ESL Podcast 244 – Critiquing Someone’s Work

Noriko: Have you had a chance to look over Russ’s project?

Walt: Yeah, I took a look at it yesterday. If you have a couple of minutes, I can give you my two cents.

Noriko: Sure. Shoot.

Walt: Well, it’s not what I envisioned when we gave him the charge to come up with a new design for the brochure. The cover isn’t bad, but I’m not crazy about the rest of it.

Noriko: Why? What don’t you like?

Walt: Well, I think Russ is off the mark to feature our older products, rather than our new ones. When I saw what he had come up with, I thought he was out in left field. We told him to focus on the latest products, didn’t we?

Noriko: Yes, we did tell him that. I haven’t had a chance to look at the brochure closely myself, but I plan to this afternoon. So you think it needs work, huh? A lot of work?

Walt: Let’s just say that there’s a lot of room for improvement. I’d be happy to meet with him to give him my comments, if you think that would help.

Noriko: Why don’t you hold off until I’ve had a chance to go over the brochure this afternoon. I’ll set up a meeting for tomorrow and we can both give him some feedback on how to proceed.

Walt: That’s okay with me. Thanks for taking the reins¹ on this.

Noriko: It’s no big deal. I’ll let you know later today about that meeting.


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 reins   

感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带

参考例句：

• She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。