2009年ESL之商务英语 03 Sending Business Packages（打印版）

2009年ESL之商务英语 03 Sending Business Packages（在线收听）

03 Sending Business Packages

GLOSSARY

package a small box or large envelope that is filled with papers or other things and sent to a person in another location

* Each year, Shawna sends a birthday package filled with home-baked cookies to her grandson.

ground service a category of mail that is sent by using truck or trains, not planes or boats, and is usually slower than other services

* If you want to save money, ask the company to use groundservice to send your order.

overnight service a category of mail that delivers packages very quickly, making sure that they arrive the day after they are sent

* The job opening closes tomorrow, so hell have to useovernight service to send in his application.

to track – to follow; to know where something is and where it is going

* The company has a computer program that tracks sales for each associate and for each city and state.

to mark to write, stamp, or otherwise make a small change to something so that it looks physically different and can be identified

* They marked their house with orange balloons so thatpeople coming to their Halloween party could find it more easily.

commercial – related to a business, not a home; not residential

* The citys commercial district is very busy during the day, but no one is there at night.

contract – a legal agreement between two or more companies or people

* We had to sign a two-year contract when we got new cell phones.

residential – related to a home, not a business; not commercial

* We want to live on a quiet, residential street, not downtown where there are lots of small businesses and is very noisy.

breakable – fragile; something that can break easily

* Please be careful moving those boxes! Theyre filled with breakable glass vases.

to pack to put something into a large container, suitcase, box,or envelope and then close it, usually to send it somewhere

* How were you able to pack enough clothes for the whole week in such a small suitcase?

insured having financial protection from an insurance company, so that if something bad happens, the company will give one enoughmoney to fix it or to pay for a replacement

* Is your home insured against flooding?

declared value the amount of money that someone says something is worth, especially when sending it through the mail

* The post office lost a package with a declared value of $2,300, so it had to pay that much money to the sender.

delivery confirmation a service where the sender can use the phone or Internet to find out exactly when and where a package was delivered

* When she sold some used books online, she used delivery confirmation so that the buyer couldnt lie and say that she hadnt sent them.

customs declaration form a small piece of paper that one writes on to describe what is in a package that is being sent to another country

* We have to write down exactly what were sending and how much it is worth on the customs declaration form.

contents – the things that are inside a box, envelope, or another package

* The security guard searched the contents of our bags before he let us enter the embassy.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Which of these could be breakable?

a) Ground service.

b) Contracts.

c) The contents of a package.

2. Which of these people would need to fill out a customs declaration form?

a) Someone who is receiving a package.

b) Someone who is sending a package to another country.

c) Someone who is packing the contents of a package.

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WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

pack

The verb to pack, in this podcast, means to put somethinginto a large container, suitcase, box, or envelope and then close it, usually to send it somewhere: When moving, its a good idea to wrap glasses in newspaper before packing them into a box. If something is jam-packed, it is as full as it can be, or it has as many things or people as possible: The stadium was jampacked for the concert. A packrat is a person who has alot of unnecessary things and cannot or does not want to throw them away:Youre such a packrat! I cant believe you have clothes that you havent worn in more than 20 years. Finally, a pack animal is a large animal like or horse or a donkey that is used to carry heavy things: Two pack animals carried our things whenwe walked into the Grand Canyon.

content

In this podcast, the word contents means the things that are inside a box, envelope, or another package: Her father always tries toguess the contents of the package before opening a present. When talking about food, the word content means the percentage of an ingredient: Whatis the alcohol content of this beer? In a book or report, a table of contentsis a list of all the different sections in a document and the page numbers where each one begins: Why dont you use the table of contents to find what youre looking for? Finally, the word content, when used to describe a person, means happy, satisfied, and calm: Salam never feels content unless his house is clean and well organized.

CULTURE NOTE

The United States Postal Service has a long list of hazardous (dangerous) items that cannot be sent through the mail. Many of the items are not hazardous in daily life, but they become hazardous if they are sentthrough the mail, especially since much mail is sent by plane, where there aredifferent temperatures, air pressure, and vibrations (small, repetitive movements).

Prohibited (not allowed) items include perfumes (nice-smelling liquids sprayed onto ones body) and nail polish (colored liquid painted onto ones fingernails). Anything in an aerosol can (a container where one pushes a button on top and liquid sprays out in very small drops) is also forbidden (not allowed) in the mail. Bleach (a liquid used to clean and to make fabric white), cleaning chemicals, paints, and gasoline cannot be mailed either.

Matches, fireworks (things used in celebrations that explode in the sky and create many colors), and other things that might catch on fire or explode are prohibited, as are batteries. Firearms (guns) cant be sent through the mail either, for obvious (easy to understand) reasons.

Live animals cannot be sent through the mail, because they need special care and attention. Finally, most alcoholic beverages cannotbe sent through the mail.

Most post offices in the United States have one or more posters (pieces of paper with text and/or pictures hung on a wall and usedto share information) with lists and pictures of prohibited items. Sometimes the postal worker (a person who works for the United States Postal Service) will ask the sender whether his or her package contains any of those hazardous items.

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Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – b

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 456: Sending Business Packages.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast number 456. I am your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, and I am coming to you from beautiful Los Angeles, California, at the Center for Educational Development.

Go to our website at eslpod.com to download a LearningGuide for this episode.

The Learning Guides contain all of the vocabulary, definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions, and a complete transcript of everything I say on this episode so you can follow along as you listen.

This episode is called Sending Business Packages. Its a dialogue between Sam and Maria using some common vocabulary you would hear if you were going to send a package, a large box for example, for your business. Lets get started.

[start of dialogue]

Maria: I need this package to arrive in Tulsa by next Wednesday.

Sam: Sure, Ill send it UPS or FedEx using their ground service. Itll be cheaper than sending it using their overnight service and we can still track it. Is it going to a business?

Maria: Yes, it is.

Sam: Okay, I’ll mark that it’s going to a commercial address.

Maria: Thats fine. Ill also need these contracts to get to Tokyo by Friday. Send it to the home of the president of the company.

Sam: Ill send it DHL and use the residential delivery service. This seems like a large package for just contracts.

Maria: I’m also including a gift for the president’s wife.

Sam: If its breakable, Ill pack it really well and then get it insured. Whats the declared value?

Maria: Its about $700. Oh, and I want this box to go to Olten, Switzerland, but just send it regular mail through the post office. Makesure I get delivery confirmation, though.

Sam: No problem. Ill just need to fill out a customs declaration form. What are the contents?

Maria: They’re books.

Sam: Okay, I’ll take care of it.

Maria: Thanks. What would I do without you?

Sam: The real question is, what would the mail services do without you?

[end of dialogue]

Our dialogue begins with Maria saying to Sam, I need this package to arrive in Tulsa by next Wednesday. Tulsa is a city in the state of Oklahoma, which is right in the middle (central) part of the United States. A package describes any sort of box or perhaps a large envelope that you are sending to someone. Sam says, Sure, Ill send it UPS or FedEx using their groundservice. UPS stands for United Parcel Service, FedEx stands for Federal Express;those are two private mail companies in the United States that you canuse to send packages if you need them to get there quickly. Ground service, or simply we often just say sending it ground, means that it is going to go intoa truck or a train in order to be delivered; it is not going on a boat or on a plane. Ground service is the slowest service, usually. If you send a package from Los Angeles ground, or UPS ground, to New York itll probably take four days toget there, maybe five.

Sam says, Itll be cheaper than sending it using their overnight service and we can still track it. Overnight service means that the package will arrive the next morning or the next afternoon, taking 24 hours or so toget to where you are sending it. If you have a very important letter or document that someone needs by tomorrow, you would have to send it overnight. Sometimes thats called express service. Both private companies such as UPS and FedEX, as well as the public mail service in the United States, the U.S. Postal Service, all of them offer overnight service.

Sam says that they will be able to track the package, that can be done when you send something overnight or if you send it ground. Totrack means to know where something is, to follow something. Nowadays, you can go online and you can put the number of the package in there and it willtell you where that package is as it travels from your city to the place where you are sending it. Sam asks, Is it going to a business? You could send a package to a business or a house.

Maria says, Yes, it is. Sam says, Okay, Ill mark that its going to a commercial address. To mark something means to write or indicate on a form some piece of information, something that is different about that particular thing. For example, you could mark your house with orange balloons; you would put orange balloons to indicate to show that it is a particular place where people would want to come for a party, for example. I dont know why you would put orange balloons on your house maybe youre crazy!

In any case, Sam is going to mark or indicate on the formthat it is going to a commercial address. Commercial is just another word fora business address. Maria says, Thats fine. Ill also need these contracts to get to Tokyo by Friday.

Contracts are legal agreements between two people. Maria wants to send these contracts to Tokyo, Japan by Friday. Maria says, Send it to the home of the president of the company. Sam says, Ill send it DHL and use the residential delivery service. DHL is another international mail company that delivers packages. Residential is just another word for home, so sending something to a residential address means you are sending it to a home address.

Maria says, Im also including a gift for the presidents wife. Sam says, If its breakable, Ill pack it really well and then get it insured. If the gift is breakable that means that it can break easily; we might also use theword fragile.

Sometimes if you are sending a package that has somethingthat could break easily, you put the word fragile (fragile) on the outside of the package. That wont actually make any difference, but youll feel better by doing it thinking that youre doing something! Sam says hes going to pack it real well. To pack something means to put something in a container an envelope, a box and then send it somewhere. We also use the verb to pack for other meanings in English, take a look at the Learning Guide for some additional explanations.

Here, Sam is packing this gift in the package, and then hes going to get it insured. To insure something means to have some sort of financial protection, often offered by an insurance company, so if something bad happens the company will give you money for what was lost or damaged.Most of the private mail services have insurance that you can buy in case the package gets lost or something happens to it. Sam then asks Maria what the declared value is of the gift. The value is what it is worth, the amount of money. To declare something means to say or to state something, usually on a form or a piece of paper, something official. So, declared value is theamount of money that you are saying this is worth, and you put that down on the package so that you have enough insurance. So if the package gets lost and you declared the value, you said it was worth $400, then you will get $400 back. Thats what declared value

Maria says, Its about $700. Wow, a pretty nice gift! Maria says, Oh, and I want this box to go to Olten, Switzerland, but just sendit regular mail through the post office, meaning through the public mail system. Maria says, Make sure I get delivery confirmation, though. Delivery confirmation is a service where the sender can use his or her phone or the Internet to findout exactly when the package arrived and where it was delivered, if it was delivered to the right place. To confirm something means, in this case, to inform you to make sure that something happened.

Sam says, No problem, of course. Ill just need to fill out a customs declaration form. Customs is the government office that makes sure that you are not bringing something into the country that is illegal or not allowed. A customs declaration form is a form a piece of paper that says this is what is in this package. If you are sending something to another country the mail service may have to inspect what you are sending, you would put a customs declarations form to tell the customs office that this is what I am sending so they know it is nothing illegal or nothing that you have to pay a tax on.

Sam says, What are the contents? meaning what is inside the box or the package that she is sending to Olten, Switzerland, and Maria says, Theyre books. Sam says, Okay, Ill take care of it Ill handle it. Maria says, Thanks.

What would I do without you? which is a question an expression that people say when the person has been so helpful to them, so valuable to them: What would I do without you? Sam says, The real question is, what would the mail services do without you? because, of course, shes giving these companies so much business by sending so many packages.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue again, this time at anormal speed.