EnglishPod

Upper-Intermediate - Planning For The Worst (D0025)

A: Well, right, let’s move to our next order of business, as many of you are aware, in recent weeks

there has been a lot of media coverage surrounding this bird flu issue. And it’s come to my attention that our company lacks any sort of bird flu

contingency plan.

B: Basically, we need to come up with a clear plan;

we need to outline specific actions that our company can take to maintain critical business functions in case a pandemic strikes.

A: So, what I’d like to do is: first appoint someone to

look after drafting our plan; Ralph, I’d like you to

head up this project.

C: Sure, no problem. What issues do you want me

to consider?

B: Well, let’s see, there are a few points we need to

be thinking about. . . first, I’ll need you to analyze

our numbers and figure out what kind of financial

impact an outbreak might have.

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c 2008 Praxis Language Ltd.A: You’ll also need to think about how we can avoid

any of our employees getting infected; think of

ways to reduce employee-customer contact, perhaps some IT solutions that will allow our people

to work from home.

C: I guess you’ll need me to forecast employee absences as well, right? And I’ll think about the impact this will have on our clients. Hey, what about

vaccines? Should we be thinking about getting

vaccines for our employees?

A: Exactly right. So, I’ll leave this to you, and we’ll

review the draft plan in two weeks. Okay, so, anyone want to order some KFC for lunch?

Key Vocabulary

order of business Phrase an issue that must be

discussed

bird flu Noun (noncount)

flu originated from

birds that carry virus

Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). 

c 2008 Praxis Language Ltd.contingency plan Phrase a plan that prepares for

a situation where things

can go wrong

critical Adjective extremely important

pandemic Noun (singular)

a situation where a

disease is spread out

very quickly, and affects

many people in many

countries

draft Verb make a first version of

something

impact Noun (singular)

major influence or effect on something

outbreak Noun (singular)

a sudden start of disease affecting many

people

head up Verb lead and be responsible

for

forecast Verb predict what is going to

happen based on available information

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c 2008 Praxis Language Ltd.vaccine Noun (plural)

medical substance that

protect people or animal against diseases

Supplementary Vocabulary

epidemic Conjunction event where a disease

spreads really quickly

and affects a large number of people

backup plan Phrase a plan made in case

events go badly

pandemic preparedness plan

Phrase a plan to prepare for the

possible outbreak of a

pandemic

transmit disease Phrase pass disease from one

individual to another

avian influenza Noun (singular)

bird flu

influenza Noun (noncount)

flu; illness caused by a

virus

Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). 

c 2008 Praxis Language Ltd.