Yesterday's meeting was to lay the groundwork for the task ahead.

昨天的会议为后面的任务打下了基础。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

They had laid the groundwork for future development.

他们为此后的发展奠定了基础。

《牛津词典》

Officials are laying the groundwork for a summit conference of world leaders.

官员们正在为世界首脑峰会做准备工作。

《牛津词典》

His trip has fueled expectations he may meet his U.S.counterpart, Sung Kim,to lay the groundwork for North Korea's possible return to the talks.

VOA: standard.2009.10.23

The Obama administration says it is laying the groundwork to develop a vaccine against swine flu, although no decision has been made on large-scale production of such a vaccine.

VOA: standard.2009.05.03

It also comes in the wake of the Pope's visit, which I think is also setting the groundwork for sort of a cultural dialogue, an attempt to have a new start at the level of symbols and culture and try and erase some of the hostility of the last 8 or 9 years,".

VOA: standard.2009.05.09

The update also lays the groundwork for the imminent launch of the Wii U Virtual Console service.

ENGADGET: blogger-avatar

In a series of interconnected moves, Microsoft is laying the groundwork to dominate the gaming industry.

FORBES: Bill's sandbox

Taking it private again laid the groundwork to take the whole group public one day.

WSJ: Weekend Confidential: Jack Ma of Alibaba