第十一期 2008年12月真题 长对话(3/6)-英语听力

[00:00.00]Conversation 1 [00:03.15]F: Simon, how does it feel to be retired? [00:07.10]M: Well, not so bad. [00:09.70]F: How have you been spending your time? [00:12.18]M: I have been spending more time with my family. [00:15.56]I've also travelled a bit,you know,off season when everywhere is less crowded and hotels cost less. [00:22.38]F: Great. [00:23.99]M: You know I haven't stopped work completely. [00:27.22]F: Yes, could you tell us more about this? [00:30.25]M: I'm on a scheme that's called phased retirement. [00:34.92]I had a six-month break from work, [00:37.62]after that I could apply for project work with the company I used to work for. [00:43.47]F: How does the scheme work? [00:46.27]M: Well, it's a trial at the moment. [00:48.65]Instead of hiring temporary stuff,the company advertises posts on its website [00:54.86]that retired employees like myself can access. [00:59.23]F: What sort of works advertised? [01:02.40]M: Well, all sorts of things, really. [01:04.77]Administrative work and more specialized work, the sort of thing I can do. [01:10.66]Some of the projects can last five or six months,and others can just be a couple of days. [01:18.39]I can decide more or less when to work. So I can manage my own time. [01:24.85]F: I can see it's good for you. What is your company get out of this? [01:30.56]M: Well, I still have all my old contacts at work, so I know who to contact to get something done. [01:36.89]The company gets flexibility, too.Once the job's over,that's it.I'm not on their books any more. [01:47.13]Conversation 2 [01:50.16]W: Oh, where are we going? [01:52.52]M: I want to show you something. [01:54.74]W: I know, but what is it? [01:57.33]M: A farm. It's just down this road. [02:00.23]It's a small place, but at least it would be our own. [02:04.96]W: A farm? How can we afford to buy a farm? [02:09.28]M: It isn't very large, only 40 acres.We wouldn't have to pay very much right now. [02:16.22]W: Is there a house on the place? [02:18.69]M: A small one, two bedrooms, but it needs to be fixed up a little. I can do the job myself. [02:26.41]W: OK. Is there enough space for a kitchen garden? [02:30.25]M: There is about half an acre around the house. That's plenty of space. [02:36.41]W: Then we can grow our own fresh vegetables. And maybe keep a few chickens, couldn't we? [02:42.93]M: Yes, and we can probably grow a lot of our own food. [02:47.43]W: What are you thinking about growing, if we do take this place? [02:52.38]M: Well, it really isn't big enough for corn. I thought we might try to raise a crop of potatoes. [03:00.15]W: Potatoes? There are a lot of work. [03:03.60]M: We are used to hard work, aren't we? [03:06.12]W: Yes, we are, but the money. Do we have enough to get started? It seems like a dream. [03:13.33]M: I think we've saved enough. [03:16.21]We can pay a little on the farm and maybe put a few dollars down on the tractor, too.