老板Tom的班机因为台风来袭而停飞，从机场打电话给秘书Susan布置工作。

Tom: And if you don't mind, call our factory in China and see if things are OK there. I'm worried about flooding. 如果你不介意的话，给我们在中国的工厂打个电话吧，问问那里是不是一起都好。我很担心洪水。

S: Sure thing, boss. 当然可以，老板。

T: I'll tell you what, I'll call back in an hour or so and we'll touch base again, good? 我大概会在一小时以后给你大电话的，我们交流一下最新情况，好吗？

S: Absolutely. Good luck and stay safe! 当然。祝你好运，一切安全。

T: Thanks, Susan. 苏珊，谢谢。

(Hang up phone sound)

Tom让Susan打电话给公司设在中国的工厂，看看那里有没有发水，还说自己一小时后再打电话给Susan, "We'll touch base again," 相互通报一下情况。To touch base意思是碰头，联络，交换一下最新情况。Susan说sure thing，意思是没问题。

(Phone ringing)

T: Oh, hello Susan. I thought we said we'd wait an hour. 哦，嗨，苏珊，我记得我说过我们一小时以后联系。

S: I just got off the line with the factory and it's flooding pretty bad down there. They said the water has almost reached half a meter! 我和工厂联系刚挂上电话。工厂果然发洪水了，情况很糟糕。他们说水已经快半米高了。

T: Darn it! I thought we'd solved the flooding problem. Tell them to get the precision machinery off the ground floor and see if they can't use sandbags to stop any more water coming in. 真讨厌！我以为我们已经解决这个问题了。告诉他们把精密仪器搬到楼上去，然后再想办法用沙袋把水堵在外面。

结果没到一小时，Susan就心急火燎地打电话给Tom. 原来是Susan刚刚got off the line with the factory，跟工厂联系刚挂上电话，get off the line，是挂电话的意思。Tom担心得一点没错，工厂果然在发水，已经快半米高了。Tom让他们赶紧把precision machinery，精密仪器搬到楼上去，然后用sandbags，沙袋，想办法把水堵在外面。

S: Ok. There are a couple of people from the head office there. I'll ask them to take charge and try to limit the damage as much as possible. 总部办公室有几个人在工厂那边。我会让他们负责并且尽可能地减少损失。

T: The last time it flooded we lost one of our production lines for almost three weeks! We can't afford that again. Tell them to spare no effort to keep the water out of the production area! 上一次发洪水就导致公司有一条生产先停工将近一个星期。告诉他们想尽一切办法，坚决不能让水进到车间里去。

S: Will do. What about your flight? Any word? 我会告诉他们的。你的航班怎么样了？有消息了吗？

T: Not yet...oh, wait a second...they are announcing something about my flight...I'll call you right back. 还没有……哦，等一下……广播好像在说我的航班的事……我待会给你打电话。

S: Ok. 好的。

(Sound of phone hang up)

Susan说，总部head office有几个人正在工厂那边，可以让他们负责to take charge，尽量减少损失。Tom说，上次发水公司就有一条生产线停工将近三个星期，We can't afford that again，我们再也承受不起这样的损失了。所以tell them to spare no effort...，告诉他们想尽一切办法，坚决不能让水进到车间里去。

Susan最后问Tom的班机有没有消息。Any word? 相当于is there any word on your flight? Word，在这里是消息的意思。Tom说，他们好象正在宣布什么，所以就先挂了电话，Tom的工厂会受到严重损失吗？我们下次继续听。