Sandoz國際公司考慮開發中南美洲的奶粉市場。Grace是Sandoz的總經理，主持今日的討論會議。身為主席的她，目的是要鼓勵每位與會者有機會發言，說出自己的想法。會議的目的是集思廣益，而不是要盡快得到結論，所以每項方案都應該做多種角度的討論。
Grace: OK, let's call the meeting to order. You've all looked at the reports
given to you a few days ago. I've asked Sam, as marketing director, to lay out
the main points of the agenda today. Sam?
好，現在會議正式開始。幾天前發下去的通知，大家應該都看過了。我已經請行銷主任Sam來詳細說明今天議程的重點。Sam？
Sam: Thanks Grace. Well, let me bring your attention to what I see as the
main issues. First are the laws in Central and South America. Will they make it
hard for us to do business there? Second is how to sell in that market. Should
we try to sell by ourselves? Or should we get people there to sell for us? Yes,
Grace?
謝謝Grace。我認為主要的問題有：一是中南美洲的法律，是否會成為我們在當地作生意的障礙？二是如何銷售的問題，我們是要自己直銷呢？還是請當地的廠商代售？Grace？
Grace: As you know, we've asked a legal expert to come today. He isn't here
yet, so I think we should get the show started with the second issue, how to
sell in that market.
大家知道我們請了一位法律專家出席今天的會議，可是他現在還沒到場，所以我想可以從第二個問題開始討論--如何在當地銷售。
Sam: Good idea. Does everyone agree? Good. The main problem in the market is
poor health conditions. We all know what happened to Nests when they sold their
powdered milk in Africa. And we don't want that to happen to us. To address this
issue, I'd like to call upon our medical expert, Dr. Vincent Davis, to take the
floor. Vincent?
好主意。大家同意嗎？很好。這個市場的主要問題是當地的衛生環境不良。我們都知道雀巢在非洲銷售奶粉時所出現的情況，我們不希望重蹈覆轍。談起這個問題，我要請我們的醫藥專家Vincent
Davis博士發言。Vincent？
Vincent: In Africa, people had very little clean water. So they put dirty
water in with the powder. Many people got sick, and Nests got in trouble because
of it.
在非洲，當地的住民可獲取的凈水少得可憐，所以他們用不潔的水沖泡奶粉。當時許多人因此生了病，結果雀巢公司就倒霉了。
Grace: Can we find a way to prevent this? Isn't it also very hard to find
clean water in Central and South America?
我們可以找出一個預防的方法嗎？畢竟在中南美洲也不太容易找到干凈的水，對吧？
Notes：
1. lay (something) out 口頭詳細說明
lay
out從字面上看，是說將某物展開，使之呈現在目；在此比喻"詳細說明某事或某計劃"。此外， lay something
out還有"準備；計劃；擊昏"等解釋。
Let me lay things out for you; our price was higher than
our competitor's, so we lost the
business.
讓我把話跟你說清楚，我們的價錢比競爭者高，所以才失去那筆生意。
2. get the show started
揭開序幕；開始
show可指任何表演或戲院所上演的戲劇及影片等，用于此詞組時則指任何活動。此詞組以舞臺開演來比喻"開始進行某一活動"。get在此處為使役動詞，意思是"使"，
get something started即有"使……開始"的含意。此外，這詞組也等于get the show on the road。
The
manager wants to get the show started right now, because he has to leave for the
airport in an hour. 經理一小時后要趕到機場，所以他想現在就開始開會。
3. take the floor
上臺發言
floor為"地板"。take the floor是指"起立發言"，有"站上講臺 (stand in open floor
space)，面對大家"的意思，通常是指在會議中正式的發言。
（改編自《國際商務英語教程》上海理工大學通訊員何旖文供稿 英語點津 Annabel 編輯）
