In the interview, you will find underlined sections that are too informal for the report. Make them more formal. Be sure to include a title.

Q.: Why is this topic of interest?

A.: In the United States, bruised or damaged fruit will not be purchased by consumers. Bruising occurs at various times during the packing/shipping process. We need to know when the damage occurs in order to provide consumers with a quality product.

Q.: What has been done so far?

A.: Information about the packing/shipping process can be obtained by using an artificial electronic fruit that goes through the process along with the fruit for consumption. Electronic fruits have been developed by Bosc and Jonathon (1988), Barlet and Pippin (1989), D’Anjou and Cortland (1993). These devices were designed to transmit impact information immediately.

Q.: Is there anything wrong with these prototype fruits?

A.: For one thing, these electronic devices were not sensitive enough to record the small, but frequent, bumps on the conveyor belt; thus, the data received was incomplete. For another, the noise produced by the machinery in the packing plants (where most of the bruising data is generated) interfered with the transmission of data; the data was [note a single form which is often used here!], therefore, unreliable.

Q.: What will you suggest?

A.: There are a bunch of options, but maybe this is the best. I think an electronic fruit that contains 256 bytes of RAM, 512 bytes of ROM, an 8-channel analog-digital converter, and a real time clock is the answer. If it is done, the specific bruises and damage can be correlated with the time and place each occurred.

Q.: What are the problems with the solution?

A.: Well, I think ...

(The recorder ran out of tape at this point. You will have to finish this statement yourself)

Task Ten

Read the following short problem-solution texts.

What differences do you see between (a) and (b)? Think of such matters as length, audience, amount of background knowledge assumed, amount of detail in each part of the problem-solution text, use of examples, etc. Which text do you prefer? Why?

(a) All people need to eat, and they eat a variety of foods – rice, fruits, vegetables, and meat. However, the problem is that sometimes people can become ill after eating spoiled or contaminated food. Each year millions of people become sick or even die. Meat can be particularly dangerous because it is difficult to determine whether it has been contaminated by simply looking at it. Fruit and vegetables at least have obvious signs of spoilage. One solution to this problem is to slow the process of spoilage by irradiation. Irradiated food lasts longer, tastes better, and in some cases may be cheaper. Since irradiated foods are completely safe, consumer now need to be convinced to buy them.

(b) Each year millions of people suffer from foodborne illnesses. Some health problems and even death can result from eating either spoiled fruit and vegetables or contaminated meat. Although in many countries strict regulations must be followed by meat producers, experts estimate that in the USA, for example, more than half the poultry sold is contaminated with salmonella. Some pork may harbor trichinella. For the last three decades, much research has focused on whether it might be possible to eliminate potentially harmful bacteria before meat is sent to market. Many possibilities have been investigated, but one of the most promising is irradiation. Irradiation is a process that kills many harmful bacteria without affecting the food itself. As a result, irradiated food does not spoil as quickly as unirradiated one and also tastes better. Food safety specialists agree that if irradiation were used, there would be a sharp decrease in the rate of foodborne illnesses. Food costs might even be lower because the costs of spoilage would be reduced. While irradiation is being used on a relatively small scale, there is some public concern over its safety when used on a wide-scale basis.

Task Eleven

Write your own problem-solution text that includes a process description, and, if possible, a definition.

Please find enclosed a few samples of problem-solution texts that were written by students of international business at the Belarus State Economic University. They might help you in working on your own, more extended ones.

1. The Effect of the Chernobyl Accident in Belarus

As a result of the Chernobyl nuclear power station’s explosion in 1986, the Republic of Belarus has been facing a serious ecological problem.

After the Chernobyl accident, almost 23% of the country’s territory is now badly contaminated with Cesium-137. Most of the Gomel region has been affected by the radioactive Iodine contamination. This has led to a sharp increase of the number of people suffering from thyroid gland cancer.

In addition to that, the air pollution makes the situation more complicated. Various harmful substances once discharged into the atmosphere cause even more mutations than radiation does. For example, only in Minsk 20% of all the infants are born with serious health problems. Unfortunately, the government does not seem to be very helpful.

In this situation, people should take care of themselves and not wait for external assistance. First, badly contaminated areas should be closed, and agricultural activities in all the other regions contaminated with radioactive elements should be restricted and strictly controlled. Second, much higher fines should be imposed on the enterprises polluting the air, water and land. It is also important to instruct and inform the population, for example, about the use of medications and consumption of food.

The above measures, combined with a number of others, in my opinion, might give us a better chance for survival.

(Anna F.)

2. The Impact of Foreign Financing in Belarus

Foreign financing is a kind of financial activity concerning financial funds or assets transferred across state borders.

Normally, a state tends to attract this kind of financing when its economy is short of its own financial resources. The Republic of Belarus, however, due to its policy in the sphere of macroeconomic reorganization, is experiencing lack of negotiable assets. At the moment, a certain amount of foreign financing is badly required for the country.

There are three main levels of foreign financing. The first one is that of international financial organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. These organizations were established in order to accumulate financial resources of developed countries and distribute them among the less developed ones. The second source of foreign financing is an inter-government agreement on credits. And finally, the third level is direct foreign investments. It is obvious that the latter has the biggest potential. At the same time, they are the most difficult to attract.

In Belarus, for the reasons mentioned above, the IMF and the World Bank are very reluctant to deal with the government. As a result, it is almost impossible to attract direct foreign investments. Moreover, the international prestige of the country is not the highest at the moment.

To improve the situation, in my opinion, Belarus needs to have legislation that makes it attractive for investors to come to local market and will enable us to overcome the economic crisis and implement market reforms.

My understanding is that the above solution will hardly be realistic in the near future. As a result, the level of foreign financing will not substantially increase, which is sad to state..

(Sergey Y.)

3. International Business Activities in Belarus

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Belarus was almost closed for foreign businesses, very little has changed, in fact. The early 90-ies saw an influx of multinationals starting their operation in the country (for example, Coca-Cola, Wella, Ford Union, etc.). But as the situation has substantially aggravated since mid-nineties, with numerous restrictions and regulations imposed, the number of new foreign companies opening in Belarus has dropped almost to zero.

The problems which occur hereby are but evident: since Belarus’ infrastructure and industrial complex are extremely underdeveloped, they require a great deal of investment, which cannot be obtained in the domestic market; and the same is true for the research and development activities. Taken as a whole, the problem is that extremely high regulation level of international business prevents the country’s economy from receiving a desirable inflow of foreign investment.

The solution to this problem is complex and includes a great variety of options, but there are certain measures that must be taken by all means to provide a basis for successful international business activities in Belarus. First, one needs to liberalize foreign exchange policy. Then, an adoption of more liberal taxation and licensing regulation acts is sure to enhance international business. Next, the government will have to provide serious guarantees for the security of private property and introduce more liberal procedures for foreigners to purchase property, including land. Finally, it is necessary to provide stable and sufficient flow of investment. It is in Belarus’ interests to normalize its relations with the World Bank, IMF, and WTO.

The above measures seem rather radical in relation to the current situation in Belarus. So one can hardly expect these steps to be implemented, as long as the government sticks to the policy of utmost administrative control over the economy.

(Yura K.)

4. E-Commerce in Belarus

The electronic commerce over the past decade has greatly transformed the economic landscape in the world. Information technologies and Internet influence both on-line and off-line corporate (Business-to-Business, B2B) and retail (Business-to-Consumer, B2C) transactions. According to AMI-Partners’ report, the number of companies using Internet increased from 1.8 million in 1999 to 2.8 million in 2000. In 2002 there were 530 million Internet users, the so-called net-citizens, including current and potential customers.

The situation with e-commerce in Belarus does not look so promising. Although the number of Belarusian Internet users is rapidly increasing (currently it is about 1 million), e-commerce in the country is just at the stage of development. In 2001 only 700 Belarusian companies maintained their official websites. The annual turnover of all the Internet shops in the country did not exceed USD 150,000. The main problem here is lack of B2B activities.

Nevertheless, the situation with the Belarusian e-commerce can and should be changed. To stimulate the e-commerce development, the following things should be implemented:

1) making the economy of Belarus more attractive for foreign investors;

2) de-monopolizing the Internet services’ domestic market combined with stimulating the competition among Internet Services Providers, which will eventually increase their quality and make their services much cheaper;

3) updating the current legislation with regard to electronic transactions and payments and harmonizing it with the existing international regulations.

The rapid expansion of electronic transactions constitutes a major opportunity for trade and development. For the Republic of Belarus, the digital revolution offers unprecedented opportunities for the economic growth and development. Only joint efforts on the part of the Belarusian government and private investors (both foreign and domestic ones) will lead to substantial improvement of all the aspects of electronic commerce, including technical, economic, legal and regulatory, as well as social and cultural ones.

(Vitali S.)

Task Twelve

Be prepared to make a problem-solution presentation in your field of studies in class. Make use of a self-evaluation sheet below:

Table 3. Self-evaluation sheet of your problem-solution speech

Items to be evaluated Good OK Needs work

1) TOPIC (interesting, relevant, appropriate for audience)

2) INTRODUCTION (got audience attention and keep it, imaginative)

3) ORGANIZATION (clear, easy to follow, speech had four parts)

4) TRANSITIONS (made a clear transitions between the 4 parts of the presentation)

5) EYE CONTACT (looked at everyone, didn’t focus on the ceiling, windows or 1-2 people)

6) VOICE (good volume, enthusiastic, confident)

7) PRONUNCIATION (easy to understand, pronounced key words correctly)

8) PACE (good pace, not too fast or slow)

9) CLARIFICATION CHECK (checked to see if the audience was following at the appropriate time)

10) YOUR WEAK AREA — — —

UNIT FIVE

DATA COMMENTARY

(EXPLAINING VISUALS)

In many writing assignments, there comes a place where students need to discuss data (a table, graph, figure, chart, or diagram). The data may be incorporated in the main text or attached as an appendix. These writing subtasks are called here data commentaries.

Strength of Claim

Like many other aspects of student writing, data commentaries are exercises in positioning yourself. There are, as a result, both dangers and opportunities. One danger is simply repeat in words what has been expressed in the visuals, in other words – to offer description rather than commentary. The opposite danger is to read too much into the data and draw unjustified conclusions. The art of the matter is to find the right strength of claim and then order your statements in some appropriate way (such as from the more significant to the less significant).

Task One

Working with a partner, put the following sentence variations in order from 1 (the strongest claim) to 6 (the weakest claim). Some disagreement is reasonable.

Deregulation of the U.S. banking system __________ the 1989-91 crisis.

___ a) contributed to

___ b) caused

___ c) may have contributed to

___ d) was probably a major cause of

___ e) was one of the causes of

___ f) might have been a small factor in