他在预选赛中表现出色，成功晋级正赛。

He performed well in the ___preliminaries and advanced to the main competition.

在正式会议开始之前，我们花了30分钟处理一些前期事项。

We spent 30 minutes on the ___preliminaries before the main meeting began.

在演讲开始前，主持人简短地介绍了一些开场白。

The host briefly went over the ___preliminaries before starting the speech.