每天一点，再接再厉！

会话1

A: Do you have the day off today？How come you are not at work now?

How come = why, 你为什么没来上班呢

B: I don’t have the day off。 Our labor union is staging a nationwide strike today, all of the workers in our department are supporting the labor union by participating and not going in to work this week.

A： Are you serious? Why would they have to go to such extreme measures like a strike？ Doesn't your company have a pretty good corporate image？你们公司不够好吗？

I'll bet the folks at headquarters are going nuts over something as serious as a strike. . . . 总部的那些人对类似罢工这种事一定很抓狂

Are going nuts over: 疯了

B： It happens quite often, actually。 Whenever there arises a dispute between the union and the executive group， the first thing they do is to call a strike。 Usually it only lasts a day or two before both sides can come to an agreement and we start work again. Anyhow, it's a nice， unanticipated holiday意料之外的假期。 。 。 。

会话2

A： Did you hear what’s going on downtown today？ All the workers from the factory are staging a demonstration游行示威 in the streets。 Not one of the two thousand employees showed up for work today， and they have gathered outside the city hall to demand better working conditions for all factory employees.

B: Wow， sounds chaotic混乱. . 。 。 two thousand people in the streets carrying picket signs 罢工标语 and shouting sloans. What gave them the motivation to finally organize and call management on the substandard working conditions?是什么动机促使他们组织罢工，要求改善低标准的工作条件？

A： I think they gained courage after the mayor’s speech last week on equality and opportunity for all town citizens。 Anyway, the sentiments 情绪 have been brewing 酝酿for quite some time. I mean, we all know the working conditions at the factory are quite horrendous令人难以容忍的。

B: So what kind of demands do they have? What are they asking for specifically？

A: They want raises and medical insurance,and I think they want to clean up the factory’s safety hazards 危险. That’s probably the most important issue.