Intermediate - A Firing Afoot? (C1077)

A 朱丽叶,等会儿到我办公室来一下。
Zhū Lìyè, děng huǐr dào wǒ bàngōngshì lái yīxià.
Zhu Li Ye, come into my office in a bit.
B 好的,Bill。
hǎo de, Bill.
Sure, Bill.
A 坐。最近经济越来越差,比我们想象的还差。
zuò. zuìjìn jīngjì yuèláiyuè chà, bǐ wǒmen xiǎngxiàng de hái chà.
Sit down. The economy has been getting worse and worse lately. It's much worse than we thought.
B 是啊,公司少了好多客户。
shì a, gōngsī shǎo le hǎo duō kèhù.
Yes, the company has lost a lot of clients.
A 嗯。所以公司需要做一些决定。
ng4. suǒyǐ gōngsī xūyào zuò yīxiē juédìng.
Hmm...So the company has to make some decisions.
B 你是说解雇员工吗?
nǐ shì shuō jiěgù yuángōng ma?
Are you saying we need to lay off some employees?
A 对。这也是没办法。
duì. zhè yě méi bànfǎ.
Yes. We have no choice.
B 你已经决定解雇谁了吗?
nǐ yǐjīng juédìng jiěgù shéi le ma?
Have you already decided who to let go?
A 还没有。我想了解一下这几个人的表现,你写份报告给我。
hái méiyǒu. wǒ xiǎng liǎojiě yīxià zhè jǐ ge rén de biǎoxiàn, nǐ xiě fèn bàogào gěi wǒ.
Not yet. I'd like to get an understanding of a few people's performance. Write a report for me.
B 好。
hǎo.
OK.
A 主要说说他们今年的业绩和收入。
zhǔyào shuō shuo tāmen jīnnián de yèjì hé shōurù.
Mostly, tell me about their performance and salary for this year.
B 嗯。
ng4.
Hmm.
A 我希望你不要跟同事说。
wǒ xīwàng nǐ bùyào gēn tóngshì shuō.
I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about this with your colleagues.
B 我明白。
wǒ míngbai.
I understand.

Key Vocabulary

经济 jīngjì economy
越来越 yuèláiyuè more and more
想象 xiǎngxiàng to imagine
shǎo less
客户 kèhù client
决定 juédìng resolution
解雇 jiěgù to lay off
员工 yuángōng employee
了解 liǎojiě to understand
表现 biǎoxiàn expression
报告 bàogào report
主要 zhǔyào primarily
业绩 yèjì outstanding achievement
收入 shōurù income
同事 tóngshì colleague

Supplementary Vocabulary

chǎo to fry
炒鱿鱼 chǎoyóuyú to fire someone (to fry squid)
裁员 cáiyuán to reduce staff
薪水 xīnshuǐ income
加薪 jiāxīn to increase wages
减薪 jiǎnxīn to cut wages
经济危机 jīngjìwēijī economic crisis
次贷危机 cìdàiwēijī subprime crisis