听力文本如下:
“Product development” is the work of creating and improving the products that a company sells.
In the computer industry, for example, “product development” is about making computers smaller and faster.
In the clothing industry, “product development” is about making new styles with a lot of fashion.
Chris says that he has been “tweaking” the product so that it's a better fit for what the customers are looking for.
To “tweak” (tweak) means to make small changes to something.
We often “tweak” the wording in these courses to try to make the definitions more accurate and easier to understand.
Finally, Shawn introduces himself and says that he has “spent the last few months trying to keep up with all the great work that Hannah and Chris have been doing.”
To “keep up with” something means to be familiar with all the latest changes in something or to keep up to date with something.
Shawn means that he has been trying to follow all of the work that Hannah and Chris are doing, so that he knows what's going on.
You might try to keep up with the news, or to keep up with changes in technology.
At the end of the meeting, Alex says he's going to “turn it over to Shawn who'll be running the show today.”
To “run the show” means to be in charge of something or to lead a project or meeting.
If you go to a disorganized event and you want to speak with the organizer, you might ask, “Who's running the show here?” to find out who's in charge.
We've reviewed all the vocabulary in the informal meeting, so now let's listen to it again, this time at a normal speed.
Before we dive into the presentation, I should probably start by saying that I'm Alex Aurora, the CEO of Vision Corporation, just in case there's anyone here who hasn't met me in person before today.
Could I please get our key team members to introduce themselves? Hannah, why don't we start with you? Sure.
I'm Hannah Graff, an account representative from the marketing firm that has been doing the focus groups.
Today I'll be talking about your target market.
It's my pleasure to join all of you today.
I'm Christopher Hanson, the Senior V.P. of Product Development.
I've been tweaking our product so that it's a better fit for what our customers are looking for.
Hi, everybody.
I'm Shawn Edwards, Senior V.P. of Marketing.
I've spent the past few months trying to keep up with all the great work that Hannah and Chris have been doing.
Great, thanks.
Now I'm going to turn it over to Shawn who will be running the show today.
I hope this has helped you become more familiar with the business vocabulary used to introduce participants at formal and informal business meetings.
In our next lesson, we're going to look at how people begin meetings and how they let people know what's going to be discussed.