Personal endeavor

Few days ago I bumped into a guy who used to be in my class before. I caught his eye while entering the lobby of the building where I usually had class at. I run into people I know here more often than not because this gate seems to be the only access to the building for all workers of the company for the sake of security.

personal endeavor 個人努力
bump into 碰到
used to 曾經
catch one's eye 四目交接
enter 進入
lobby 大廳
run into 遇見
more often than not 常常
gate 大門
seem to 似乎
access 通道
for the sake of security 為了安全的理由

I greeted him as usual by saying how he had been doing recently. He did the same thing to me in the same manner as well. Suddenly he just thought of something and started speaking to me raising his voice. He said he really appreciated my teaching because he registered for one official TOEIC test shortly after the wrap-up of my TOEIC lessons. He scored 805 in the real test and from that moment on he would never have to worry about it any more; a sufficient TOEIC score has always been taken into account by the management when one in this company works his or her way up the corporate ladder.

greet 問候
as usual 通常
recently 最近
manner 姿態
as well 也
suddenly 突然地
thought of 想到(think of 過去式)
raise 提高
appreciate 感謝
register for 報名
official 官方的，正式的
shortly after 馬上在...之後
wrap-up 結束
score 得分
from +time+ on 從...開始
worry 擔心
sufficient 足夠的
take into account 考慮
management 資方
work one's way up the corporate ladder 在公司向上晉升

I could see why he got into ecstasies and then I congratulated him on that. I told him by the way it was due to his own endeavor and teaching him in preparing for the test was only my job. Then I entered the revolving door.

ecstasy 非常高興，狂喜
congratulate 恭賀
by the way 順便說
due to 由於
prepare for 準備，應付
revolving door 旋轉門

I was being so happy the whole evening.

Unexpected compensation

I would like to tell you a true story about myself. It just happened last night and the moral of it is how important cooling down yourself can be.

unexpected compensation 不預期的賠償
moral 寓意
cool down 冷靜

I pulled my car into the nearest gas station of my home on Tuesday night, as usual. On Tuesdays this station provides its customers with much cheaper gas price than others-- normally around 1.5 NT per liter less than the fixed price if paid by cash. For me it is a real bargain, so I would never let the chance go.

pull a car into 把車開進
gas station 加油站
as usual 通常
provide sb with st 提供某人某物
customer 顧客
gas/ gasoline 汽油
normally 正常來說
NT 台幣
per liter 每公升
less than 少於
fixed 固定的
cash 現金
bargain 便宜貨

In Taiwan almost all the gas stations offer only full service to their patrons instead of self service. That is, drivers don't have to get off their cars to get their babies filled up by themselves. All you have to do is stay inside and tell the clerk how much fuel you want and the class of the gasoline you prefer and they will serve you in no time.

almost 幾乎
offer 提供
full service 全服務
patron 顧客
self service 自助服務
get off 下車
fill up 加滿
clerk 職員
fuel 燃料
prefer 較喜歡
serve 服務
in no time 馬上

I told the young man that I only wanted 500 NT of 92 gas for my car. I opened the lid of the gas tank and he immediately triggered the "gun" of the gas pump, then he left.

lid 蓋子
gas tank 油箱
immediately 馬上
trigger 啟動
gun 槍
gas pump 加油機

I looked at the meter of the pump blankly, thinking about picking something up at he grocery store later. Suddenly I found the numbers on the meter didn't seem to stop at "500" dollars but kept rolling. I called the clerk who just served me and told him to stop the pump right away. He, having a chat with his fellow worker just seconds ago, started realizing that he had forgotten to set the pump to stop at "500". It was finally stopped at "678" dollars and then I began to worry whether I had enough money to pay. He looked worried too, because I could sense that. I opened my wallet and counted the bills I had; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...Oops! there were only six hundred NT... then I looked into the coins I got...Two fifty-NT coins!! Now I got enough to pay but began to get annoyed.

meter 表
blankly 茫然地
pick up 買
grocery store 雜貨店
suddenly 突然
chat 聊天
fellow workers 同事
realize 了解
whether 是否
sense 察覺
wallet 錢包
count 計算
oops 糟糕
coin 硬幣
annoyed 不高興

I was about to blame this guy for his carelessness because I had already told him how much gas I wanted, but he seemed to turn his deaf ear to what I just told him to do. I managed to cool myself down this time, so I didn't say anything to him. He got my money and got back to the cash register. When he returned, he gave me my change and receipt plus a stack of toilet tissue boxes. He apologized to me about his mistake and wish me to come back again.....

blame 責備
guy 傢伙
carelessness 粗心
seem 似乎
turn one's deaf ear to st 把某事當耳邊風
manage to 設法
cash register 收銀機
return 回來
receipt 收據
plus 加上
a stack of 一疊
toilet tissue 面紙
apologize 抱歉

Well, on my way home I was thinking if I had shouted at him last night at the gas station, I might not have got so many boxes of toilet tissue. I had successfully managed my EQ fairly well this time.

shout 大叫
fairly well 還不錯