Advanced English Conversations (2) - Robert Allans, Matt Edie, A. Mustafaoglu 2020

Set 88 - Could you stop fiddling with your phone, please?

Peter: Eric. Could you stop fiddling with your phone, please? This is supposed to be a serious meeting. I wish you would take note of the subject in question.

Eric: Oh. You must be kidding! What’s the point of all this rambling and unfocused work. You could have sent this information in an e-mail.

Peter: Here we go again! Your presence as a director is indispensible. We won’t get to any resolutions through e-mails.

Eric: Well; let’s face the facts; without a good agenda, the meeting would be far from being productive. Moreover, we need to set a time frame for these meetings. We can’t just talk and talk forever. We just run out of things to talk about and end up reiterating the same nonsense over and over.

Peter: We do have a well-prepared agenda. The problem is these distractions and side conversations.

Eric; Not at all. The agenda is often vague or redundant with pointless arguments, so the meetings felt like a rubber-stamping of decisions made elsewhere.

Peter: Fair enough. As of this moment you’re assigned to lead our meetings.

Vocabulary;

fiddle with: to play or tinker with something.

take note of: to make an especial effort to focus on or remember something.

rambling: (adjective) lengthy and confused or inconsequential.

indispensable: (adjective) absolutely necessary; essential.

resolution: an official decision that is made after a group or organization has voted.

time frame: a period of days, weeks, etc. within which an activity is intended to happen.

reiterate: say something again or a number of times, typically for emphasis or clarity.

side conversation: to as a separate discussion having outside the main discussion.

vague: (adjective) not clearly expressed, known, described, or decided.

redundant: (adjective) unessential; more than what is usual or necessary, esp. using extra words that mean the same thing.

Fair enough: That's reasonable; I agree.

Exercise;

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate phrases or words;

1. Grandpa's still .......... with that old radio, but I doubt he'll get it to work again.

2. Since .......... conversations are often distracting others from concentrating and learning, it is appropriate to actively do something to curtail this behavior.

3. The rules don’t fit with our organization. They are .......... and open to interpretation.

4. The tax laws are changing dramatically, and international businesses need to .......... note.

5. The government has .......... its refusal to compromise with terrorists.

6. A. “I'll wait just one more day. B. “Fair .........., you've been very patient”.

7. My English teacher was merciless if what we wrote was abstract, sentimental, or ..........

8. The United Nations passed a .......... to increase aid to developing nations.

9. Yesterday, the troubled airline publicly announced a time .......... for a possible liquidation.

10. His long experience at the United Nations makes him .......... to the talks.

11. He set off on a long .......... account of something that had happened in the bar that afternoon.

1. fiddling 2. side 3. vague 4. take 5. reiterated 6. enough 7. redundant 8. resolution 9. frame 10. indispensable 11. rambling