Post-listening

1. Consider the following points. Share your ideas with a partner or a small group. Be prepared to explain your answers to the class.

   1. What are the main functions of the trade union?

   2. What is the reason for trouble in he press room?

   3. What are the grounds for Smith’s wage claim?

   4. Why does I. Hampden feel that the system of profit sharing should be introduced in the firm?

   5. How has I. Hampden managed to make J. Green approve the profit-sharing proposals?

2. Recount the situation as if you were Jack Green, say whether you are in favour of the profit sharing scheme suggested by Ian Hampden.

3. Suppose you are Ted Fielding. Do you approve of the way Ian settled the problem?

4. Speak as if you were Ian Hampden and brief the audience on the chief responsibilities of a Personnel Manager. Is engagement and dismissal of employees his only function?

5. Suppose you are Symes, an employee who stands by the time clock. Brief a trainee on the following matters:

   1. what an employee has to do with his time card when he arrives or leaves his place of work;

   2. what an employee should expect to happen to his pay if he arrived late at work.

6. Suppose you are the District Organiser of the National Worker’s Union. Say

   1. what responsibilities of a shop steward are;

   2. if a worker belongs to the union, to whom he pays subscription or union dues;

   3. if an employee works late, what extra money he could claim.

7. Act out

   1. an imaginary conversation between Ian Hampden and Peter Wiles after Ian’s talk with Jack Green;

   2. an imaginary talk between Jack Green and Smith after Green’s talk with Ian Hampden.

Unit13

Risk of a Takeover

Phrase list

Listen to the tape and practise the pronunciation of the following words and word combinations, quote the sentences in which they are used in the unit. Consult a dictionary and translate them into Russian.

private company

Memorandum of Association

authorised capital

to carry a vote ( about shares )

to have a controlling interest

to be in a position to take over somebody/something

a fully owned subsidiary

to outvote somebody

personal loan

the rate of interest

to ask for security

to hold the deeds of somebody

building society

to repay a proportion of the loan to somebody plus interest

to agree to a second mortgage (the mortgage with ...)

to raise a mortgage on somebody’s property

to give (to advance) an unsecured loan

to have the lion’s share with fifty per cent

the solicitor

to form a trust

to raise a loan

the total share capital

to see somebody at short notice

an overdraft

to provide (an adequate) security

to have somebody’s record of business as a guarantee

to have a straight loan

to pay two per cent above the bank rate

to get a holding equal to something

PRE-LISTENING

Task 1

Consider the introduction to the unit. Answer the following questions and be ready to give a story line. Use the word combinations in brackets.

1. What do we call a private company?

(to be a private company; to be formed by two or more people; to sign a Memorandum of Association; to state something; to agree to take a certain number of shares; to follow the signature; to take shares in the company; members, or shareholders)

2. Why does Harper & Grant Ltd. belong to private companies?

(to found the company; to be started originally by somebody; the authorised capital of the company; to grow; to be worth a certain sum; to carry a vote at a shareholders' meeting)

3. What can the death of Ambrose Harper lead to?

(to cause a crisis in the firm; to manufacture mattresses for beds; to own ten per cent of Harper & Grant shares; to be a personal friend of somebody; to have an opportunity of buying some of the shares formerly belonging to Harper)

4. Why does the opportunity of buying the shares formerly belonging to Harper by outsiders threaten the existence of Harper & Grant Ltd.?

(to own shares; to stop somebody getting shares; to do something for fear of upsetting the voting power at shareholders' meetings; to own fifty-one per cent of the shares; to have a controlling interest; to be in a very good position to take over the firm completely; to make a firm a fully owned subsidiary)

5. Do the management of Harper & Grant Ltd. welcome the possibility of a take over?

(to be jealous of somebody; to own too many of the shares; to raise a loan; to arrange something with the bank; to lend money; to borrow money; to pay interest on money; to buy enough of the shares; to outvote somebody; to be a personal loan; to be a short-term loan; to pay back the money; the rate of interest)

6. How did H.G. manage to raise a loan?

(to ask for security; to hold the deeds of Grant's house; a building society; to buy the property; to repay a proportion of the loan, plus interest; to agree to a second mortgage; to pay back the loan within the time limit; to pay up the first mortgage; the holder of the second mortgage; to give an unsecured loan; to be without any security or guarantee; to get the money back)

Task 2

Give the English equivalents for the following word combinations:

получить прямую ссуду: кредит, который обеспечен только репутацией заемщика	встретиться с кем либо в крат-чайший срок (без предваритель-ного уведомления)
иметь право голоса	ссуда физическому лицу
согласиться на перезалог	учредительный договор
иметь возможность захватить власть	дочерняя компания, находящаяся в полном владении
ставка процента (% дохода)	вести чьи-либо дела (счета)
иметь львиную долю акций	получить ссуду
получить пакет акций, равный …	учредить доверительный фонд
суммарный акционерный капитал	заплатить 2% сверх обычной банковской ставки
предоставить соответствующее обеспечение	иметь в качестве гарантии чью-либо репутацию в бизнесе
выплачивать часть ссуды, плюс проценты	предоставить ссуду без обеспе-чения (необеспеченный заем)
частная (закрытая) акционерная компания	иметь контрольный пакет акций компании
победить в голосовании	попросить залог
сумма, получаемая сверх остатка на счете; получение средств по открытому счету; превышение кредита	уставный капитал на момент образования компании (разрешенный к выпуску акционерный капитал)