Vocabulary

to entitle – давать право

a line of credit – кредитная линия

a receipt – расписка в получении, квитанция

introductory rate -

to assess fee – взимать плату за услуги

to encumber – затруднять, обременять долгами

to stipulate – оговаривать; ставить условием

burdensome – обременительный

a default rate – неуплата задолженности по кредиту

8. Give Russian equivalents:

a cardholder

a consent

fraud protection

a debit card

to provide

9. Choose words from the list to fill in the gaps, then use them to make sentences:

default, verbal, fraud, short-term, local, card

1. _____ authorization

2. _____ issuer

3. _____ protection

4. _____ rate

5. _____ loan

6. _____ bank

10. Fill in the gaps with the words and expressions from the text:

1. The issuer of the card grants ….. to the consumer.

2. A credit card allows …. to be quickly made to a customer.

3. Carrying a credit card ….. the need to carry any cash.

4. In the event a payment is missed credit cards often stipulate ….. .

11. Answer the questions:

1. What does a credit card entitle its holder to?

2. What does the card issuer grant to the user?

3. How does the card holder indicate consent to pay for a purchase?

4. What is the difference between credit cards and debit cards?

12. Use words/phrases from the list to help you retell the text:

to entitle, to grant a line of credit, to indicate consent, to sign a receipt, short-term loans, fraud protection, to stipulate a default rate

Audio Scripts

Unit 1 Listening 7(3)

In 1999 the minimum wage was set at £3.60 an hour for adults and £3.00 for young workers aged between eighteen and twenty-one. Surveys showed that most employers wanted the minimum wage to be £3.50, but at least they are pleased the government did not set it at £4.00 as many workers demanded.

Unit 1 Listening 8(4)

The most expensive place to live in Europe is Oslo. In the world ranking it comes in fifth position. Paris is another expensive European city and comes in at seventh place in the world ranking. London is in tenth place – a dramatic move from the previous year when it was in twenty-eighth place. Surprisingly, Stockholm is cheaper than London and comes in at thirteenth position. Dusseldorf and Lyon both come lower down at twenty-first position and Frankfurt is in twenty-sixth place.

Unit 1 Listening 9(5)

Annual holidays vary greatly from country to country. The Spanish take an average of 32.1 days holiday per year compared with the Hungarians and the British who have only 22.1 days – just over four working weeks. In the Czech Republic, annual holidays are even less generous, with the average number of days at just 19.5.

Unit 1 Listening 10(6)

RA=Robyn Alton, MM=Matthew Mead

RA: It surprises me that people spend 22% of their income on food and drink. I spend approximately 10% of my income on food and drink in a year.

MM: uh hu. I spend about 14%, I’d say, so a bit more than you, but, er, less than the pie chart. It seems a lot, doesn’t it?

RA: It seems a lot. What about housing?

MM: Housing; I spend about 27%, erm which is quite a lot, it’s a lot of my income, er for one area, but I am buying a second house, so it costs more money. Transport seemed quite high, I thought, er 15.7% for transport. I spend only about 6 or 7%. What about you?

RA: I spend 15% erm of my total income on transportation, er so that didn’t surprise me, that figure. What about household goods and services?

MM: Well, I’ve only got 4%, but erm, I am not doing much work on my house at the moment, so it’s not a great deal of my income. What about you?

RA: I spend 12% on household goods and services; I spend erm money on decorating, gardening, erm so that’s a large part of my expenditure.

MM: Right. I spend about 16% - 15 or 16% on leisure goods and services, so about the same as the pie chart.

RA: That’s similar to me. I spend about 15%.

MM: Right. That’s on going to the gym, spots, maybe some travel.

RA: That’s, that’s very similar for me. What about tobacco? I’ve, I spend 0% on tobacco.

MM: Mmm, I don’t smoke, so it’s not an important part for me, and er 2% seems very high.

RA: It seems to me too.

Unit 2 Listening 4(7)

1. The Starbird Group received good news this morning. The company, which owns over a hundred hotels in Great Britain, has agreed to sell 30% of its shares to Italian entrepreneur Luigi Vieri. The shares were valued at £70 million. Shares in the group rose on the London Stock Exchange. They closed at £3.50.

2. The Swedish furniture company IKEA has a new way of paying its employees their annual bonus. The money from all of today’s sales will be shared between the staff.

3. The Bank of England today announced an increase of a quarter of one percent in its base rate. Banks immediately announced increases in interest rates. Shares fell as a result of this news.

4. It was announced today that AGF, France’s second largest insurance company, will be taken over by Allianz to create a large pan-European insurance company. The headquarters of the new group will be in Germany.

Unit 4 Listening 3(9)

In the period from February to March, the following price changes were noted. The price of milk went up from a dollar fifty to a dollar sixty a quart while the price of an 18-ounce container of yogurt stayed the same at two dollars and fifty cents. The price of the loaf of bread increased slightly from three dollars to three dollars and fifty cents. Sugar also went up in price from one dollar a pound to one dollar and five cents. The price of apples saw a twenty-cent increase. A pound cost two dollars in February and two dollars and ten cents in March. Tea also went up. The price of a box of 100 tea bags went from two dollars twenty to two dollars thirty cents. The only item to go down in price was coffee. An 18-ounce can cost four dollars in February and three dollars and fifty cents in March.

Unit 5 Listening 5(11)

Int = Interviewer, KJ = Keith Jackson

Int: The global market place is very competitive; how can a company become a market leader?

KJ: Well, I think basically by having a good product and using good marketing. But to become a market leader there are three main strategies, I think – cost, so reducing cost, producing more cheaply, selling more cheaply; er differentiation – that is making your products appear very special in the market place, and innovation – so finding new products and new ways to market products, which is particularly important in the, as you said, the global market.

Unit 5 Listening 5(12)

Int: Can we take a concrete example and look at the soft drinks market? Can you explain how these three factors work?

KJ: Fine, well if you look at erm, cost as focus, or a cost-focus strategy, erm let’s take cola for example, erm we know that big supermarket chains in the UK – Safeways or Tescos or Sainsbury’s – they produce their own cola and can sell it more cheaply than Coca-Cola, for example. Erm differentiation, I mean, a good example is, I think, Tango; they’ve managed to penetrate the market and be competitive by using a very interesting and rather wacky advertising campaign for their product. Erm, and innovation, for example, Virgin we know of as er a music or airline company; they also own cinemas, and through the cinemas, the distribution channel of their cinemas, they’ve managed now to promote their own version of cola, so they’ve…. innovation in controlling distribution means they can be competitive in the cola market, for example.

Unit 5 Listening 5(13)

Int: Keith, you mentioned erm, some very famous names there, erm, companies which compete in the global market place. Are there any particular problems faced by companies who, who wish to be competitive in the global market?

KJ: Well yes there are. I mentioned Virgin and Coca-Cola for example, these are global players in the soft drinks market, erm they do face particular problems. We could take another example – McDonald’s in the food retail business. For example McDonald’s, the main part of their selling strategy is the quality of their products, the standardized quality. It is very difficult for a company to control or guarantee the quality of their product on a global scale. Erm particularly where they have to be sensitive to or adapt to local cultures and customer expectations. A good example with regard to McDonald’s is the fact that they do not sell beef burgers, so burgers made of beef, in India, for example, because that would possibly offend local cultures there. Of course globally marketing becomes a particular problem – can companies erm communicate the same or a similar standardized message about their product in different language regions of the world? And McDonald’s we know are very lucky in this respect because they have a good product in the sense that the product they offer is recognized among a large population, youthful population of the world as symbolizing the American lifestyle, for example, so McDonald’s are very lucky in the power of the product and the message they have on a global scale. Other companies of course have much greater difficulties with their products.

Unit 6 Listening 7(15)

M = Manager, J = Jane

M: Jane, what was your overall impression of the applicants?

J: I was impressed with both, but for very different reasons.

M: Yes, I agree. Applicant 1 has quite a lot of experience – overall 20 years, but is a little short in academic qualifications.

J: Yes, that’s true whereas Applicant 2 has an M. A. in HR, and a very recent one, as well as General Business degree. It’s very important to have up-to-date theoretical knowledge.

M: You’re right about that, but on the experience side don’t you think she’s a little weak?

J: Of course, but she’s worked at that mortgage company, which has given her some experience on the financial side of things whereas Applicant 1 has had more experience, but in more general situations.

M: True, but look at the wide range of responsibilities he’s had in very important HR areas at management levels.

J: But we’re looking for someone who’s a team player and that’s probably easier for a person who’s new in the workplace. I wonder about the flexibility of a person who’s been in management for so long.

M: Let’s invite them both for an interview and keep these questions in mind as we’re interviewing.

J: Good plan. I’ll call them and make arrangements.