Hello. The programme you're about to listen to was first broadcast（广播） in June 2009 on the BBC Learning（学习） English website. For more English language learning programmes and podcasts, search（ 搜寻） for BBC Learning（学习） English. Hello. This is 6 Minute English. I'm Jackie Dalton and with me today is Neil Edgler.

  Hello, sir（先生）. Sir. Very unusual（ 不平常的）. You don't usually call me Sir, Jackie. No, I don't usually. I usually call you Neil, don't I?

  Yes, you do. And that's because we're colleagues（同事） and the way we interact（互相影响） in the office is pretty informal（非正式的）, really. It's quite relaxed. We just use each other's first names. And the reason I call you Sir is because the topic of today's programme is formality（遵守礼节） or lack（缺乏） of formality（遵守礼节） at work. So, do you work somewhere（ 在某处） where you can behave（表现） in a relaxed way around colleagues（同事） or do you have to be very polite and maybe a bit distant?

  Is there a dress code（密码）? Yes, a dress code is the rules for what you should wear in a certain（确实的） situation. So, if a restaurant has a 'no jeans（斜纹布）' policy（政策） or dress code（密码）, it means（意味） you have to wear smart（聪明的） trousers. You're not allowed（允许） in if you wear jeans（斜纹布）. Well, in a moment, we'll be talking a bit（一点） about things have changed for us here. But first, I have a question for you.

  A survey（调查） was carried out in Britain into dress codes（密码） at work. And I'd like you to guess what percentage（百分比） of people said they'd prefer to be given（做） a precise（精确的） dress code（密码）. In other words, would prefer to be told what kind of clothes they should wear. Was it 5%? 23%? Or 85%?

  Well, I don't think people like being told what to wear, so I'm going to say 5%. OK. Well, we'll find out at the end of the programme whether（ 是否） your answer was correct. Would you say the BBC World Service（公共服务） is a fairly（相当） formal（正式的） place to work? It's quite a serious（认真严肃的） place, but it's certainly（一定） not formal（正式的）. People wear pretty much what they want to wear.

  And most people are on first name terms（术语）, aren't they? Yes, they are. That means that they don't call each other Mr Smith or Mrs Jones, they call each other Brian and Keith.