Using English at Work：05 Arriving at Work(5)

（单词翻译）

"To lock up" means to use a key to close the locks on the doors of one's car or home so that other people cannot get in without a key.

You probably lock up your house before you go to sleep at night.

Well, I am locking up my car before I go into the office so no one steals it.

Here I could also just say "lock" - I "lock" my car, but we often say "lock up" (two words) to add more emphasis to the sentence.

After I lock up my car, I walk toward the building. It's a short walk and I'm there in no time.

The phrase "in no time" means very quickly, right away, or with very little delay.

If you listen to ESL Podcast premium¹ courses like this, you'll learn new vocabulary in no time, or very quickly.

When I get to the office building, I take out my badge and put it around my neck.

"To take out" means to remove from something, such as remove it from my briefcase².

A "badge" (badge) is a piece of identification, usually or often with a photograph, that shows that a person works for a specific organization or business.

A badge is something that you wear so people can see it.

In this case, I put it around my neck; it is hanging from my neck.

Usually, there's a piece of string or some other fabric³ that holds the badge.

Police officers always have badges that they keep in their pocket.

If someone knocks on your door and they say that they are police offices, you may ask them to show their badge before you allow them into your house.

I put my badge around my neck so that people can see it and then I go through the main entrance of the building.

A "main entrance" is the front door of a building, or the primary place where people enter a building that has more than one entrance.

A main entrance is usually bigger and perhaps nicer or more beautiful than the other entrances.