1. While 最近 has been taught as meaning “recently” it can also be used to describe the future. Compare these two sentences:

a. 我老板最近想要雇用一个新的员工.

b. 其实, 是因为最近很多同事被炒鱿鱼.

2. 并不是 is used in response to a statement that you completely disagree with.

3. We can see another example of the conditional 才 in 其实, 是因为最近很多同事被炒鱿鱼. 所以老板才需要雇用新的员工. The 才 emphasizes that the clause that follows it (my boss needs to hire new employees) is occurring because of the preceding clause (many coworkers have been fired recently).

4. We can see a few examples of 被 in:

a. 其实, 是因为最近很多同事被炒鱿鱼.
b. 那些被炒鱿鱼的员工是真的很不好吗?
c. 所以她想知道这个男人会不会怕他有一天被他老板炒鱿鱼.
d. 而且你也不用担心你会被炒鱿鱼了.

5. In this lesson, you learned two ways to say the term “fired” – note how both of them seem quite indirect.

a. 炒鱿鱼
b. 请他们走路