late本题询问该维修公司的缺点。录音原文中Ethan指出该公司员工工作时迟到(arrive late)，并且他的朋友也遇到过同样的问题。因此缺点是员工经常迟到。故空格处可填入late“迟到的”。

(Ethan=E Bunny=B)
E: Oh, hi Bunny. How are you?
B: I’m sorry to bother you, Ethan, but I’ve been having some problems.
E: Oh. Come on in... What’s happened?
B: Basically, I had a leak from one of the pipes in the bathroom and water started coming through downstairs and the kitchen ceiling’s badly stained. I’ve got the leak fixed temporarily but I wasn’t happy with the plumber, and I wanted to ask your advice.
E: Of course... Well, the first thing I’d say is to make sure you choose a local company... that way if things go wrong you’re close by and it just makes things easier.
B: Let me write this down... Right. Yes. The plumber who fixed things yesterday was from quite far away but I chose him because his advert said he did emergency repairs.
E: Well, fair enough... you needed something in a hurry. But another piece of advice I’d give is try toavoid calling anybody on weekends. That’ll really bump up the prices. Leave it till Monday if you can.
B: Well, yes... I think I can do that because the temporary fix should hold. And obviously, I’ll need the ceiling plastered and eventually re-decorated.
E: Yes, sure.
B: So who would you recommend? Is there a directory?
E: Well, there’s quite a good website covering this sort of work. It’s www.plasdeco.com.
B: Is that with a K or C?
E: P-L-A-S-D-E-C-O dot com.
B: Got it. Well, I’ll try and have a look at that.
E: Yes, it gives price and quality comparisons.
B: Oh, that’ll be useful, but I find personal recommendations really helpful as well... you know, you can find out whether you can rely on the company.
E: Well, I know a couple of reasonable plumbers and also some plasterers.
B: Great.
E: There’s a company called Peake’s Plumbing... now they’re a father and son team. They’re really friendly and theytell you information you need in a clear way...you know, so they really understand what the problem is.
B: Right, well that’s good to know. Are they reliable?
E: Well, that’s a downside — every single time I’ve used themthey arrive late. And friends have said the same thing.
B: But is the work good quality?
E: Absolutely... Another one is John Damerol Plumbing Services — he’s very good.
B: How do you spell the surname?
E: D-A-M-E-R-O-L.
B: Right... got that. And does he do high-quality work?
E: Well, it’s fine, you know, but I wouldn’t say that was his main point. Basically, he come out cheaper... you know... than other people.
B: I sense there’s a ’but’... is he unreliable?
E: Oh... he comes when he says he’s coming, but he’s not very courteous and he has the tendency to be messy... you know so you have quite a bit of clearing up to do.
B: Hmmm... OK
E: So it’s up to you... they’re both good workers and they won’t cheat you.