Advanced English Conversations (2) - Robert Allans, Matt Edie, A. Mustafaoglu 2020

Set 5 - Life-work balance is still like an impossible feat

Jessie: What I like about my new work is that we don’t have to dress up to go to work. We’re quite informal in our outlook.

Sally: Great! Speaking of positive stuff; I can say that we have a big emphasis on a good team environment and a transparent form of communication. There is mutual respect among all employees, regardless of their official statuses.

Jessie: Yeah; but life-work balance is still like an impossible feat for me. My phone never gets quiet which makes me accessible round the clock. I take pride in my being an overachiever, but as they say “Perfectionism is out of reach”.

Sally: Certainly! I’ve got a kind of laid-back attitude and I guess it is worth striving for excellence rather than perfectionism. I’ve already solved the phone problem; I just shut it the moment I set foot in my house and I no longer get updates from work. I won’t trade my time with my family for the whole world.

Jessie: Right! I might consider following your steps before it’s too late.

Vocabulary;

dress up: to dress in smart or formal clothes.

transparent: (adjective) easy to perceive or detect; clear and open.

mutual respect: appreciating differences; a proper regard for the dignity of a person or position.

life-work balance: the balance that a working individual needs between time allocated for work and other aspects of life.

impossible feat: incapable of being done, undertaken, or experienced; incapable of occurring or happening.

get quiet: to make very little noise.

round the clock: all day and all night.

take pride in: to take satisfaction in, be proud of.

overachiever: a person who does more than they are expected to do or who is more successful than others.

out of reach: beyond the capacity of someone to attain something.

laid-back: (adjective) relaxed and easy-going.

set foot in/on: to enter a place or reach it.

trade for: to exchange someone or something for someone or something.

Exercise;

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate phrases or words;

1. Just as Abraham believed that God would bring about the seemingly impossible .......... of giving children to a barren couple.

2. Mom is the light of my eyes. I wouldn’t .......... her for the entire world.

3. As soon as I set .......... in there, I knew that I had to be involved somehow.

4. Housing prices in New York are out of .......... for ordinary people.

5. Service is friendly and .......... and there's a lovely garden, with tables for alfresco eating.

6. If you're an .........., you may put relaxation low on your priority list.

7. Our company has always taken .......... in its excellent customer support and commitment to customer satisfaction.

8. Doctors and nurses worked round the .......... to help those injured in the train crash.

9. There comes a time when the world gets .......... and the only thing left is your own heart.

10. One of the most effective aspects in increasing employees’ productivity is maintaining life-work .................................................................................................

11. Different perspectives, shared in an atmosphere of .......... respect, will always get a better result than Lone Ranger approaches.

12. I think we should try to make the instructions more ..........

13. You don't need to .......... up just to go to the pub - jeans and a T-shirt will do the job.

1. feat 2. trade 3. foot 4. reach 5. laid-back 6. overachiever 7. pride 8. clock 9. quiet 10. balance 11. mutual 12. transparent 13. dress