ESL Podcast 500 – Taking Minutes of a Meeting

I was absent at last month’s meeting, so imagine my surprise when I found out that I had been elected the committee’s secretary! As part of my duties, I have to take minutes at each meeting. Taking minutes means I have to pay attention and try my best to transcribe¹ what each person says, or at least do my best to summarize.

At yesterday’s meeting, the chair called the meeting to order and I conducted a roll call. Then, the chair went over the agenda and we discussed old business. We needed to vote on a couple of proposals from the past meeting, and it was my job to ask for a show of hands of those in favor of and those opposed to each one.

After that was done, we went on to new business. We talked about the first item of business for 20 minutes when someone suggested that we table the topic until the following meeting, and the participants agreed. After another long discussion about the second agenda item, we ran out of time. The chair adjourned² the meeting.

Phew! That first meeting taught me a very good lesson. Never miss a meeting when new officers are being chosen!


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 transcribe   

v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录

参考例句：

• We need volunteers to transcribe this manuscript.我们需要自愿者来抄写这个文稿。
• I am able to take dictation in English and transcribe them rapidly into Chinese.我会英文记录，还能立即将其改写成中文。

2 adjourned   

（使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The court adjourned for lunch. 午餐时间法庭休庭。
• The trial was adjourned following the presentation of new evidence to the court. 新证据呈到庭上后，审讯就宣告暂停。