- •Unit 1. Making contacts reading
- •I. Before reading the text learn the following the words.
- •Telephoning across cultures
- •II. Answer the following questions.
- •Discussion
- •I. Meeting people
- •I. Here are the words and phrases which are commonly used when we meet
- •Greetings
- •Farewells
- •Thanks and possible answers
- •First words
- •Ending the small talk
- •II. Phoning your contacts
- •II. Now make the telephone call yourself, using the words above. Try not to use the notes.
- •III. It is not always possible to follow your original plans. You, or your contact, may want to change an appointment. Study the expressions below.
- •Role-play the following telephone situation.
- •III. The telephone
- •I. This datafile gives you many of the terms and phrases commonly used in making telephone calls.
- •II. After studying the text and the datafile above, decide if the information below is true or false.
- •III. Insert the missing word.
- •IV. Choose the best answer for the phrase:
- •IV. Using the words and expressions you have studied try to explain the system of telephone dialing in our country. Unit 2. Business travel reading
- •I. Before reading the text find the meaning of the words below in the dictionary. Learn them by heart
- •Travellers’ tales
- •II. Answer the following questions.
- •III. You have just had one of the terrible experience described in the text. Tell your partner about it. Use your imagination to add more detail. Discussion
- •I. Calling the travel agency.
- •Role-play the following situation.
- •II. On the plane.
- •III. At the airport.
- •I. Learn the words you may need for your flight.
- •IV. Use have to and some of the terms from exercise I to complete the following sentences.
- •V. Here are the phrases and questions which you may be asked when you have to pass through the Customs.
- •VII. Now, it’s your turn to go through the Customs. Make the dialogue. Unit 3. Meetings. Negotiations. Deals. Reading
- •I. Before reading the text find the meaning of the words below in the dictionary. Learn them by heart.
- •II. Answer the following questions.
- •IV. Read and translate the dialogue “Structure and functions of a bank”
- •Discussion meetings. Negotiations. Deals
- •Arranging a meeting
- •Getting a meeting under way
- •III. Negotiations
- •I. Dr. Smith is holding a two-day seminar on negotiating techniques. At the end of the first morning he gives the group his ten rules for negotiating. Here they are.
- •II. Read Dr. Smith’s rules and then look at the remarks in list a. These remarks are not good for negotiating. Instead, use phrase from list b.
- •V. Complete the questionnaire to find out if you are a good negotiator?
- •IV. Deals
- •I. The words below show some of the most common uses of the word deal.
- •II. Complete these sentences using each of the phrases above in the appropriate form.
- •Unit 4. Company structure reading
- •I. Before reading the text find the meaning of the words below in the dictionary. Learn them by heart.
- •Company structure
- •II. Answer the following questions.
- •Discussion the inner structure of a company
- •VII. Match the following definitions to the groups of three words that you
- •Identified above.
- •VIII. Match each of the words that you circled in exercise VI with the following definitions.
- •Unit 5. Marketing giving a presentation reading
- •Marketing
- •II. Answer the following questions.
- •III. Sort out the most important information from the text and retell it. Discussion giving a presentation
- •III. Read Mr. Lopez presentation.
- •IV. Below are some notes made by one of the colleagues of Mr. Lopez , some of them should be corrected. Write true or false against each statement.
- •V. Before reading the text, discuss these questions. Then read the text.
- •Zumo – creating a global brand.
- •Unit 6. Advertising reading
- •Advertising
- •II: Sort out the most important information from the text and retell it.
- •Read the text about controversial advertising. Do you think the vw campaign was successful? sacrilege
- •Read the text in more detail and choose the best answer.
- •V. Find words or expressions in the text which correspond to the following definitions.
- •Discussion
- •Focus Advertising
- •Writing
- •Unit 7. Money reading
- •The dollar
- •The pound
- •II. Answer the following questions:
- •Discussion
- •You and your money
- •I. Do the quiz individually. Then compare answers with a partner.
- •II. Translate the following phrases:
- •III. In your opinion, which of the following give the best return on your money? Which are very risky? Which are less risky?
- •I. Work in three groups. Each group reads a different text: either The South Sea Bubble or Tulipomania or The Wall Street Crash. Make notes on the key points. The south sea bubble
- •Tulipomania
- •The wall street crash
- •II. Form new groups of three people, each of whom has read a different text. Exchange information and complete the chart below.
- •III. Discuss these questions.
- •IV. Work in groups. Find words or phrases in the texts which are similar in meaning to the definitions below. The first group to finish is the winner.
- •Angel investment
- •Writing
- •Unit 8. Employment reading
- •How to select the best candidates - and avoid the worst
- •II. Answer the following questions.
- •III. In another part of the article (not included here), the writer suggests that selectors should look for three qualities:
- •Discussion
- •Job interview. Dialogue
- •I. Read and translate the dialogue:
- •II. In pairs, make conversations using the prompts below.
- •Read the two case studies on the opposite page and answer these questions.
- •II. Discuss these questions.
- •IV. Now complete these sentences with word partnerships from the list.
- •Read the text. All the people answer the same six questions. What do you think the questions were?
- •Writing
- •Unit 9. Cultures in business reading
- •The impact of culture on business
- •I. Which do you think of the three statements (a, b, or c) given below the extract offers the most accurate summary.
- •II. Read the text again. Identify the following:
- •Ian Hamilton Fazey examines a ten-point guide to doing export business in Japan.
- •Discussion
- •Visitors from china
- •Writing
- •Unit 10. Business correspondence reading
- •I. Before reading the text learn the following words.
- •Letters (formal, informal, transactional)
- •Discussion
- •Read the extracts and discuss the questions:
- •VI. Read the following questions and identify the type and style of each letter. Then write any two of them. Write your answer in the appropriate style, using 120-180 words. Do not include addresses.
- •Writing
- •II. Read the instructions below and write a reply including all the information given.
- •Additional information the layout of letters
- •Additional reading the scope of economics
- •How to study economics?
- •Employment
- •Minimum wage
- •Types of inflation
- •Competition
- •Money illusion
- •Money supply
- •Fiscal policy
- •Foreign direct investment
- •Free trade
- •Globalisation
- •Taxation
- •An advertisement for the new ford puma
- •Eye contact
- •Letters and documents
- •Contents
Taxation
Tax collection is the oldest profession. In its early days, taxation did not always involve handing over money. The ancient Chinese paid with pressed tea, and Jivara tribesmen in Brazil stumped up shrunken heads. As the price of their citizenship, ancient Greeks and Romans could be called on to serve as soldiers and had to supply their own weapons. The origins of modern taxation can be traced to wealthy subjects paying money to their king in lieu of military service.
The other early source of tax revenue was trade, with tolls and customs duties being collected from travelling merchants. The big advantage of these taxes was that they fell mostly on visitors rather than residents.
Income tax, the biggest source of government funds today in most countries, is a comparatively recent invention, probably because the notion of annual income is itself a modern concept. Governments preferred to tax things that were easy to measure and on which it was thus easy to calculate the liability. This is why early taxes concentrated on tangible items such as land and property, physical goods, commodities and ships, as well as things such as the number of windows or fireplaces in a building.
In the 20th century, particularly the second half, governments around the world took a growing share of their country’s national income in tax, mainly to pay for increasingly more expensive defence efforts and for a modern welfare state. Indirect taxation on consumption, such as value-added tax, has become increasingly important as direct taxation on income and wealth has become increasingly unpopular.
But big differences among countries remain. One is the overall level of tax. For example, in United States tax revenue amounts to around one-third of its GDP, whereas in Sweden it is closer to half. Others are the preferred methods of collecting it (direct versus indirect), the rates at which it is levied and the definition of the tax base to which these rates are applied. Countries have different attitudes to progressive and regressive taxation. There are also big differences in the way responsibility for taxation is divided among different levels of government.
Arguably, any tax is a bad tax. But public goods and other government activities have to be paid for somehow, and economists often have strong views on which methods of taxation are more or less efficient. Most economists agree that the best tax is one that has as little impact as possible on people’s decisions about whether to undertake a productive economic activity. High rates of tax on labour may discourage people from working, and so result in lower tax revenue than there would be if the tax rate were lower, an idea captured in the laffer curve. Certainly, the marginal rate of tax may have a bigger effect on incentives than the overall tax burden.
Land tax is regarded as the most efficient by some economists and tax on expenditure by others, as it does all the taking after the wealth creation is done.
Some economists favour a neutral tax system that does not influence the sorts of economic activities that take place. Others favour using tax, and tax breaks, to guide economic activity in ways they favour, such as to minimize pollution and to increase the attractiveness of employing people rather than capital. Some economists argue that the tax system should be characterized by both horizontal equity and vertical equity, because this is fair, and because when the tax system is fair people may find it harder to justify tax avoidance and tax evasion. However, who ultimately pays the tax incidence may be different from who is initially charged, if that person can pass it on, say by adding the tax to the price he charges for his output. Taxes on companies, for example, are always paid in the end by humans, be they workers, customers or shareholders.