B. All these words are connected with payment for the work done. Match the definition with the correct word.

Н.А. БАГДАСАРОВА

ПОСТИЖЕНИЕ

МАСТЕРСТВА

ACQUISITION

Of

MASTERY

Учебник английского языка для студентов магистратуры факультета МЭО

Москва - 2012

Acquisition of Mastery предназначен для студентов магистратуры факультета МЭО в рамках общеязыковой подготовки, а также для любой продвинутой категории учащихся, стремящихся значительно повысить свой языковой уровень.

Необходимость создания данного учебника продиктована полным отсутствием пособий такого характера для студентов этого уровня.

Цель учебника – значительное повышение языковой компетенции, предполагающее совершенствование ранее сформированных навыков и их интеграцию на более высоком лексико-грамматическом уровне.

В данном учебнике тексты из разных информационных носителей служат не только источником расширения лексической базы, развития навыков в области аналитического восприятия информации и синтезирования вторичных текстов, но и отправной точкой для совершенствования навыков дискуссии, в процессе которой студенты интегрируют полученную информацию, соотнося ее с собственной позицией, а упражнения коммуникативного характера помогают углубить ранее сформированные умения.

Каждый раздел содержит большой аппарат упражнений, направленных на совершенствование навыков различных видов чтения, аудирования, расширение лексической базы, развитие навыков дискуссии и закрепление навыков письма.

Задача, поставленная автором, предполагает языковую и лингвострановедческую сложность, которую призваны снять упражнения, предваряющие каждый текст.

Особое внимание автор уделил отбору активного словаря для студентов этого уровня обучения. Предлагаемый для активного усвоения вокабуляр в полной мере отвечает поставленной задаче – лексического обеспечения текстовой компрессии, - так как опыт работы на старших курсах показывает, что развитие навыков реферирования и аннотирования должно обязательно сочетаться с кропотливой работой над лексикой, пригодной для этих целей. Сформированный на предыдущих этапах обучения словарный запас не отвечает задачам лексического обеспечения текстовых трансформаций в ходе редукции первичных и синтезирования вторичных текстов, предполагающих использование особой лексики, так называемых слов-аккумуляторов.

Надежный контроль усвоения материала обеспечивается предлагаемым аппаратом упражнений, направленных на значительное расширение лексической базы и активное усвоение лексических единиц. Автор использует различные типы упражнений, позволяющих постепенно переходить от узнавания отобранной лексики в тексте до ее активного использования при формулировании собственных мыслей на обсуждаемые темы.

Тематический вокабуляр каждого раздела содержит ни один десяток единиц, каждая их которых многократно «прокручивается» в лексических, речевых и коммуникативных упражнениях.

Письменные задания, завершающие каждый раздел, ставят своей целью более глубокое исследование проблемы на новом лексическом и концептуально-прагматическом уровне.

Автор также руководствовался задачей формирования устойчивых профессионально-значимых речевых навыков в области публичных выступлений и презентации индивидуальных творческих проектов.

К числу отличительных особенностей данного учебника следует отнести широкое разнообразие как обучающих, так и креативных заданий, выбор которых остается за студентом. Подобная организация учебника позволяет кардинальным образом изменить весь процесс обучения в магистратуре, так как студент превращается из объекта обучения в его субъект, который самостоятельно формирует свой курс обучения.

Учебник прошел апробацию в группах магистратуры факультета МЭО и получил высокую оценку, как преподавателей, так и студентов.

 

Автор руководствовался Законом Российской Федерации от 9 июля 1993 г. №5351-1 «Об авторском праве смежных правах», допускающим использование правомерно обнародованных произведений и отрывков из них в качестве иллюстраций (в широком смысле) в изданиях учебного характера в объеме, оправданном поставленной целью или методикой, с обязательным указанием имени автора, произведение которого используется, и источника заимствования.

CONTENTS

Part One: Money Talks, Money Works …………………..12

 

★1.1Anticipating the Issue ………………………………..13

★1.2 Raise the Issue ……………………………… …….16

1.2 A. Words in Context…………………………………….16

1.2B. Entrepreneurship ……………………………………..20

1.2 C. Listening and Watching ……………………………..24

1.2 D. Group Discussion…………………………………….24

1.2 E. Vocabulary in Focus………………………………….25

1.2 F. Creative Consolidation ………………………………27

★1. 3 Raise the Issue……………………………………….28

1.3 A. Words in Context…………………………………….28

1.3B.Shopping: Blessing or Obsession? ……………………32

1.3 C. Listening and Watching ……………………….. …...37

1.3 D. Group Discussion…………………………………….38

1.3 E. Vocabulary in Focus………………………………….38

1.3 F. Creative Consolidation ………………………………39

★1.4 Raise the Issue………………………………….. …...40

1.4 A. Words in Context…………………………………….40

1.4 B. Sales Tactics …………………………………………43

1.4 C. Group Discussion……………………………… …...48

1.4 D. Vocabulary in Focus ………………………………...48

1.4 E. Creative Consolidation …………………………. …..49

★1.5 Raise the Issue ……………………………………….49

1.5 A. Words in Context ……………………………….. ….49

1.5 B. Social Responsibilities of Business …………….. ….53

1.5 C. Group Discussion ……………………………….. …60

1.5 D. Vocabulary in Focus ……………………………. ….60

1.5 E. Creative Consolidation ………………………………61

★ 1. 6 Reading Selection …………………………………. 62

1.6 A. The Mystical Power of Free Trade by M.Kinsley …... 62

1.6 B. Spring Comes Early to Silicon Valley by M.Moritz…………………………………………………………… 67

1.6 C. Wall Street's New Pitch by D. Noonan……………… 71

1.6 D. Supermarkets Fight for Online Shoppers by

D.Rudnick …………………………………………………. 75

1.6 E. Lowest Cost Isn’t Always the Answer by N. Tait…... 81

★1.7 Final Discussion …………………………………… 86

★1.8 Creative Consolidation……………………………… 87

Part Two: Let’s Agree to Disagree ……………………….89

 

★2.1 Anticipating the Issue……………………………….. 90

2. 1 A. Man and Society…………………………………… 90

★2.2 Raise the Issue………………………………………. 93

2.2 A. Words in Context………………………………….... 93

2.2 B. Listening and Watching…………………………….. 98

2.2 C. Creative Consolidation …………………………….. 98

2.2 D. Breeding Grounds of Terrorism ……………………. 99

2.2 E. Group Discussion………………………………….. 105

2.2 F. Vocabulary in Focus ………………………………. 105

2.2 G. Listening and Watching ……………………………107

2.2 H. Creative Consolidation ……………………………. 107

★2.3 Raise the Issue …………………………………….. 107

2.3 A. Words in Context …………………………………..108

2.3 B. Roots of Crime ……………………………………..112

2.3 C. Vocabulary in Focus ……………………………….115

2.3 D. Listening and Watching ……………………………116

2.3 E. Creative Consolidation ……………………………..116

★2.4 Raise the Issue …………………………………… 117

2.4 A. Words in Context …………………………………. 117

2.4 B. Legalization of Drugs? Yes/No? ………………….. 121

2.4 C. Watching and Listening ……………………………128

2.4 D. Group Discussion …………………………………. 129

2.4 E. Creative Consolidation ……………………………. 129

★ 2. 5 Reading Selection …………………………………130

2.5 A. More on When to Die by William E Buckley, Jr … 130

2.5 B. Back to the Nest by Sherry Joe……………………… 136

2.5 C. The Migration Fallacy by Saskia Sassen……………. 143

2. 5 D. Muslims against Terrorism: Please Stop Yellow Journalism b y Syed Soharwardy…………………………………………………. 148

2.5 E. Human Rights: Righting Wrongs……………………….. 154

★2.6 Group Discussion……………………………………….. 160

★ 2.7 Creative Consolidation………………………………….. 161

Part Three: Survive and Thrive ……………………………….163

 

★ 3.1 Anticipating the Issue…………………………………….164

★3.2 Raise the Issue…………………………………………….164

3.2 A. Words in Context……………………………………….. 164

3.2 B. Listening and Watching…………………………………. 168

3.2 C. All Creatures Great and Dying …………………………. 170

3.2 D. Vocabulary in Focus ……………………………………. 175

3.2 E. Creative Consolidation ………………………………….. 182

★3.3 Raise the Issue ……………………………………………182

3.3 A. Sustainability …………………………………………….182

3.3 B. Words in Context ……………………………………….. 183

3.3 C. Economics and Ecology: Dirty Work Ahead …………… 188

3.3 D. Watching and Listening…………………………………. 192

3.3 E. Vocabulary in Focus………………………………………195

3.3 F. Creative Consolidation ………………………………….. 199

★3.4 Raise the Issue…………………………………………….200

3.4 A. Words in Context…………………………………………200

3.4 B. Strive to Thrive: In Time for a Divine Comedy …………204

3.4 C. Listening and Watching ………………………………….211

3.4 D. Vocabulary in Focus …………………………………….213

3.4 E. Creative Consolidation …………………………………. 216

★3.5 Raise the Issue ……………………………………………216

3.5 A. Words in Context ………………………………………..216

3.5 B Genetic Engineering: Full Stem Ahead ………………….220

3.5 C. Listening and Watching …………………………………224

3.5 D. Creative Consolidation ………………………………….225

3.5 E. Vocabulary in Focus …………………………………….225

★3.6 Reading Selection ……………………………………… 230

 

3.6 A. Dried Out by Maryann Bird………………………………. 230

3.6 B. The Nuclear Wasteland by Masha Gessen……………… 236

3.6 C. Current Accounts of the Fate of the Planet by S.Connor. 241

3.6 D. Breezing into the Future by Dick Thompson…………… 246

3.6 E. Environmental Responsibility and Consumer Protection

by Joseph T.Straub and Raymond F.Attner……………………… 251.

3.6 F. The Weather Turns Wild by Nancy Shute……………….. 260

3.6 G. Monster Vegetables Escape from the Lab by K.Goldenhar…………………………………………………………. 269

3.6 H. When Your Doctor Has AIDS by Christine Gorman …… 274

3.6 I. Last Bastion for Foreign Smokers by L.Richardson …….. 278

★3.7 Group Discussion ……………………………………… 283

★3.8 Panel Discussion …………………………………………283

★3.9 Creative Consolidation………………………………….. 284

Part  Four: Fast Lane through the Ranks ……………………286

★ 4.1 Anticipating the Issue……………………………………287

4.1 A..The Job that Fits ……………………………………….. 287

4.1 B. Seeking Employment…………………………………….289

4.1 C. Watching and Listening…………………………………. 290

4.1 D. Group Discussion. Brainstorm Ideas …………………… 292

4.1 E. Creative Consolidation……………………………………292

★ 4.2 Raise the Issue……………………………………………293

4.2 A. Words in Context…………………………………………294

4.2 B. Headhunters: How to Get Headhunted………………….. 296

4.2 C. Group Discussion. Brainstorm Ideas……………………..300

4.2 D. Watching and Listening…………………………………..301

4.2 E. Vocabulary in Focus…………………………………….. 302

4.2 F. Creative Consolidation……………………………………305

★ 4.3 Raise the Issue……………………………………………306

4. 3 A. Words in Context………………………………………..307

4.3 B. Inflated Qualifications……………………………………311

4.3 C. Watching and Listening…………………………………..314

4.3 D. Vocabulary in Focus ……………………………………. 315

4.3 E. Creative Consolidation……………………………………317

★ 4.4 Raise the Issue……………………………………………318

4.4 A. Words in Context…………………………………………319

4.4 B.Working Environment: New Century, New Office ………322

4.4 C. Watching and Listening…………………………………. 327

4.4 D. Vocabulary in Focus…………………………………….. 328

4.4 E. Creative Consolidation……………………………………331

★ 4.5 Raise the Issue……………………………………………332

4.5 A. Words in Context…………………………………………332

4.5. B Global Companies……………………………………….. 334

4.5.C. Group Discussion. Brainstorm Ideas…………………… 339

4.5 D. Watching and Listening………………………………… 340

4.5 E. Vocabulary in Focus…………………………………… 340

4.5 F. Creative Consolidation………………………………….. 342

★ 4.6 Raise the Issue……………………………………………343

4.6 A. Words in Context…………………………………………344

4.6 B. A Short Cut to Success……………………………………347

4.6 C. Group Discussion. Brainstorm Ideas……………………..351

4.6 D. Watching and Listening…………………………………. 352

4.6 E. Vocabulary in Focus………………………………………354

4.6 F. Creative Consolidation……………………………………356

★ 4.7 Reading Selection……………………………………….. 358

4.7A. What Do Employers Say?................................................... 358

4.7 B. No Place to Call Home By brad stone and fe kagahastian…………………………………………………………… 363

4.7 C. They gave me a C - but I deserved an A, didn't I? by Marianne Talbot……………………………………………………… 367

4.7 D. Work-force Study Finds Loyalty Is Weak, Divisions of Race and Gender are Deep by Sue Shellenbarger……………………… 372

4.7 E. The Key to Success? It’s Drive, Not Talent, Study Finds by David G. Savage……………………………………………………… 378

4.7 F. Blessed Barons by RON CHERNOW……………………… 384

4.7 G. Henry Ford by LEE IACOCCA……………………………... 390

4.7 H. Sorry, He’s in Conference by Jean-Louis Barsoux……… 397

4.7 I. Easy Does It ………………………………………………402

★ 4.8 Group Discussion…………………………………………407

★ 4.9 Panel Discussion…………………………………………408

4.9 A. Vocabulary in Focus……………………………………..408

4.9 B Watching and Listening…………………………………..408

4.9. C. Brainstorm Ideas ………………………………………..410

★ 4.10 Creative Consolidation………………………………….411

★ 4.11 Group Project-Making………………………………….413

 

Active Vocabulary List ………………………………………..414

Bibliography ……………………………………………………416

 

 

PART ONE

Money Talks,

 Money Works

 

Anticipating the Issue

 

➢ How do you understand the title? What problems do you think will be raised in this unit?

➢ Why and how should money work?

 

1.1 A. Explain how the following words correlate with the topic of the unit:

Dividend; investment; interest; commission.

Raise the Issue

➢ What is the role of economy in the modern society? Has it changed recently?

➢ There believed to be a clear shift from cultural and social priorities to economic ones. What makes people acquisitive [1]? Do you support the idea that our society is so pragmatic that “money reasoning” always prevails?

A. Words in Context

Discussion

● What examples given in the previous exercise are especially topical for our country? What economic problems is Russia facing at the moment? What is your economic outlook – optimistic or pessimistic? What is a good place to invest one’s capital now? 

● The phrase “think global, act local” is often quoted. What does it mean to you?

● A lot is said and written about “global organizations”. What do you understand by this phrase? Which organizations are global, in your opinion? Why?

 

B. Entrepreneurship

➢   How do you understand the notion “entrepreneur”?

➢ What personal qualities and skills do you think an entrepreneur needs?

➢  What sacrifices do you think he has to make in his  life to succeed in business?

➢  Have you ever had vague ideas for new products and services, and later seen them developed by an entrepreneur or an established company?

Read the article.

Risky business [11]

 

Nowadays no politician in the western world can do anything other than support free enterprise. So you should use discretion, staying the very epitome of cool, and not lose any sleep over who wins, for example, the next general election in Britain because it will still be possible to do business there.

However Britain’s entrepreneurs will be changing.

Though increased global competition is forcing large companies to consider more venturesome ways of stimulating product ideas and turn to internal entrepreneurs for breakthrough innovations, the failure to reap stable benefits halts British quest on this arena. 

In 2005, thanks partly to the expanding of the European Union, more and more successful entrepreneurs in Britain will not have been born there. Immigrants tend to have a natural propensity for being more dynamic and taking risk of leaving their homeland for a better future. More people will start real business on less than glamorous sectors.

It’s worth welcoming as Britain along with other European countries needs many more smaller entrepreneurs since they, in large numbers, can change the dynamics of the whole economy. It also needs high-profile role models, who inspire youngsters to start their own business.

However the term “entrepreneur” deserves scrutinizing. The politicians will speculate a lot about “entrepreneurs” and enterprise culture, but few will really understand what true entrepreneurship means. The dictionary defines an entrepreneur as “a person who organizes, operates and assumes the risk for a business venture”, so the term should not be used for people who take risks with other people’s money. “Entrepreneurial CEO”, a phrase sometimes applied to corporate high-fliers, is a contradiction in terms. They should be called managers and, unless the laws are broken, they walk away from failed ventures wealthier than when they started by at least the amount of their salary. The only true entrepreneurs are the ones who embark on a business venture knowing that they may end up poorer than when they started.

The term entrepreneur was invented by the French but their economy, with a nanny state and heavy social and legal penalties for failure, has created a nation predisposed to risk-aversion whose dream as youngsters is more often to work for the government than to start a business.  

In countries with a strong socialist background, like Greece, one sees a preponderance of another type of entrepreneur: the type that excels at servicing one customer only, the government. However they are quite often berated by their own compatriots. Their business activity is considered to be reprehensible. The problem with these people, in the eyes of the public at least, is that they profit at the expense of the taxpayer, thanks to unscrupulous politicians; rightly or wrongly, they tend to be seen as the bad guys, exploiting the system. The real problem for the economy is that fewer young people have the desire to risk any of their own money to become real entrepreneurs.

For various national reasons young people choose Britain to launch their ventures as they are convinced that Britain has the optimum legal system in Europe, one that you can trust to sue the so-called flag-carrier airline and still get a fair hearing. This would hardly be the case in Greece, or even France or Germany.

Paradoxically they find British society much more open than even some Brits would admit, accepting someone with an unpronounceable surname and a Greek accent to launch an airline which they are happy to trust with their lives. In the years to come the French and the Germans are likely to be less receptive to foreign entrepreneurs than the British.

But any British complacency would be misguided. The country still lags far behind America in entrepreneurial spirit. British attitude to risk is still a detriment.

If you are not failing occasionally, you are not taking enough risk and there is no reward without risk. In America a past business failure is almost a badge of resilience and honour (Donald Trump’s status as a star of reality TV’s “the Apprentice” soars even as one of his listed companies announces impending bankruptcy). In Britain it is a lasting handicap. There are prospects of changes in the law to destigmatise non-fraudulent business failure. But it will take more than that to alter the nation’s attitude to business failure. The problem lies deep in the British psyche: what will always stand in the way of entrepreneurship is that “Brits all love the underdog until he or she succeeds and then they love to shoot them down”. This will not change soon.

What about other predictions? In the years to come entrepreneurship will continue to be addictive, as once you start it’s difficult to stop.

 

C. Listening and Watching

² You will hear Ed Coombes, of Cambridge Capital Partners, talking about his work in raising funds for new companies. Listen to the interview and answer the questions.

1. What is the market opportunity that has opened up for investors?
2. Why are pension funds now investing in such companies?
3. How do corporate finance teams get paid?

E. Vocabulary in Focus

The article focuses on new businesses. Businesses can go up or down or probably show no changes at all. Read the following example from the article “Risky Business” and explain the meaning of the underlined word.

 

Donald Trump’s status as a star of reality TV’s “the Apprentice” soars even as one of his listed companies announces impending bankruptcy.

F. Creative Consolidation

Project-Making

Raise the Issue

➢ Have you ever tried to find solace from your problems and troubles in shopping? Has it helped?

➢ What do you know about shopaholics? Can you attribute yourself to this group?

A. Words in Context

Culture

 

kitsch – made without much serious thought, sentimental, and because of this amusing for people

muzak – recorded music that is played continuously in airports, shops, hotels etc

dodgems – a form of entertainment at a funfair in which people drive small electric cars around n enclosed space, chasing and hitting other cars.

pre-fab – a small building made of the parts of standard size so that they can be put together somewhere else

C. Listening and Watching

² Listen to the broadcast and fill the gaps in these sentences.

Enhancing customers’ lives

 

1. A ticket for a lunchtime performance at the theatre includes a …………….. containing sushi, …………., ………….. and a ……………….

2. There is a cruche for shoppers’ babies called a “…………….babies” and a ………….. room for older children.

3. In the food department there are hundreds of separate …………… selling everything from ………… to ……………

4. On the upper floors you can find many small……………

5. In summer, you can go up to the roof garden where you can sit in a …………. and enjoy the ………… and a rooftop …………..

6. At the main entrance you can get a store guide and …………. in English.

7. Some department stores are owned by …………. companies. There you can take the lift down to the ……….. where your ……………. is waiting.

8. Japanese department stores compete in terms of …………., how much of a ……….. it is to go there, and the ……….. of goods on offer. 

●  How do Japanese stores compare with stores in our country?

E. Vocabulary in Focus

F. Creative Consolidation

Project-Making

Raise the Issue

➢ What affects the level of sales?

➢ Can shop-owners influence it? How?

A. Words in Context

B. Sales Tactics

➢ What do you know about sales gimmicks?

Read the article

How Hidden Persuasion Makes Shoppers Spend [14]

Counter culture: subtle psychology is gearing soft sell to big profits.

ENTERING a supermarket is like taking a seat in the psychiatrist's chair - the food shopper's deepest desires will be laid open and explored. In-store cameras backed up by dis­creet human surveillance measure when and where we are predisposed to pause and drop that unnecessary little luxury into the trolley. The laser beam at the check-out records what precipitates higher sales of mozzarella cheese – moving it to an eye-catching display or featuring it in the supermarket's latest TV advertisement. Nothing is fortuitous, or left to chance. Everything is thought out in minute detail and geared to increased sales and prof­its, which means getting consumers to buy things they don't really need, but cannot resist.

It’s only evident that supermarkets prefer to equivocate any questions about tactics. They are reticent about their shams aimed at circumventing the most critically-minded shopper, and making him part with his critical faculties. They wish to appear the friendly grocer who helps wash our salads, not our brains.

Both shopping precinct design and goods layout should look inadvertent.

However, it is hard to disguise that virtually every new superstore has its primary doors on the left so the shopping is done clockwise, to the right. "Nine out of ten people are right handed and they prefer turning to the right," said Wendy Godfrey, a spokeswoman for Salisbury's, one major supermarket chain.

Profits from the store's own label products are normally higher than those from the big manu­facturers. So own label baked beans are usually placed to the left of the Heinz display because the eye reads left to right and will spot the store's brand first. The big manufacturers can rectify this by paying a premium for better display. How much they pay - especially when they may well be making the own brand version for the super­market - is a closely guarded secret and remains clandestine.

Of the 16,000 items of food which a superstore displays, only about 200 are KVIs - known value items - essentials such as tea, butter and coffee, the price of which will be known by most customers.

Three rules apply here.

Firstly, keep the cost competitive, which means halving gross profit margins to 15 per cent.

Second, dot the KVIs around the store, disseminating bakery and dairy products in different corners. Customers will have to follow the route known among specialists as golden triangle hunting essentials out and walking past the frozen black forest gateau, or mangetout peas - items they do not really need.

Moreover change the location of the KVIs from time to time shifting them from familiar surroundings to compel customers to search for trivial goods prolonging even the most routine shopping.

Can a store be too big, threatening and confus­ing for the customer? Current thinking is that abundance sells. A well-stocked 20-foot display of tomato ketchup sells more sauce than a depleted shelf 15 feet long. "I don't think there is a maxi­mum size unless it is how fast the average cus­tomer can get round without the frozen food defrosting," said John Davidson, a lecturer in retail marketing at the University of Surrey.

"Lighting influences the customer," he said. "It is kept soft in the wine section to encourage browsing, but it is sharp and bright at the cosmet­ics counter to suggest cleanliness."

Width of aisles is also a factor. "If they move too fast they are missing buying opportunities," said Andy Mitchell, research officer with the Institute of Grocery Distribution. "They also try to bounce you back and forth across the aisle by putting the best-selling digestive biscuit on one side and the most popular chocolate one on the other."

Convenience and cost are also behind Sunday trading. Round-the-clock running of freezer and chill cabinets means supermarkets cost a lot to operate after closing. Many perishables depreciated and thrown away on Saturday afternoon could be sold on Sunday. Just as important, however, is the psychology of leisure shopping. International studies show that people buy more expensive, discretionary items when they are relaxed and browsing.

It is not only how much one buys, but what one buys. A supermarket makes more profit from its own brand, microwave cooked-chill chicken Kiev than it does from the ingredients needed to make it at home. Many consumers appear willing to pay almost any price to avoid preparing food. Grated carrots wrapped in a nice plastic bag sell briskly for £1.18 a pound at Sainsbury's. Whole carrots, a few feet away, cost just 19p a pound.

 

Culture

 

black forest gateau – (plural gateaux) – a large sweet cake, often filled and decorated with cream, fruit, chocolate etc.

mangetout pea - a kind of flat pea whose outer part is eaten as well as seeds.

digestive biscuit - a type of plain, slightly sweet biscuit that is popular in Britain.

cook-chill - cook-chill foods have already been cooked when you buy them, and are stored at a low temperature but not frozen.

D. Vocabulary in Focus

Raise the Issue

 

➢ What do you think about the future of ethically responsible companies which tend to conduct business for the benefit of the environment, community and society as whole, without engaging in eg. corrupt  behaviour in our country?

 

A. Words in Context

Read the article.

America’s Hamburger Helper [18]

McDonald's gives new meaning to "we do it all for you" by investing in people and their neighborhoods.

Whenever we come across the name of McDonald’s in the media we anticipate vociferous reports about antiglobalists’ new attacks against Golden Arches. The main fast-food chain has become their main and “favourite” culprit.

The burger chided by environmentalists and revered by children, has become a cultural institution. But according to the zealots of global diversity behind the façade of convenience and “have a nice day” lie ruthless marketing instincts and elaborate organization. The famous corporation is often berated for sweatshop and child labor.

Global champ McDonald’s is spreading into developing markets, where its image as an icon of Americana makes it hugely popular. Its ubiquitous restaurants are associated with the proliferation of American culture and annihilation of indigenous cultures and traditions.

However any attempts of ostracizing the corporation were squelched by the recent events in South Central Los Angeles.    

When the smoke cleared after mobs burned through hundreds of busi­nesses, many of them even black owned, had been de­stroyed. Yet not a single McDonald's restau­rant had been torched. Within hours after the curfew was lifted, all South Central's Golden Arches were back up and running, feeding fire fighters, police and National Guard troops as well as burned-out citizens. The St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School, with 300 hungry students and no utilities, called for lunches and got them free—with delivery to boot.

For Edward H. Rensi, president and ceo of McDonald's U.S.A., the explanation of what happened, or didn't happen, in South Central L.A. was simple: "Our busi­nesses there are owned by African-Ameri­can entrepreneurs who hired African-American managers who hired African-American employees who served every­body in the community, whether they be Korean, African American or Caucasian."

The $19-billion-a-year company has often been the target of those who dispar­age everything from its entry-level wage structure to the aesthetic blight of its cookie-cutter proliferation. But the Los Angeles experience was exoneration of enlightened social policies begun more than three decades ago. The late Ray Kroc, a crusty but imaginative salesman who forged the chain in 1955, insisted that both franchise buyers and company ex­ecutives get involved in community af­fairs. His main tenet was "If you are going to take money out of a community, give something back. It's only good business."

As a result, McDonald's stands out not only as one of the more socially respon­sible companies in America but also as one of the nation's few truly effective social engineers. Both its franchise opera­tors, who own 83% of all McDonald's res­taurants, and company officials sit on boards of local and national minority ser­vice organizations, allowing the company to claim that its total involvement in ev­erything from the Urban League and the n.a.a.c.p. to the U.S.

The spawning ground for many of the new ideas and programs designed to integrate the franchises into neighbor­hoods in which they operate has been the company's moral and intellectual McCenter, Hamburger University. Since 1979 the company has held affirmative-action seminars for its executives and managers there, as well as in many of the company's 40 regional offices, on such topics as how to manage the changing work force and handle ca­reer development for women, blacks and Hispanics. Each year 3,000 employees complete affirmative action training pro­grams that last l'/2 to 3 days. Ideas origi­nated at headquarters and by individual franchisees have led to programs such as McJobs, which takes on mentally and physically impaired employees, and McPride, which keeps students in school and rewards them for academic achieve­ment while they work.

    Today nearly 70% of McDonald's restau­rant management and 25% of the com­pany's executives are minorities and women, and so are about half its corporate department heads. This year McDonald's will nearly double its purchases from com­panies that are minority or female owned, from last year's $157 million to $300 mil­lion. Several of the biggest are owned and operated by former McDonald's managers or franchise holders.

Through a program devised by its store owners, the company has helped estab­lish 153 Ronald McDonald Houses, named for the chain's trademark clown, where families of seriously ill children can stay while the child is undergoing extensive medical treatment, such as chemotherapy or bone-marrow transplants. Each house serves an average of 15 families who pay from $5 to $ 15 a night, if they can afford it.

 But McDonald’s broadest impact has been through its basic job-training system. Its 8,800 U.S. restaurants (there are an additional 3,600 overseas from Beijing to Belgrade) train American youth of every ethnic hue. "Send­ing a kid to the Army used to be the standard way to teach kids rudimentary skills and basic values, disci­pline, respect for authority, to be a mem­ber of a team, get to work on time, brush your teeth, comb your hair, clean your fingernails," says Ed Rensi. "Now, some­how, McDonald's has become the new entry-level job-training institution in America. We find ourselves doing things in that role that we would never imagine we would do." Among them: paying kids to study, rewarding them for staying in school, hiring physically and mentally handicapped youngsters and adults and giving sensitivity training to co-workers. In a program called McMasters, older people, usually retirees, are hired to work alongside young crew members to give the workplace a sense of family and to set an example of caring, courtesy and responsibility.

At Pat Newbury's McDonald's restau­rant in Renton, Wash., some young em­ployees earn an hour's pay not for flipping burgers but for studying an hour before their work shift begins. In a Chicago-area restaurant, Hispanic teenagers are being tutored in English. In Tulsa, a McDonald's crew is studying algebra after work. At a Honolulu restaurant, student workers get an extra hour's pay to study for an hour after closing. In Colorado, Virginia and Massachusetts there are Stay in School programs offering bonus money for em­ployees who receive good grades. Read­ing-improvement classes frequently take place at restaurants in Kansas and New Jersey.

Despite the initial skepticism of edu­cators, McDonald's programs have man­aged to allay the fears of many that work and school could not mix. In February the National Association of Secondary School Principals passed a resolution commend­ing the company for "exemplary and moti­vational efforts to support education, stu­dents and assistant principals.

"In conjunction with the vocational-rehabilitation services of several states, nearly 7,000 disabled and handicapped people have been trained to function as full McDonald's employees by job coaches drawn from within the company. Before these less fortunate employees take their places, company trainers often put young able-bodied workers in blindfolds, gloves or dark glasses to demonstrate the liability their new colleagues have to deal with in doing the same jobs.

Owner Jonah Kaufman has 26 handicapped people, mainly with Down syndrome, on the payroll in his 12 Long Island stores. Kaufman says the key to his success with the disabled is "to try not to treat them differently." McDonald's has used Braille and its own kind of sign language as aids for impaired employees. At McDonald's Oak Brook headquarters, staff workers are sought from specialized schools, such as Gallaudet University and the Rochester Institute for Technology, which has an educational center for the deaf.

Senior vice president Robert H. Bea­vers Jr., who gave up plans to become an electrical engineer 19 years ago to stay with McDonald's, says the company's so­cially minded business practices have made the company stronger: "Our energy level and our understanding of the market today are much better because of the cultural diversity we have." He points out that in the inner city, where he grew up, they say, "If you talk the talk, you better walk the walk."

 In Los Angeles, they talked and they walked—and they didn't burn. So Rensi and his team intend to keep on keeping on. After all, it's only good business.

 

Culture

affirmative action - a policy in government, business, and education that gives opportunities to women and minority group members. Affirmative-action programs began after the civil-rights movement of the 1960s.

franchise - the right and power to be part of a corporation; a business that is associated with a larger corporation. Most McDonald's restaurants are franchises with individual owners.

Golden Arches - a McDonald's restaurant. The gold colored M, which looks like a pair of arches, is a trademark for McDonald's.

Hamburger Helper - the brand name of packaged ingredients that are added to ground beef to make a one-dish meal.

hamburger stand - a fast-food restaurant that sells hamburgers.

inner-city belonging to the older, usually poorer, central area of a city. Many inner-city neighborhoods are inhabited by minority groups.

special-ed - in need of special educational services because of mental or physical disabilities.

"We do it all for you." - an advertising slogan used by McDonald's.

Caucasian – belonging to the race that has white or pale skin.

at-risk - in danger of failing in school.

cookie-cutter - repetitious; identical. This is a negative term that suggests a lack of imagination or creativity.

flip burgers - to cook hamburgers by turning them on a grill.

D. Vocabulary in Focus

E. Creative Consolidation

Project-Making

Make a 350-word project on one of these issues for presentation at mini-conference on relevant topic. Prepare to answer the questions after your presentation.

Do the following activities, several of which are not illegal, conform to the basic rules of the society, or not?

 

 Bribing corrupt foreign officials in order to win foreign orders, on the grounds that where bribery is a way of life, you have no alternative if you want to win a contract.

 Industrial espionage – spying on competitors’ R&D departments with concealed cameras and microphones, bribing their employees, etc. – rather than doing your own expensive research and development.

 Selling supposedly durable goods with “built-in obsolescence”, i.e. which you know will not last more than a few years. 

 Spending money on lobbying, i.e. trying to persuade politicians to pass laws favourable to your particular industry.

 Telling only half the truth in advertisements, or exaggerating a great deal, or keeping quiet about the bad aspects of a product.

 Undertaking “profit smoothing, i.e. using all the techniques of “creative accounting” to hide big variations in profit figures from year to year, and threatening to replace the auditors if they object.

 “Whistle blowing”, i.e. revealing confidential information to the police or to a newspaper, e.g. that a company is breaking health and safety regulations and therefore putting people’s lives to danger, or illegally selling arms to foreign dictators.

 Revealing clandestine information as well as the details of running business in a company after leaving it to its competitors.

Reading Selection

➢ Look through the articles and choose one for presentation. Find at least one more article on the same topic and make a synthetic review [19].

 

■ 1.6 A. The Mystical Power of Free Trade

By Michael Kinsley

Some people find it hard to believe it really works, but it does.

Free trade is always a hard sell. In all social science, the proposition that comes closest to being scientific, in terms of being theoretically provable and true in real life, is that a society benefits from allowing its citizens to buy what they wish—even from foreigners. But people resist this conclusion, sometimes violently, as in Seattle last week. Why?

A couple of reasons. First, the principle of free trade may be true, but it's not obviously true. In fact, it's counterintuitive. If a factory shuts down because of a flood of cheap foreign products, how is that good? If the middle-class finds itself competing with workers being paid practically nothing and living in squalor in other countries, how can this send the middle-class standard of liv­ing up and not down? If another na­tion is willing to pollute its air and water in order to produce goods for sale in the global economy, how can a country join that economy and still hope to keep its own air and water clean?

There are answers to these questions, but they take a bit of background and a bit of per­suading. Students of economics are led step by step through layers of reasoning until the moment they see the light. Skeptics think that the whole routine is like induction into a religious cult and that free trade is more like an article of religious faith than a sound policy recommendation. These skeptics are wrong, but their skepticism is understandable.

The other reason it's hard to sell free trade is that any giv­en example tends to benefit a lot of people in small ways that are hard to identify and tends to harm a few people a lot in ways that are vividly evident. When that factory shuts down, the un­employed workers know they've suffered a loss, and they know why. And it's a big enough loss to stir them politically. It will af­fect their vote at least, if not cause them to march in the streets.

By contrast, budget-conscious shoppers (maybe those same workers) who are able to save a few bucks on a new sweater are not likely to realize they are enjoying a bargain as a result of glob­al trade or to take to the streets to defend their right to a cheap sweater. Or suppose the U.S. slaps a tariff on foreign sweaters and the foreign country retaliates by raising a tariff on something the U.S. is selling them—the people who would lose their jobs aren't even identifiable for sure, though for sure they exist. Likewise the people who lose jobs because shoppers who have to pay more for sweaters have less money to spend on other things.

It's by considering all these things—the risk of losing your job one way minus the risk of losing it another, the extra money you make if your industry is shielded from foreign competition mi­nus the extra money you pay for goods and services that are pro­tected—that you reach the conclusion that on average, free trade benefits us all. Yes, there are various economic theories about cir­cumstances in which all this may not be true, but their authors win prizes precisely because the circumstances are unusual. In general, the numbers work irrespective of what policies other countries follow. They just get worse if one country's trade re­strictions lead other countries to impose more of the same. Trouble is, who's got time for all that math?

Still a half-century of general pros­perity in the U.S. has created a climate of toleration, if not enthusiasm, for the free-trade gospel—mostly, indeed, as a gospel of our civic religion rather than out of anyone's buy­ing the math. Alarm about im­ports tends to ebb and flow with the economy—less in good times, more in bad. So how, in the best times ever, did the World Trade Organization become the global bogeyman? No earnest college kid ever hitched across the U.S. to carry a picket sign against the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO's predecessor, although its function was sim­ilar. It took decades for the cia, the Trilateral Commis­sion and the Council on Foreign Relations to achieve their places in the pantheon of political paranoia. The WTO has joined them in just four years. And it is despised across the entire political spectrum, whereas these other groups sym­bolize evil only to one political extreme or the other.

Part of the explanation is the special nature of the current prosperity, which is widening the income gap rather than nar­rowing it, as in the past. Part is the growth of global economic forces that are actually impinging on national sovereignty, even though it's the paranoid hysterics who say so. But the WTO isn't responsible for either of these trends, both of which are prob­ably inevitable and neither of which undermines the basic case for free trade or for an organization empowered to promote trade through binding arbitration of trade disputes.

Maybe it's the name. If you call yourself the World Trade Or­ganization, you can't complain much if people dial your toll-free number and gripe about world trade. If a bunch of heads of gov­ernment plan a triumphalist self-celebration in Seattle, you can't blame party poopers for showing up to horn in on the publicity. But really, the WTO is O.K. Do the math. Or take it on faith.  

                                                                                                                                             

Vocabulary

 

proposition – a judgment, suggestion (business, politics)

benefit – (from)to bring advantages to someone or improve their way in some way; benefit (v): have the benefit of; reap the benefit of (=use and enjoy the advantages of something you have worked to achieve); be of benefit (be useful or helpful in some way); be on benefit; give sb the benefit of the doubt – to accept what someone tells you even though you think they may be lying

hitch – to ask a free ride from the drivers of the passing cars by putting your hand out with your thumb raised; hitch-hike; hitch (n) - a problem that delays something for a short time: without a hitch

induction – the introduction of someone into a new job, company, official position: induction course; a ceremony in which someone is officially introduced into an official position; induct (v), inductee (n). Compare: induce – to make someone decide to do something, especially something that seems unwise; to cause a particular physical condition; inducement – something such as money or a gift that you are offered to persuade you to do something

stir – mix, move slightly; make someone have a strong feeling or reaction: stir sb’s memory/imagination; to cause trouble; stir (n) a feeling of excitement or annoyance: create/cause a stir; stirrings (of love/ douby/ rebellion) early signs that love is starting

slap – to hit someone with the flat part of your hand; slap down – criticize unfairly and unkindly so that they lose confidence; slap sth on – to suddenly announce a new charge, tax etc, especially unfairly or without warning

retaliate – to do something bad to someone because they have done something bad to you; retaliation (n): in retaliation for

impose – (a ban/ tax/ fine etc on) – to officially order that something should be forbidden, restricted, taxed; impose a burden/ strain etc on/ upon - have a bad effect on someone by causing them problems; to force someone to have the same ideas or beliefs; imposition (n)

prosperity – a condition of having money and everything that is needed for a good life; prosper (v), prosperous

Explain the following.

a. to live in squalor

b. Alarm about imports tends to ebb and flow with the economy – less in good times, more in bad.

c. You can’t complain much if people dial your toll-free number and gripe about world trade.

d. You can’t blame party poopers for showing up to horn in on the publicity.

 

Vocabulary

spawn – to make a series of things happen or start to exist

scuttle – to move quickly with short steps (along, past, down); to sink a ship by making holes in the bottom, especially to prevent it being used by the enemy

swish – to move or make something move quickly through the air with a smooth quiet sound; swish (n); swish (adj) – fashionable and expensive-looking

akin to – very similar to

gobble (up)- to eat something very quickly or in a way people do not consider polite; finish a supply of something quickly; gobbledygook/ gobbledegook – complicated language, especially in an official document which seems to have no meaning

encounter – to experience problems, difficulties or opposition when you are trying to do something; to meet someone or experience something unexpectedly; encounter (n); chance encounter (=a meeting caused by luck or chance); close encounter (=situation that could have been dangerous or unpleasant)

obscure – not at all well known and usually not very important; difficult to understand; obscure (v) – to make something difficult to know or to understand: obscure the fact/ issue etc; to prevent something from being seen or heard clearly

glow – to shine with a soft, steady light; to produce a red light and heat without flames, if your face or body glows, it is red or hot as a result of exercise or strong emotion; glow with pride/ pleasure/ triumph etc – to look very happy because you feel proud etc; glow (n);