2013年ESL之商务英语 21 Ending Excessive Spending

（单词翻译）

Ending Excessive Spending

Raphael: Sorry to be a buzzkill, but this gravy¹ train we’ve been on is about to end. 

Kelly: What do you mean? 

Raphael: There have been a lot of complaints about our department’s spending on extraneous² things, and to quell³ the masses, the department head is making some major changes. 

Kelly: Like what? 

Raphael: Like no more frivolous⁴ and excessive spending on travel and entertainment at conferences. 

Kelly: But those are the only things that make this job bearable. Those perks⁵ are part and parcel of working for a government agency – at least that’s what I used to think. 

Raphael: Well, once the press got wind of some of our spending practices, they started to question our budget allocations. The long and short of it is that those days are about to end. 

Kelly: And I was planning to take you and a few other employees to St. Lucia for a retreat in the spring. 

Raphael: I think you’d better change those plans, at least the venue⁶. You’d have better luck getting it approved if you picked Cleveland! 

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse