Using English at Work：49 Leaving Work(1)

（单词翻译）

You're listening to ESLPod.com's "Using English at Work." I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, from the Center for Educational Development.

In our last lesson, our eighth lesson in "Using English at Work," we learned¹ vocabulary related² to having a meeting with the boss.

In this ninth lesson, we're going to talk about leaving work at the end of the day.

We'll get started by listening to the story read at a slow speed.

I look at the clock and it's already 5:30. It's quitting time!

I still need to put the finishing touches on my report, but I can do that on Monday morning before I submit³ it to my boss.

Some weeks I have to take work home and burn the midnight oil, but not this week.

I have everything under control and I don't need to work over the weekend.

I pack up my briefcase⁴ and shut down my computer.

I put some important papers back in their folder⁵ and leave it in my desk drawer for safekeeping.

I take the papers and files from my outbox and put them in my coworker's inbox.

But when I get back to my desk, another coworker has put some new memos⁶ and papers in my inbox!

I like to clear my desk as much as possible at the end of the week to avoid clutter⁷, and I guess everyone else does, too!

I look at my desk one last time to make sure I haven't left anything behind, and I'm ready to head home. Weekend, here I come!

When our story begins, I look at the clock and I see that it's already 5:30. It's quitting time!

"Quitting time" is the end of the workday, the time when people are supposed to leave the office and go home.

In reality, a lot of people work past the traditional quitting time, but in this story I'm able to leave at 5:30.

I say I still need to put the finishing touches on my report.

A "finishing touch" is a small change, detail, or perhaps addition that needs to be made in order to finish something.

When you're cooking, for example, a finishing touch might be to add some salt and pepper right at the end of the cooking process.