Chen Hao's visa has been refused with no explanation. At the application centre, a clerk tells him what the sentence means.
Chen Hao
你好，我的签证被拒了，想问一下原因。
Nǐhǎo, wǒ de qiānzhèng bèi jù le, xiǎng wèn yīxià yuányīn.
Hello, my visa has been refused and I would like to ask the reason.
The clerk
请把护照和通知给我。
Qǐng bǎ hùzhào hé tōngzhī gěi wǒ.
Let me have your passport and the notice.
Chen Hao
都在这儿。上面只写了一句话。
Dōu zài zhèr. Shàngmian zhǐ xiě le yī jù huà.
Both here. There is only one sentence on it.
The clerk
这句话的意思是材料不够，看不出来您会回来。
Zhè jù huà de yìsi shì cáiliào bùgòu, kàn bù chūlái nín huì huílai.
That sentence means the file is insufficient: nothing in it shows that you will come back.
Chen Hao
我有工作，也交了工资的证明。
Wǒ yǒu gōngzuò, yě jiāo le gōngzī de zhèngmíng.
I have a job, and I supplied proof of salary.
The clerk
光有工作还不够。还要看存款和出过几次国。
Guāng yǒu gōngzuò hái bùgòu. Hái yào kàn cún kuǎn hé chū guò jǐ cì guó.
Having a job alone is not enough. They also look at savings and how many times you have been abroad.
Chen Hao
这是我第一次出国。
Zhè shì wǒ dìyī cì chūguó.
This is my first time going abroad.
The clerk
那就更要把材料做全，比如房子、车、家人。
Nà jiù gèng yào bǎ cáiliào zuò quán, bǐrú fángzi, chē, jiārén.
All the more reason to make the file complete: property, a car, family.
Chen Hao
多久以后可以再申请？
Duō jiǔ yǐhòu kěyǐ zài shēnqǐng ?
How long before I can apply again?
The clerk
随时都可以。不过材料没变，结果也不会变。
Suíshí dōu kěyǐ. Bùguò cáiliào méi biàn, jiéguǒ yě bùhuì biàn.
Any time at all. But if the file has not changed, the answer will not either.
Chen Hao
那我先把存款放三个月，再重新申请。
Nà wǒ xiān bǎ cún kuǎn fàng sān gè yuè, zài chóngxīn shēnqǐng.
Then I will leave my savings in the account for three months and apply again after that.
The clerk
这样比较好。另外，行程也要写得具体一点儿。
Zhèyàng bǐjiào hǎo. Lìngwài, xíng chéng yě yào xiě de jùtǐ yīdiǎnr.
That is wiser. One more thing: set out your itinerary in more detail.
Chen Hao
明白了，谢谢您。
Míngbai le, xièxie nín.
I understand, thank you very much.
被拒了 instead of 被拒绝了: in official language and in the press, the passive often makes do with a single-syllable verb. You likewise read 被抓, 被罚, 被查. The meaning does not change, the register does: the short form is drier, and it is the one used by the person it happened to.
光有工作还不够: having a job, by itself, is not enough. 光 means "only" here, like 只, but it almost always announces a shortfall and calls for a 还 or a 不够 behind it. 只有工作 would be neutral; 光有工作 already carries the reproach.
看不出来您会回来: it cannot be seen, on reading, that you will come back. The complement 出来 marks here not a movement but the emergence of information, and its negative says the information does not come out. The same value is in 听不出来 (not to recognise by ear) and 想不出来, seen in lesson 13.
