Английский разговорный язык. Практическое пособие по развитию устной речи

Four corporate presidents, one English, one French, one Japanese and one American, were on their way to an international business conference when they were kidnapped by terrorists and taken to a secret hideout.

«You, your companies, and your countries are enemies of the Revolution,» screamed the terrorist leader, «and you\'re going to be executed! Do you have any last requests?»

The Englishman spoke first.

«Before I die, I want to honour my country and protest this barbaric act by singing \'God Save the Queen\' to all you men.»

«That can be arranged,» said the terrorist.

The Frenchman said, «And I want to honour my country before I die by singing \'The Marseilles\' to your men.»

The Japanese said, «Before I die, I wish to honour my country by giving the lecture I was going to present on the Japanese style of industrial management.»

The terrorist turned finally to the American.

«What is your last request?»

The American replied, «I want you to kill me right now so I don\'t have to listen to another lecture on the Japanese style of industrial management!»

Слова и выражения:

barbaric – варварский

enemy – враг; вражеский

execute – казнить

hideout – укрытие

honour

– отдавать честь, прославлять

kidnap – похищать ( людей )

reply – ответ; отвечать

request – требование; требовать

terrorist – террорист

on their way – по пути (куда-либо)

" God Save the Queen"

– «Боже, спаси Королеву» (Государственный Гимн Соединенного Королевства Великобритании и Северной Ирландии)

" The Marseilles" – «Марсельеза» (Государственный Гимн Французской Республики)

Japanese style of industrial management – японский стиль управления промышленностью

Exercise 6

Answer the questions:

1. Where were the presidents heading when they were kidnapped?

2. Why did the terrorists decide to kill them?

3. What was the last request of the English corporate president?

4. What did the French ask as the last wish?

5. Why did the American prefer to die rather than listen to the Japanese president?

Regulations of International Business

Some governments impose various regulations on businesses in their countries. Sometimes these regulations discourage foreign companies from entering home markets. In some countries all international businesses must have local partners. In other countries a foreign firm must have at least one native in the top management of a branch or a subsidiary. Some governments, for example in Mexico, insist that the local partners have the controlling interest. However, big firms like IBM refuse to do business on these grounds and usually manage to find the way out.

Government regulations limit what a company may do. For example, some countries demand that the company should file a plan indicating what it is going to produce, how many local workers it is going to hire and how much it will pay the workers. This plan must also fit into the government economic master plan. If the country changes its master plan, the foreign firm must change its plans, too.

Governments can prohibit the import or export of certain products for military, sanitary, moral or political reasons. A military embargo prevents weapons going to a certain country. The United States prohibit the import of certain birds and animals for sanitary reasons. Moral reasons are the grounds for embargoing cocaine, heroin and other drugs. Sometimes governments prevent the export for political reasons. For example, the United Nations set embargo on sales to, and purchases from, Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe.

Sanctions are a form of reaction to illegal actions of another party. There are sanctions against dumping, for example. Dumping means shipping large amounds of a product to another country at prices below the cost of production or below the selling price.

Sometimes the government can encourage or discourage imports and exports of goods. It imposes quotas on certain products. An export quota specifies how much of a product can a manufacturer ship out. An import quota allows you to import to certain limit. The quota may be absolute (we reach a certain amount and can ship no more) or the government can combine it with a special tariff on all units over that amount. For example, we had an import quota of 6,000 automobiles. We had bought 6,000 automobiles with a 6.5 % tariff by the end of the last year, and all others we bought with a 45 % tariff.