ESL Podcast 608 – Formatting Text

（单词翻译）

Chad: Okay, this report is finally finished.

Pamela: Oh, not quite. I’m still working on the formatting¹.

Chad: We used the standard formatting for this type of report. I don’t think we should play around with the text.

Pamela: Standard is boring. I want our report to be special. I’m putting a nice border on the cover, adding some shading, and centering some of the text.

Chad: No, I really think that’s a bad idea. All of the text should be flush left, and nobody else puts shading in their reports. It cuts down on readability.

Pamela: Readability is secondary to presentation. Look, I’m just putting some of the titles in caps and underlining them, adding some bullets, and putting some of the important sections in bold or italics. This will all make each page look more professional.

Chad: I don’t think it’s going to have your intended effect.

Pamela: Really?

Chad: Yes, instead of thinking we’re being professional, they’ll think we’ve gone off our rocker.

Pamela: Don’t be so stodgy². Hey, I think adding some clip art would really jazz things up, don’t you?

Chad: Oh, God!


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse