Practice English Reading Exercises for B2 – First Days & Workplace Adaptation 5

Exercises:   123456

Reading 1

You are going to read an article about four professionals describing the intimidation of sitting in their first major corporate meeting.

For questions 1-10, choose from the people/sections (A-D). The people/sections may be chosen more than once.

Which person/section

1   mentions feeling inadequate despite being suitably qualified for the role?

2   chose to remain silent to avoid making a poor initial impression?

3   was overwhelmed by the rapid pace at which the discussion took place?

4   acted as if they understood the conversation in order to fit in with the group?

5   recorded unfamiliar expressions to investigate independently at a later time?

6   concluded that complicated terminology is often used to make the speaker sound more authoritative?

7   was put in an awkward position when directly addressed by someone in charge?

8   depended on a friendly colleague to translate the content into plain English?

9   discovered that asking for explanations is actually considered a professional trait?

10   was relieved to find out that veteran staff also struggled with the vocabulary?

Lost in Translation: Surviving the First Corporate Meeting

A Daniel

When I landed my first job at a top-tier marketing agency, I was absolutely thrilled. However, sitting in my first strategy meeting, that excitement quickly evaporated. Despite having passed my master’s degree with flying colours, I was struck by a severe case of imposter syndrome. The room was buzzing with acronyms and buzzwords I had never encountered before. Not wanting to interrupt the flow, I simply kept my head down and frantically jotted down every unknown phrase in my notebook, determined to search the internet for their meanings once I got back to my desk. After the meeting wrapped up, I casually mentioned my confusion to a senior manager. To my absolute astonishment, he laughed and confessed that he had lost track of the conversation halfway through himself! It turned out that half the room was equally baffled by the new terminology. That revelation instantly put me at ease, showing me that nobody knows absolutely everything, regardless of how long they’ve been in the industry.

B Chloe

Getting hired as a junior software developer was a dream come true, but my first departmental briefing was a nightmare. The project leads were throwing around technical jargon and system architecture terms that sounded like a completely foreign language. Even though I took meticulous notes, I couldn’t make head or tail of the actual objectives. I desperately wanted to ask for clarification, but I bit my tongue. I was absolutely terrified that if I spoke up, my new boss would think I was incompetent and regret hiring me. I just sat there, looking thoughtfully at my screen. Once the ordeal was finally over, I cornered a sympathetic co-worker by the coffee machine. Thankfully, she was incredibly patient and broke down the entire project brief into everyday language for me. She explained that the terminology was highly specific to the company’s internal software, so I couldn’t possibly have known it beforehand. From then on, I knew exactly who to turn to when the tech jargon got out of hand.

C Marcus

My entry into corporate banking was a massive wake-up call. I recall sitting in the boardroom on my third day, surrounded by executives in sharp suits. The sheer speed at which the financial forecasts and quarterly targets were delivered made my head spin. I couldn’t keep up with the torrent of economic abbreviations being thrown back and forth across the table. One director even asked the room for feedback, and while I nodded along to avoid drawing attention to myself, my mind was entirely blank. However, over the next few months, I began to see through the illusion. I gradually realised that many colleagues deliberately used convoluted expressions to make their arguments sound more impressive and intimidating than they actually were. It was less about efficient communication and more about projecting an image of expertise. Once I figured out that this impenetrable jargon was largely a performance, the meetings lost their power to terrify me, and I started focusing on the actual numbers instead.

D Priya

As a new management consultant, you are expected to hit the ground running. During my initial client meeting, the senior partners were firing off strategic frameworks and operational metrics that I simply couldn’t follow. Desperate to appear as though I belonged, I mirrored everyone else’s body language, smiling and murmuring agreement at appropriate intervals. This strategy worked perfectly until the lead partner suddenly turned to me and asked for my perspective on the project’s optimization phase. I froze, my face turning bright red, and mumbled a vague, incoherent response. It was mortifying. Later that afternoon, my manager pulled me aside. I braced myself for a scolding, but instead, she gave me a vital piece of advice. She told me that confidently asking for something to be explained is actually a mark of a strong consultant, whereas faking comprehension only leads to costly mistakes. It completely changed my outlook, and I’ve never hesitated to ask for definitions since that day.

Reading 2

You are going to read an article about four individuals reflecting on the struggle to set up their complicated IT equipment and passwords on their first day at a tech firm.

For questions 1-10, choose from the people/sections (A-D). The people/sections may be chosen more than once.

Which person/section

1   attempted to conceal their struggles from their colleagues?

2   was unable to attend an introductory session because of their computer problems?

3   had presumed their previous experience would prevent any setup issues?

4   discovered that the written guidance they received was no longer accurate?

5   found themselves trapped in an endless cycle of identity verification?

6   faced challenges because they were unfamiliar with the brand of computer provided?

7   had to deal with a confusing mess of physical wires?

8   experienced a misunderstanding while speaking to the support department?

9   ultimately had to request help from the person in charge of their team?

10   felt a sense of gratitude when a fellow employee intervened to solve the issue?

Tech Troubles: Surviving Day One

A Liam

Having just completed a rigorous computer science degree, I naturally took it for granted that setting up my workstation would be an absolute breeze. However, reality hit me hard within the first ten minutes. When I arrived at my desk, I was confronted with a cardboard box filled with unassembled dual monitors, a docking station, and a complete labyrinth of tangled cables. I spent the first hour desperately trying to figure out which wire went where, sweating profusely. I had almost considered ringing the IT helpdesk, but my pride wouldn’t let me. Fortunately, the guy sitting at the adjacent desk noticed my mounting panic. He leaned over, gently pointed out that I had plugged the main display cable into the wrong port, and sorted it out in seconds. I couldn’t have been more thankful for his intervention. If I had just admitted my ignorance immediately, I wouldn’t have caused such a chaotic scene on day one.

B Sarah

On my first morning, my desk was beautifully arranged, and the physical hardware was already plugged in. The nightmare, however, truly began when I attempted to log into the company network. The firm uses a highly secure, multi-factor authentication system to protect client data. I was supposed to receive a text message with a six-digit code, but my mobile signal inside the building was practically non-existent. Every time I tried to refresh the page to try again, the system demanded a completely new password, effectively locking me in a never-ending loop of security prompts. I was meant to join a mandatory welcome meeting for all new hires at 9:00 AM, but I was stuck staring blankly at a frozen screen. By the time my phone finally caught a signal and I managed to authenticate my identity, the presentation was entirely over. I felt terrible, though my manager later assured me it was a common issue.

C Omar

Starting a new job remotely means you are completely reliant on your own ability to get connected. A courier had dropped off my laptop the previous afternoon, along with a remarkably thick printed manual. I followed the steps meticulously to access the company’s Virtual Private Network, but it kept throwing up a bizarre error code. I reluctantly called the IT support line, but the technician and I ended up completely talking at cross-purposes. He kept instructing me to click on a specific application icon that simply wasn’t visible on my desktop. After forty minutes of sheer frustration, he suddenly realised what the problem was. The booklet I had been sent was printed two years ago, and the firm had recently overhauled its entire software interface. It was highly annoying, though luckily I didn’t have any formal video calls scheduled until the afternoon, so I didn’t actually miss anything important while we resolved it.

D Chloe

I was thrilled to land a creative role at a prestigious app development firm, but my heart sank when I saw the silver apple logo on my new laptop. Having relied exclusively on Windows machines for my entire life, navigating this unfamiliar operating system felt like trying to read a foreign language. For the first couple of hours, I put on a brave face, nodding and smiling confidently whenever anyone walked past, desperate not to look incompetent on my very first day. A friendly colleague offered to show me the coffee machine, but I was far too stressed to take a break. Eventually, I needed to download specific design software to start my first assignment, but I couldn’t even figure out how to open the web browser. Swallowing my pride, I finally walked into my supervisor’s office and confessed my lack of technical know-how. She just laughed warmly and walked me through the basics herself.

Exercises:   123456