“When you go to meetings or auditions and you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It is simple but true.” — Paula Abdul (Singer)
「當你毫無準備的去參加會議或試鏡，你只好準備接受失敗吧。事實就是如此簡單明瞭。」——寶拉阿巴杜（歌手）
許多職場人士經常都需要開會，但要如何在會議中展現專業的一面呢？就讓我們來看看會議流程中有哪些常見的英文字，學起來不但日後在會議可以派上用場，還可以多掌握幾個TOEIC關鍵字！
Photo courtesy of Freepik / 照片：Freepik堤供
1.流程與計畫
一個有效率的會議都經過安排和計畫，如果沒有計畫的會議則會演變成漫無目的的討論，很可能最後只是浪費時間而且毫無收穫。因此一般來說會議通常會有事先排定的流程與計畫（agenda），而agenda或許有些不同，但大致上都會有基本資訊如日期（date/time），地點（venue），參與者等。AOB指的是Any Other Business的意思，也就是「其他事項」，通常會列於所有討論項目的最後。
Annual General Meeting
Date/ Time:
Venue:
Objectives:
Attendees:
Apologies:
Agenda
1. (item 1)
2. (item 2)
3. (item 3)
4. (item 4)
5. AOB
Meeting Adjourned at __________ (time)
參與者可用attendees或participants，其中主席可在名字後面加上（chair或chairperson）的字樣來表示。另外，Apologies在這裡不是道歉的意思，這一欄通常是列出缺席的人名。而objective這個字在這裡的意思為「目的」，代替了名詞purpose。此外，objective也可當作形容詞，作為「公正的，客觀的」解釋，相反則是subjective, biased。
Our writing teacher tried to be objective and impartial.
（我們寫作老師試著公正客觀。）
The managers pointed out the main objectiveof the project.
（經理指出這專案的主要目的為何。）
2.開場與歡迎
會議開場時通常會有幾個步驟，首先時歡迎與會者（welcome）和介紹一些特殊的與會者、講者，或者是開場者的自我介紹，以下就介紹幾個簡單的開場方式：
First of all, I’d like to welcome you all to today’s meeting.
Well, since everyone is here, I think we should get started.
We have much to cover today, so we should begin.
I’d like to take a moment to introduce ___(sb.)____.
cover這個字有很多不同的意思如「報導」、「涵蓋」等，但這裡當動詞，表示「要討論」。
I think we’ve covered most of the items on the agenda.
（我想我們應該討論完議程上大部分的項目了。）
在開場時，如果需要特別指出缺席的人和原因，則可用下面簡單的表達方式。
___(sb.)___ has sent her apologies. She’s under the weather.
（某某人深感抱歉，因病無法出席。）
under the weather是表示身體微恙，不舒服的意思，和unwell或out of sorts相同意思。
3.加快討論
會議中需要討論的項目英文是用item(s)這個字，在開會時通常都得計時或追蹤時間以確保會議能夠照著既定的時間和流程進行。如果時間延遲或耽擱了有時需要加快討論的速度，有時需要結束並往下面一個項目走，或甚至需要略過幾個項目，這時就可以用下面的表現方式。
(1) I think we’re running short on time. Let’s move on.
running short on time表示「時間不夠了」，short這個字本身有「短缺」的意思，名詞是shortage。
If the drought continues, there will be a food shortage soon.
（如果乾旱持續下去，我們將會有糧食短缺的問題。）
跟running short on time類似的表現方式有running behind schedule「進度落後」，這句英文經常被使用，因此可以套在同一個句型裡。
(2) We only have 10 minutes remaining, so we’ll have to skip the next item.
這裡remaining作「剩下的」解釋。千萬不要跟reminding混淆了。remind是動詞，通常用remind (someone) of (something)「提醒某人某事」或者remind someone that ___(子句) __
如果會議討論離題了或花了太多時間在不甚相關的事情時：
We are getting off the subject. The matter is not on our agenda.
（我們離題了，這個不在我們議程裡。）
Can we stick to the matter/the task at hand?
（我們可以照著手上的議題走嗎？）
Let’s save this for another meeting.
（這個留到下次開會再說。）
getting off有「離開」的意思，這裡指的意思是「離題」。
4.發表意見
最後會議中如果有問題要發問或是想要發表意見，比較簡單的表達方式有：
Can I saysomething/one thing here?
If I could just come in here, ___(子句)___.
表達同意和不同意最常用的方法如下：
Agree
I agree with you entirely.／I couldn’t agree with you more.／I’m in favor of that.
Disagree
I’m afraid that I’d have to disagree about that.／I’m not convinced by your argument.／I’m against that.
注意，「I couldn’t agree with you more.」雖然句子含有否定字not，但是這句話所表達的意思是肯定、同意的意思。此外，在表達不同意時，我們可以在句子前加上「I’m afraid」來使句子的語氣較為婉轉，這也是個較為禮貌的說法。另外，也可用「I beg to differ.」來表示不同意。
多益模擬試題：
1. A 40% deposit is required when placing the order, and the __________ is due at the time of delivery.（在下訂單時需付40%的訂金，而剩下的部分則須在寄送時付清。）
(A) reminder
(B) retention
(C) remaining
(D) retaining
2. The meeting would have started on time if the equipment __________ thoroughly.（如果之前設備有仔細檢查的話，會議就可準時開始。）
(A) checked
(B) be checked
(C) had checked
(D) had been checked
解析：
1. 本題為單字題，這幾個字拼法類似，容易混淆。(A)是「提示」，(B)是「留住，保留」為名詞，它的動詞是retain，也就是(D)。因此符合本題題意的答案為(C)「剩下的」。
2. 正確答案為(D)。本題為文法題，是用If來做過去事實相反的假設，If的條件句應該是用「had (not)+Vp.p.」的表現方式，而結果就用「would (not) have Vp.p.」由於設備是被檢查，所以我們需要加入被動式，因此本題正確的用法會是「had been Vp.p.」
SOURCE: https://www.englishok.com.tw/no-yet/meetings_express
文章由TOEIC Program Taiwan · Chun Shin提供：
www.facebook.com/ToeicProgramTaiwan
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