴ my outgoing message. With any luck, I’ll never have to hear my own voice again – ever! 

 

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse 

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

3 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

4 bypass   

n.旁道；分流术；vt.绕过，越过...于不顾

参考例句：

• If we take the bypass we'll avoid the town centre.我们走旁道就能绕过镇中心。
• You cannot bypass this question.你不能回避这个问题。