Vocabulary 2

19. Read the following article and guess the meaning of the words and word combinations given in bold type. Why They Are Picking on Martha

Martha Stewart is a person who stands her ground no matter what. In 1987, when Stewart was negotiating with Kmart for the licensing deal that would turn her, literally, into a household name, she was just a popular cookbook author – “a nobody”. Nevertheless, she stood up to Kmart’s top executives, who wanted her to take an exclusive deal with the Lifetime cable channel to help promote the new line. She said: “I can do better than this.” They thought she was crazy. Stewart insisted and eventually landed a spot on NBC’s Today show. She fought tooth and nail for what her image would be like.

That same resolve – sometimes seen as arrogance – was on display when Stewart stepped into a federal courthouse last week to be fingerprinted, photographed and indicted for obstruction of justice and securities fraud by the US Attorney’s office in New York City.

The nine-count indictment alleges that Stewart altered evidence, that she traded on inside information about the biotech company ImClone Systems, conspired with her stockbroker to lie to federal officials investigating the trade and defrauded shareholders in her company.

Once again, Stewart has chosen to fight, but this time more than her image was at stake. If she is found guilty of all criminal charges, she could face 25 years in prison, $2 million in fines and permanent damage to the company that bears her name and fortune.

Stewart’s lawyers say “she has done nothing wrong” and has become a celebrity scapegoat for less glamorous corporate criminals. And her many fans agree, including some who say she’s being targeted as an uppity woman who has made it in a world dominated by men. Prosecutors see it differently. “Martha Stewart is being prosecuted not for what she is but for what she did,” said James Comey, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The FBI and the Department of Justice have been investigating Stewart since early January last year, just days after she sold about $228,000 of ImClone stock. Bacanovic, Stewart’s broker, explained the stock had been declining and they determined to sell at $60 a share if it ever fell that low.

Prosecutors contend that the $60 stop-loss agreement was a false alibi concocted by Stewart and Bacanovic to explain the events of December 27. Bacanovic had just learned that ImClone co-founder Sam Waksal wanted to sell all the ImClone shares. Although Stewart didn’t learn the reason for Waksal’s attempted sale – he had been told that the Food and Drug Administration was about to reject an application for approval of ImClone’s key drug, Erbitux – she sold her shares to avoid losses of $45,673, the indictment says.

Insider trading, however, is not the focus of the criminal charges against Stewart and Bacanovic. Federal prosecutors are pursuing the claim that they lied about the trade and faked evidence turned over to prosecutors.

(From ‘Time’, abridged)

Read the article again, find the following words and word combinations in the text and learn their meaning.

To stand one’s ground, to stand up to smth, to fight tooth and nail for smth, to be indicted for smth, fraud, inside information, to conspire with smb, to be at stake, to find smb guilty of smth, a scapegoat, to be prosecuted for smth, insider trading, to fake evidence, to present fake evidence

Remember the following expressions with “stand”:

To stand by smb, to stand fast /firm, to stand for smth, to stand on one’s own feet, It stands to reason, to stand up for oneself, to stand with …

Choose one of the given expressions to translate the words and word combinations given in italics in the following sentences.

1. Don’t worry about the boy: he’ll be able (постоять за себя) in any situation.

2. Jane’s knowledge of history is very poor, so (ясно) that she’ll fail her history exam.

3. The CEO (означает/расшифровывается) the chief executive officer.

4. He can be trusted. He (остается верным) his word at all times.

5. In spite of the union’s efforts to defeat the new wage and price control, the government (крепко стоит на своем).

6. No, I won’t lend you any money. It’s time you (встал на ноги) and earned your own living.

7. His family can be trusted (поддерживать его) through his struggle.

8. Everybody tried to persuade Jim to change his mind, but he (прочно стоял на своем) and refused to be influenced.

9. If he supports the trade unions, then (отсюда ясно следует) that he will vote Labour.

10. I like to know where I (в каких отношениях я с) people.

11. Mary found it difficult (противостоять) Jim’s father when he disapproved of their marriage.

Idioms

An idiom is a fixed group of words with a special meaning that cannot be guessed from the separate meanings of the words used.

See an example in the article given above: “She fought tooth and nail.” – Она боролась изо всех сил, (не на жизнь, а на смерть).