Министерство образования Российской федерации
Камышинский технологический институт филиал
Волгоградского государственного технического университета
Кафедра иностранных языков
УЧЕБНО - МЕТОДИЧЕСКОЕ УКАЗАНИЯ
ПО РАЗВИТИЮ УСТНОЙ РЕЧИ
ПО ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ ТЕМАТИКЕ
«TALKING TO BILL GATES»
для студентов 3-4 курсов
НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ ЭКОНОМИКИ
Волгоград
2002
Рецензия
На учебно-методическое указание по развитию устной речи по экономической тематике (направление 521600) «Talking to Bill Gates» составленное старшим преподавателем кафедры «Иностранные языки»
Учебно-методическое указание «Talking to Bill gates» представляет собой сборник тщательно отобранных и систематизированных текстов экономической тематики, предназначенных для студентов 3-4-х курсов.
Каждый текст снабжён тематическим словарём и рядом лексико-грамматических упражнений, позволяющих студентам на практике закрепить и расширить полученные ими практические знания.
Работа над каждым текстом завершается творческим задание.
Предложенное учебно-методическое пособие может быть использовано студентами как на аудиторных занятиях под руководством преподавателя, так и при самостоятельном обучении.
Пособие рекомендуется к опубликованию и использованию студентами старших курсов КТИ ВолгГТУ.
Кандидат педагогических наук
Доцент кафедры «Иностранные языки»
ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ
В работе представлена система оригинальных текстов, взятых из газеты «Moscow News» и упражнений для закрепления лексики и развития навыков чтения и устной речи по тематике, связанной с современной макроэкономической ситуацией и влиянием интернета и компьютерной технологии на развитие и состояние экономики.
Данные методические указания можно использовать после прохождения соответствующих тематических комплексов учебников «Английский язык для менеджеров» автор и «English on Economics» автор ёва для студентов старших курсов специальности 521600 «Экономика»
Unit 1
I. Before you real the text discuss what you know about
1. Bill Gates;
2. Technological advances and social change in society;
3. New products and society;
4. The Internet.
Is The Rapid Rate Of Change a Social Problem?
By Bill Gates
QUESTION: In the past people made long-range life plans based upon the assumption of a stable economic structure. Changes occur much faster now as new computing and communications products such as the Internet are introduced. This promises to be quite disruptive of society. Do you consider this a problem? Jay Roberts
(720AT) )
ANSWER: Change is both a problem and an opportunity. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that technological advances alone aren’t enough to drive social change. At least some people have to embrace change or it won’t happen.
Two tendencies cause new products to be adopted over prolonged periods rather than immediately. Products evolve slowly to meet the needs of the market, and the market adapts slowly to new opportunities.
In the beginning, most products are so expensive and perplexing that only a narrow set of people use them. As the number of users gradually increases, prices come down and refinements are made. This bolsters sales.
Telephones, televisions, electronic calculators and cellular telephones are examples of products that started out expensive and, in the early years, were used by only a small part of the population. Now the devices are much improved, relatively inexpensive and ubiquitous – and often used in ways nobody had foreseen. For example, I doubt anybody was thinking about electric vacuum cleaners when houses were first wired for electricity. You can think of the evolution of a product as the process by which the product gets itself ready for mainstream use. It’s half of what matters.
The other tendency, equally important, is that people only slowly adapt their patterns, mindsets, skills and expectations to match the opportunities afforded by a new product. It takes years for people to hear about a product, try it, get used to it, rely on it.
Even if great VCRs had been inexpensive in the beginning, it would have taken several years for them to become popular. People decide for themselves that rate at which they want to change, to buy things in new ways, to trust new systems. Often patterns don’t really change until a new generation, not wed to the old ways of doing things, comes of age.
The Internet will lead to many changes in society because it has the potential to be such an efficient way to bring buyers and sellers together (even when what is being “sold” is information offered free, as it so often is on the Web today). But the Internet, by itself, won’t cause anything to happen. Although the mediation the Internet offers is extremely efficient, it’s still human desires that are being accommodated.
If you want to work out of your house, is there somebody who wants to hire you? If you want to find a good doctor, are you comfortable using the Internet to help research your options?
There must be a critical mass of people using the tool or it is largely irrelevant. A new machine doesn’t barrel at us at some arbitrary speed. The machine, in this case the Internet, matters only to the extent it satisfies human preferences and interests.
This gives me comfort, and I hope it does you too.
Is the Rapid Rate of Change a Social Problem?
Notes:
1. to be disruptive of - быть разрушительным для …
2. technological advances - технический прогресс
3. to drive social change - приводить к социальным изменениям
4. to embrace change - принять изменение
5. to adopt smth. - принимать ч-л.
6. To adapt to smth. - адаптироваться к чему-либо
7. Perplexing - ошеломляющий
8. To bolster sales - поддерживать продажу
9. Ubiquitous - вездесущий, повсеместный
10. Mainstream - (зд.) массовый
11. To matter - иметь значение
12. to match smth. - соответствовать ч-л.
13. To be not wed to smth. - не привыкший к ч-л.
14. To come of age - достичь совершеннолетия
15. to accomodate - предоставлять услугу, обслуживать
16. to hire smb. - нанимать к-л. на работу
17. to barrel at … - катиться на к-л.
II. Read the article quickly to find the answers to these questions:
1. What are the two tendencies that cause new products to be adopted over prolonged periods?
2. Examples of what products are telephones, televisions, electronic caculators and cellular telephones?
3. Why will the Internet lead to many changes?
III. Read more carefully and match the words from the text on the left with the meanings on the right.
1. occur a) the main direction of development
2. opportunity b) improvement
3. refinement c) inappropriate
4. mainstream d) take place
5. afford e) a time or circumstance that is favorable or suit
able for a particular purpose
6. rate f) the right or opportunity to choose
7. generation g) a network
8. the Web h) speed
9. option i) a group of individuals born at about the same
time.
10. irrelevant j) give, provide, supply
IV. Answer the of. questions:
1. What is change?
2. Can technological advances alone drive social change?
3. What causes new products to be adapted over prolonged periods?
4. Can you describe the evolution of products at the market?
5. Was anybody thinking about electric vacuum cleaners when houses were first wired for electricity? Why not?
6. How do people adapt to a new product?
7. Were VCRs expensive at the beginning?
8. How long did it take VCRs to become popular?
9. Who decides the rate at which people want to change, to buy things in new ways, to trust new systems?
10. Why don’t patterns often really change until a new generation comes of age?
11. Do you think the Internet will lead to many changes in society? Why?
12. At what price is information being sold on the Web?
13. Is the mediation the Internet offers extremely efficient?
14. What is being accommodated, information or human desires?
15. What is the condition of relevancy of a new tool or machine?
16. When does a machine matter?
V. Define the meaning of these words and phrases.
Over prolonged periods; immediately; to meet the needs; a narrow set of people; refinements; to start out expensive; in the early years; to be used in ways nobody has foreseen; it’s half of what matters; to afford; a pattern; a mindset; to change at the rate; to bring buyers and sellers together; to work out of one’s house; to research one’s options; largely.
VI. Make up a plan covering the main ideas of the text
VI. Give a summary of the text according to your plan.
VII. Say whether you agree or disagree to these statements. Give your reasoning. Use the following phrases.
Personally I think that …
In my opinion …
From my point of view …
As I see it …
I’m not really sure if I would agree on that.
I wouldn’t agree
I can’t accept that
I’m with you on that
I take your point
I entirely agree with you there
That’s exactly my opinion
Yes, I agree to a point
Yes, perhaps you’re right
1. Change is both a problem and an opportunity.
2. Products evolve quickly to meet the needs of the market.
3. The market adapts slowly to new opportunities.
4. Often patterns don’t really change until a new generation come of age.
5. The Internet will lead to many changes in society.
6. Although the mediation the Internet offers is extremely efficient it’s still
human desires that are being accommodated.
7. The machine matters only to the extent it satisfies human preferences and
interests.
VIII. Write a composition on whether the rapid rate of change is a social problem in the modern society.
Unit 2
I. Look at the following statements about a web lifestyle and say whether you think they are true or false
1. Shuffling resources between accounts is an example of a task that the Internet’ World Wide Web will make easy tomorrow.
2. Living a Web lifestyle means you rely heavily on the interactive network to gather and use information.
3. Everybody lives a Web lifestyle now.
4. The majority of all adults are using electronic mail and the Internet.
5. All the people manage their finances via the Web.
6. The Web lest companies offer services that are tailored to individual needs.
7. The Internet is a tool of communication.
8. Some banks offer to manage you assets and provide you with credit using the Internet.
Banking on a Web Lifestyle
By Bill Gates
People get embarrassed if they accidentally overdraw a checking account, but they should feel just as sheepish about keeping too much money in a checking account that pays little or no interest.
Even sillier is something people do all the time. They carry expensive credit-card debt even though they have funds in a checking account.
These kinds of mistakes will become much less common once people begin living what I call a “Web lifestyle”. Shuffling resources between accounts is one example of a task so bothersome today but that the Internet’s World Wide Web, will make easy tomorrow.
Today it takes patience to find information on financial, travel, health, entertainment and other opportunities. It takes time and trouble to act on the information you find.
Having grown up in a world of paper and fleeting television images, we take these information inefficiencies for granted. We don’t complain because we haven’t experienced dramatically better alternatives. But the Web will offer far alternatives and, as we begin to experience them, a Web lifestyle will take hold.
Living a Web lifestyle will mean you rely heavily on the interactive network to gather and use information. You’ll take the network completely for granted, turning to it instinctively without a second thought. You’ll check it to see what’s happening, what’s cool, what people are talking about and what they’re thinking. You’ll check it before making any major purchase and many minor ones too.
Despite the Web’s surging usage, nobody really lives a Web lifestyle yet – and won’t, fully, until computers turn on instantly, network connections work faster, software is easier and people have lost their apprehension about computers and Internet security. But these developments will happen reasonably soon.
I think it’s safe to say that within 10 years the majority of all adults will be using electronic mail and living a form of Web lifestyle. They’ll be using the Internet to file their taxes and communicate with their doctors, at least some of the time.
By then, and possibly much earlier, many people will manage their finances via the Web. Each bank will put up Web pages that present its products in an easy-to-use fashion, making it simple for customers to manage money quite well electronically.
These changes won’t come at the expense of the banking industry. On the contrary, the future is bright not just for people who adopt a Web lifestyle, but also for institutions that evolve alongside. The Web will let companies offer services that are tailored to individual needs, an essential advantage.
The Web will offer banks great opportunities, especially as their services expand to include insurance, advice and a broad range of investments. Some banks will offer to manage your assets and provide you with credit. If your checking account balance gets too high, the bank will offer to move funds into appropriate investments that have higher yields.
Banks will advise you to pay down credit-card balances or other loans – and let you do it with a click. They’ll know that if they don’t give you this kind of advice and convenience, you’ll likely take your business elsewhere.
The Internet is a tool of communication above all else, a place for people as well as rich information. The Web lifestyle will meet human needs or it won’t catch on. It will meet these needs efficiently yet pleasantly, or its promises will bounce like so many rubber checks.
BANKING ON A WEB LIFESTYLE
NOTES:
1. to overdraw a checking Accountпревысить остаток на текущем
счете
2. to pay little or no interest - давать мало или никакого про-
центного дохода
3. to carry expensive credit-card debt - иметь дорогой долг по кре-
дитной карточке
4. shuffling resources between accounts - перемещать активы с одного
счёта на другой
5. the Internet’s World Wide Web - всемирная паутинка (сеть) ин
тернета
6. to take smth. for granted - само собой разумеется
7. a major (minor) purchase - большая (мелкая) покупка
8. to lose one’s apprehension about - терять опасения насчёт ком
computers and Internet security пьютеров и безопасности
интернета
9. electronic mail (e-mail) - электронная почта
10. the ease-of - use and manageability of computers – лёгкость использова
ния и управляемость компью -
теров
11. in an easy-to-use fashion - в лёгкой для использования
манере
12. to file their taxes - оформить налоги
13. to be tailored to individual needs - подобрать в соответствии с ин
дивидуальными потребностя-
ми
14. assets - активы, капитал
15. checking account balance - сальдо текущего счёта
16. to have higher yields - иметь более высокую прибыль
(отдачу)
17. to meet human needs - удовлетворять нужды людей
18. to catch on - приживаться, приниматься
Now read the article and see if you were right
II. Look at the article again and find:
1. Three words meaning the same as “money”.
2. A phrase which means “to accept, possess or regard without thought, consideration or acknowledgement”.
3. A verb meaning “to write a check against a bank account that is larger that the account’s balance or credit.”
4. A verb meaning “to make, alter or adapt to meet a special requirement or need.”
III. Write 10 questions which can be used as a plan.
IV. Using your questions as a plan speak about banking on a Web lifestyle.
V. Say whether you agree or disagree to these statements. Give your reasoning. Use the following phrases:
Personally I think that …
In my opinion … , From my point of view …
As I see it … . I’m not really sure if I would agree on that.
I wouldn’t agree. I can’t accept that.
I’m with you on that. I take your point.
That’s exactly my opinion. Yes, I agree to a point.
Yes, perhaps you’re right.
1. People should feel embarrassed of they keep too much money in a checking account that pays little or no interest.
2. Shuffling resources between accounts is bothersome today.
3. Today it takes patience to find information on financial, travel, health, entertainment and other opportunities.
4. You take the network completely for granted, turning to it instinctively without a second thought.
5. Despite the Web’s surging usage nobody really lives a Web lifestyle yet.
6. Within ten years the majority of adults will be using the Internet to file their taxes and communicate with their doctor.
7. The future is bright not just for the people who adopt a Web lifestyle, but also for institutions that evolve alongside.
8. Banks will advise you to pay down credit – card balances or other loans-and let you do it with a click.
9. The Web lifestyle will meet human needs or it won’t catch on.
Unit 3
I. Before you read the article discuss
1. what you think of “friction – free capitalism”.
2. what you know about the Internet as a market place.
II. Match the words on the left with the definitions on the right. Use your dictionary if necessary.
1. to encourage to fix or ask as a price
modity a merchant or dealer who sell retail
3. retailer a person or thing that supplies
4. consumer someone who sells or offers for sale
5. supplier a person who visits stores to look at, price, or buy merchan -
dise
6. shopper to give support, help, promote
7. marketer someone who buys and uses up things offered for sale
8. to charge to find out the price of
9. to price article of trade; something that can be bought.
Friction-Free Capitalism and the Price of The Future
By Bill Gates
Because the Internet encourages the free flow of information, it promises to revolutionize how people shop and how prices are set.
Usually this will mean smaller margins for sellers as consumers comparison shop in highly efficient marketplaces. But sometimes the opposite will happen, and sellers will find ways to charge more – at least to certain customers and for certain kinds of products.
In 1995, I introduced the term “friction-free capitalism” to describe a marketplace in which buyers and sellers have almost perfect knowledge of the true supply and demand for a particular product. The Internet is moving us in this direction.
Most products are commodities on one level or another. For example, numerous companies make television sets that are roughly equivalent, and any given model is available from a multitude of retailers. Consumers have abundant choices.
To the extent a product is a commodity, consumers get better buys as the marketplace becomes more efficient. Superstores and mail-order houses have gradually improved the efficiency of the marketplace in recent years, driving prices down. In the United States, at least, neighborhood appliance and camera stores have been forced to be more competitive (and often settle for smaller margins).
The internet is accelerating the trend toward efficient markets. People can browse from retailer to retailer readily. Over time, software will automate the process of comparison shopping, and “haggling” over prices will become electronic and effortless. As it becomes easier for consumer to discover the lowest prices, suppliers and retailers who charge too much will see business suffer. This raises a question: Will people who don’t shop for low prices get them anyway?
Sometimes they won’t. Sellers will use technology to extract the highest price they can from a particular shopper, especially if the goods or services aren’t commodities. This is an extension of pricing practices that are common today.
Flexible prices are a fixture of the marketplace. Many electronic and appliance stores advertise price guarantees in which they promise to match the lowest price a consumer has identified. This lets them say they won’t be undersold, even if their marked prices are relatively high. Direct-mail marketers often publish different prices in different catalogs. When you call to order, the sales representative first asks for your customer number or catalog number-often so that the company knows what to charge you. If you call a toll-free number, the merchant may know who you are without even asking.
The goal of these and similar pricing strategies is to capture the low-margin business of price-sensitive shoppers, while harvesting higher margins from sales to shoppers who aren’t as diligent or flexible. These techniques are fairly crude, however, next to what the Internet will make possible.
Interactive technology allows sellers to know the identities of the people they are selling to, or at least to know that a specific repeat visitor is returning.
A Web site can recognize you when you log in with a member password or if the site reads an identifying number it has previously recorded to your hard disk. These numbers, called “cookies,” also enable Web sites to provide you with personalized information and services. (Many sites won’t function properly, or give a very gratifying experience, if they can’t record and read cookies freely.)
If a Web site you visit frequently comes to know what kinds of prices you have or haven’t been willing to pay in the past, it may reduce a price to spur you to buy – or raise one if your pattern suggests that you’re not particularly price – sensitive.
I don’t know how many Web sites are personalizing prices today, but many will in the future. After all, it’s just an extension of pricing behavior that is already common in the conventional marketplace. Keep in mind, though, that in the long run this approach will only work for distinctive goods and services. When a Web site offers you a product, it will take only a few seconds for you to discover whether the price is competitive. Any product that resembles a commodity – and most do – will be driven down in price by the efficiency of the Internet as a marketplace.
Pricing strategies for distinctive products (non-commodities) could become quite interesting in the future, as computers and the Internet make new, profitable schemes practical. Sellers who have something unique to offer will discover that the efficiency of the Internet works in their favor.
For example, once recordings are distributed mostly online, the world may see music by particular artists priced according to the income (or assumed income) of the specific buyer.
Setting prices according to an individual’s ability to pay may sound radical, but the idea is as old as progressive taxation. College educations are priced this way, with a discount called “financial aid” that varies according to family income and assets.
New pricing schemes will arise. Already, a new type of disc, a variant on DVD called Divx, is being promoted. It is a new form of pay-per-view that allows people to watch a movie for a limited period before it expires.
I don’t really know how this will all work out, of course. Consumers will decide, ultimately, through their purchasing pattern Divx, for example, will succeed or flop based on consumer reaction. So will pricing schemes tailored to the Internet. What I do know is that the potential of the Internet to create nearly friction-free markets will lead to innovation in how products are priced. Because the vast majority of products are commodities, consumers will be winners most - but not all - of the time.
Notes:
1. Margins - разница между себестоимостью
и продажной ценой
2. to comparison - сравнивать цены в магазинах
3. friction-free capitalism - без проблемный капитализм
4. to the extent - до такой степени
5. appliance and camera stores - магазины бытовой техники и
фото - принадлежностей
6. to browse - просматривать сайды интернета
7. to haggle over prices - торговаться о ценах
8. an extension of pricing practices - расширение практики назначе-
ния цен
9. to match the lowest price a consumer has identified – соответствовать
самой низкой цене, которую
обнаружил клиент
10. they won’t be undersold - они не останутся в накладе
11. to call a toll-free number - звонить по бесплатному номеру
12. a specific repeat visitor - конкретный посетитель, прихо -
дящий уже не первый раз
13. a Web site - страничка интернета
14. to log in with a member password - входить в систему, сообщая ей
имя и пароль
15. to be price-sensitive - быть чувствительным по отно-
шению к цене
16. once recordings are distributed mostly online … - как только записи бу-
дут распространяться боль-
шей частью интерактивно …
17. a new form of pay-per-view - новая форма платного просмот-
ра
18. to flop - потерпеть неудачу, провалить-
ся
19. to set prices - назначать, устанавливать цены
III. Read the article quickly and decide if the following statements are true or false:
1. Shopping at Internet means smaller margins for sellers
2. “Friction-free capitalism” means a marketplace in which buyers and sellers have almost perfect knowledge of the true supply and demand
3. Superstores and mail-order houses have gradually improved the efficiency of the marketplace, driving prices up.
4. As it becomes easier for consumers to discover the lowest prices suppliers and retailers who charge too much will see business boom.
5. Flexible prices are a failure of the market pace.
6. The goal of these pricing strategies is to capture the low-margin business of price-sensitive shoppers.
7. Interactive technology allows sellers to identify the people they are selling to.
8. When a Web site offers you a product it will take you a long time to know if the price is competitive.
9. Sellers who have something unique to offer will discover that the efficiency of the Internet doesn’t work in their favour.
10. Setting prices according to an individual’s ability to pay is a new idea.
11. The potential of the Internet to create nearly friction-free markets will lead to innovations in how products are priced.
IV. Now study the notes and read the text carefully again to answer the following questions:
1. Why does the Internet promise to revolutionize how people shop and how prices are set?
2. What does the Internet as a marketplace mean for sellers?
3. What is “friction-free capitalism”?
4. How does being a commodity affect the consumer and the marketplace?
5. Why will suppliers and retailers who charge too much see business suffer?
6. How can flexible prices be a fixture of the market place?
7. What is the goal of these pricing strategies?
8. What are “cookies”?
9. What does it mean “to personalize prices”?
10. In whose favor does the efficiency of the Internet work?
11. How is college education priced in the USA?
12. Who will decide whether pricing schemes tailored to the Internet will succeed or flop?
V. Make up a plan covering the main ideas of the article.
VI. Give a summary of the article according to your plan
VII. Say whether you agree or disagree to these statements. Give your reasoning. Use the following phrases:
Personally I think that …
In my opinion …
From my point of view …
As I see it …
I’m not really sure if I would agree on that.
I wouldn’t agree.
I can’t accept that.
I am with you on that.
I take your point.
I entirely agree with you there.
That’s exactly my opinion
Yes, I agree to a point.
Yes, perhaps you’re right.
1. Shopping at the Internet will mean smaller margins for sellers.
2. The Internet is moving towards a marketplace in which buyers and sellers have almost perfect knowledge of the true supply and demand for a particular product.
3. Overtime, software will automate the process of comparison shopping and “haggling” over prices will become electronic and effortless.
4. Flexible prices are a fixture of a marketplace.
5. If a Web site comes to know what kinds of prices you have been willing to pay in the past it may reduce a price to spur you to buy.
6. Many Web sites will personalize prices in the nearest future.
7. Sellers discover that the efficiency of the Internet works in their favor.
8. Setting prices according to an individual’s ability to pay is not new.
9. The potential of the Internet to create nearly friction-free markets will lead to innovations in how products are priced.
10. Because the vast majority of products are commodities, consumers will be winners most of the time.
VIII. Write a composition about friction-free capitalism and the pricing strategies of the future.
Unit 4
Ten Attributes of a Good Employee
By Bill Gates
I’m often asked how to be a good manager, a topic I’ve taken on in this column more than once. Less often does anybody ask an equally important question: What makes a good employee?
Here are 10 of the qualities I find in the “best and brightest” employees, the people companies should attract and retain.
If you have all of these attributes, you’re probably a terrific employee.
First, it’s important to have a fundamental curiosity about the product or products of your company or group. You have to use the products yourself.
This can’t be stressed enough in the computer world. It also carries special weight in other knowledge-based fields where technology and practices are advancing so fast that’s it’s very hard to keep up. If you don’t have a fascination with the products, you can get out of date – and become ineffective – pretty quickly.
Second, you need a genuine interest in engaging customers in discussions about how they use products – what they like, what they don’t like. You have to be a bit of an evangelist with customers, and yet be realistic about where your company’s products are falling short and could be better.
Third, once you understand your customer’s needs, you have to enjoy thinking through how a product can help. If you work in the software industry, for example, you might ask: “How can this product make work more interesting? How can it make learning more interesting? How can it be used in the home in more interesting ways?”
These first three points are related. Success comes from understanding and caring deeply about your products, your technology and your customers’ needs.
Fourth, you as an individual employee should maintain the same type of long-term approach that a good company does. Employees need to focus on lifelong goals such as developing their own skills and those of the people they work with. This kind of self-motivation requires discipline, but it can be quite rewarding.
Management can also encourage motivation, of course. If you’re in sales, quotas are important tools for measuring performance, and it’s great when employees beat a quota. But if beating your sales quota or maximizing your next bonus or salary increase is all that motivates you, you’re likely to miss out on the kind of teamwork and development that create success in the long term.
Fifth, you need to have specialized knowledge or skills while maintaining a broad perspective. Big companies, in particular, need employees who can learn specialties quickly. No one should assume that the expertise they have today will suffice tomorrow, so a willingness to learn is critical.
Sixth, you have to be flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities that can give you perspective. At Microsoft, we try to offer a person lots of different jobs through the course of a career. Anyone interested in joining management is encouraged to work in different customer units, even if it means moving laterally within the organization or relocating to a different part of the world.
We try to move people from our product groups out into the field and move field people into the product groups. We have many people in our U. S. subsidiary from other countries, and we have many U. S. employees who work for subsidiaries in other nations. This helps us better understand world markets, and while we do a pretty good job of cross-pollination, there’s still not quite as much of it as I would like.
Seventh, a good employee will want to learn the economics of the business. Why does a company do what it does? What are its business models? How does it make money?
I’m always surprised to learn of a company that doesn’t educate its employees in the fundamental financial realities of its industry. Employees need to understand the “make or break” aspects of their industry so that they know what it is about their own job that really counts. Of course, employees have to be willing students who direct attention to the areas where it makes the biggest difference.
Eighth, you must focus on competitors. I like employees who think about what’s going on in the marketplace. What are our competitors doing that’s smart? What can we learn from them? How can we avoid their mistakes?
Ninth, you’ve got to use your head. Analyze problems but don’t fall prey to “analysis paralysis”. Understand the implications of potential tradeoffs of all kinds, including the tradeoff between acting sooner with less information and later with more.
Use your head in practical ways, too. Prioritize your time effectively. Think about how to give advice crisply to other groups.
Finally, don’t overlook the obvious essentials such as being honest, ethical and hard working. These attributes are critical and go without saying.
NOTES
1. can’t be stressed enough - имеет чрезвычайно важное значение
2. it’s very hard to keep up - очень трудно идти в ногу, не отставать
3. to get out of date - устаревать
4. to fall short - иметь недостатки
5. lifelong goals - цели на всю жизнь
6. tools for measuring - инструменты для измерения показателей
7. to miss out on the kind of team work and development…- упустить та-
кую коллективную работу и развитие
8. to take advantage of… - воспользоваться чем-либо
9. to join management - стать руководителем
10. customer units - подразделения, работающие с клиентами
11. product groups - подразделения, непосредственно занятые
изготовлением продукта
12. field people - люди на переферии
13. cross-pollination - перекрёстное опыление
14. the “make or break” aspects - жизненно важные аспекты
15. it makes the biggest difference – иметь самое большое значение
16. the implications of potential tradeoffs – смысл, значение потенциаль-
ных альтернатив
17. to prioritize time - установить очерёдность в выполнении
каких- либо дел по времени
18. the obvious essentials - очевидные качества первой необходимо-
сти
19. to go without saying - само собой разумеется
A Good Employee
I. 1. Look at these words which are used to describe a person’s character and decide whether they are positive or negative.
sensible dull reliable
amusing stupid cold
boring trustworthy practical
selfish charming helpful
intelligent foolish observant
silly bossy lively
patient responsible fussy
entertaining sensitive friendly
nasty careful honest
lazy in dependant
2. Which of them would you use to describe a good employee?
3. Can you add some more adjectives to describe a good employee?
4. Which words can be made into the opposite by adding a prefix?
Examples: reliable – unreliable
Patient - impatient
5. What are the opposites of the other words?
II. Discuss with your partner and write ten attributes of a good employee.
III. Now read the article quickly and compare your answers with those of Bill Gates
IV. Read the article more carefully and find words which mean:
1. the desire for knowledge, especially of something new, strange, unknown.
2. a person who shops or buys, especially a person who deals regularly at a particular store
3. something useful or desired, necessary; a necessity, or obligation; a great desire for something
4. to fix, to concentrate
5. to give support to; to help; to promote
6. something performed; accomplishment; deed
7. something given in addition to what is usual or due; something extra
8. favorable disposition, readiness
9. a company owned or controlled by another company, usually resulting from the parent company’s ownership of all or a majority of the other company’s stock
10. clever or intelligent; bright
V. Are the following statements true or false?
1. You don’t have to use the products of your company yourself
2. If you don’t have a fascination with the products of your company you can get out of date very quickly
3. You have to be realistic about where your company’s products are falling short
4. You should like thinking about how a product can help
5. Employees should develop their own skills and those of their colleagues
6. Management can’t encourage motivation
7. Big companies need employees who can learn specialties quickly
8. You should be flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities that give you perspective
9. Microsoft doesn’t have many people in their U. S. subsidiary from other countries
10. A company should educate its employees in the fundamental financial realities of its industry
VI. Write 10 questions to make up a plan of the article
VII. Give the summary of the article according to your plan
VIII. Say whether you agree or disagree with these statements. Give your reasoning
1. To be successful you must focus on competitors
2. You should sometimes act sooner with less information that later with more
3. It is obvious that an employee should be honest, ethical and hard working
4. Employees need to understand the “make or break” aspects of their industry
5. A company should offer an employee lots of different jobs through the course of a career
6. Teamwork and development create success in the long term
7. Self – motivation requires discipline but it can be quite rewarding
8. You have to enjoy thinking how a product can help your customer
9. You have to be an evangelist with customers
10. It’s important to have a fundamental curiosity about the production or product of your company
IX. Fill in the test
If you have no substantial work experience, do this test as a simulation exercise (i. e. imagine an office situation where you work with different types of people).
1. There are a variety of emotions among people who work together. But emotions are highly
contagious; to create a positive atmosphere at work, do you think people should
a) be encouraged to express their feelings clearly
b) be discouraged to act on feelings because they may often spread ill will
c) make a conscious effort to spread the effects of positive feelings to create an effective and humane working atmosphere
d) …………………………………………………………………….
2. Are you aware of the emotional effect you have on others? Do you make them
a) tense
b) relaxed
c) enthusiastic
d) subdued
e) open
f) garded
g) …………
3. When you feel good, do you
a) pass it on, sharing the positive mood
b) lose the potential ripple effect of your own good mood by buttoning up
c) …………………………………………….
4. When you feel rotten, do you
a) fight back at the world
b) bottle up your negative feelings
c) get to the root of the problem and talk it out with someone sympathetic
d) ………………………………………………
5. At work someone vents anger and frustration on you. Is your reaction
a) to get rid of it by accepting and passing it on
b) to stop it spreading by offering your sympathetic ear
c) to refuse to get caught up in the ill feeling
d) ………………………………………………..
6. You see a colleague heading off on a vindictive errand; do you
a) offer to carry the message instead, and pass on the information without the emotional overload
b) suggest that the upset person takes the rest of the day off
c) snuggle down in your seat with a knowing leer on your face
d) ………………………………………………
7. Misunderstanding often creates, unwittingly, all sorts of emotional ripples. To avoid wrong interpretations, do you
a) keep your message direct and to the point
b) choose your tone and words in keeping with the content of what you have to say
c) concentrate primarily on clear articulate speech
d) check if you are being understood by asking questions to make sure
e) write detailed memos
f) …………………………………………………
8. If colleagues at work seem unduly angry or more tense than the situation warrants, do you
a) ask about the inexplicable emotional display to make them realize the impression they are making
b) join in with a grim smile
c) tell them to pull themselves together
d) …………………………………………………
9. In interacting with people, do you
a) tune in to the emotional waves fluctuating around you
b) adjust the ways you express yourself to produce the effect you intend
c) ever manipulate, artificially, to make the most effective emotional impact
d) always work within your personality regardless of the atmosphere around you
e) …………………………………………………
X. Discuss this questionnaire with your partner and then in class
Unit 5
I. Discuss with your partner what you know about the global economy.
II. Talk to your partner about the following things:
1) average wages and living standards in different countries
2) education in the modern society electronic networks and software-driven technologies
III. Read quickly the first part of the article by Bill Gates and say what he thinks
about the same things.
Finding Opportunity in the Global Economy
By Bill Gates
Part I
Today if you had to guess somebody’s approximate income and you were limited to asking one polite question, a good one would be: “What country do you live in?” That’s because of the huge disparities in average wages from country to country.
But a generation from now, if you want to guess someone’s income, a more-telling single question might be: “What’s your education?” This, at least, is my belief. Future business opportunity will turn on educational opportunity – for everyone.
Compared to almost anything else in a developed society, the cost of investment in education is low – and the returns are high. Even the poorest of countries and communities can develop better schools. Education is central because electronic networks and software-driven technologies are beginning to break down the economic barriers between nations. The Internet and the availability of inexpensive, powerful computers are helping spread opportunity to developing nations.
International communication, which is destined to become extraordinarily cheap in all its forms, will bring suitably educated people from every economic region into the mainstream of the world economy. Well-educated, enterprising individuals with access to information technology will do well no matter where they live.
Nearly a billion people in rural China may find their lives little changed for decades, but tens of millions of the best-educated Chinese could find themselves earning more or less what similarly educated people in the United States or Germany do.
As technology breaks down the barriers of distance and national borders, it will be even more important that everybody be given equal educational opportunities. Eventually, being “poor” won’t be as much a matter of living in a poor country as it will be a matter of having poor skills.
Assuming you want to develop those skills, what should you study? What career should you pursue? Hundreds of students send me e-mail each year asking these questions.
At the same time, business and political leaders wonder how they should place their bets on the future. Which industries promise growth and interesting opportunities? There are lots of opportunities in the knowledge-based global economy, and I’m particularly enthusiastic about the business I know best-software.
Notes
1. disparities in smth. расхождения в чём-либо
2. average wages средняя зарплата
3. to be destined to become суждено стать
4. to be well преуспевать
5. no matter не важно
6. to place bets on smth. делать ставки на…..
IV. Find words or expressions which mean:
1) to form an opinion or estimate of something without complete knowledge or evidence;
2) payment in money for services or lab our, or from property or investment;
3) a good chance, as to advance oneself;
4) the transfer of information
V. Read the first part of the article more car fully to find the answers to these
questions
1) Can you guess somebody’s approximate income if you know the country the person lives in? Why?
2) What will future business opportunity turn on for everyone?
3) What are the returns and the cost of investment in education?
4) Who is education central in spreading opportunity to developing nations?
5) Will it matter where well-educated, enterprising individuals live if they have access to information technology?
6) What does technology break down?
7) What will “being poor” be eventually?
8) Which industries promise growth and interesting opportunities in the future?
VI. Now speak about finding opportunity in the global economy. Give 10-15
sentences.
VII. Discuss with your partner what you know about the software industry and its
influence on the modern society.
VIII. Read quickly the second part of the article by Bill Gates and say what he thinks about the same things
Part II
Because software is an almost pure expression of logic, the industry is a great field for almost anyone entering the work force today. Just about every technical or scientific discipline will apply. The business side is equally exciting and challenging because the industry is so dynamic.
In the United States, for example, employment by software companies has been growing at a rate of 9.2 percent a year. The software industry provided over 600,000 U. S. jobs in 1996, and that figure is expected to grow to more than 1 million jobs by 2005.
And software jobs are among the highest-paid in the U. S. economy. While the average U. S. worker earned $ 28,000 a year in 1995, the average employee of the software industry earned $ 57,000. These wages reflect the relative scarcity of skilled high-tech workers, and the importance of the knowledge and energy these workers bring to their companies and the economy.
Creating software is a lot of fun, if you have the temperament for it. It’s rewarding to create a product that helps change the world. A healthy software industry, whether focused on custom software or packaged software for off-the-shelf use, is a fabulous long-tern asset for any nation.
A recent study commissioned by the Business Software Alliance, of which Microsoft is a member, found that the U. S. software industry added $ 67 billion to the economy last year, ranking behind only the motor vehicles and equipment industry ($ 106 billion) and the electronic components and accessories industry ($ 78 billion). Of that, the packaged software industry – which was almost nonexistent 25 years ago – now accounts for 42 percent of software revenue and is growing at the rate of 14 percent a year. This is about three times the rate of the overall U. S. economy.
Custom software remains the largest part of the market, but the future belongs to packaged software. The U. S. leads in software by almost any measure, but many nations are destined to play important roles and share the economic benefits of software jobs. Software can be created anywhere, so the opportunity is truly global.
It’s not a win-lose industry, either. More software development in one region does not mean reduced software development in another. Rather, software development as a whole helps to grow the world economy. For example, a Price Waterhouse study found that in 1995 the packaged business software industry generated more than 172,000 jobs and generated more that $ 4 billion in taxes for Europe. Even developing nations can find excellent local opportunities in software – an industry that is “brains-intensive” rather than capital-intensive – and take advantage of their educational investments.
The value and importance of the software industry – and its employees – will continue to grow indefinitely. At Microsoft, our ability to grow and take on new projects is constrained only by our ability to hire enough good college graduates. It’s been that way for a long time. This is true for other software companies too.
Of course, the benefits of the software industry aren’t limited to the high-wage jobs and tax revenues they provide. Software is transforming the workplace in industry after industry, boosting productivity by redefining how work is accomplished – and helping globalize the world economy.
Notes
1. to enter the work force - выходить на рынок труда
2. the relative scarcity of skilled high – tech workers – относительная
не многочисленность квалифицированных
специалистов высокосложной техники
3. custom software - заказное программное обеспечение
4. package software for off-the-shelf use – пакетное программное обеспече-
ние, не требующее доработок пользователем
5. a win-lose industry - рискованная отрасль промышленности
6. capital-intensive - капиталоёмкий
7. brain-intensive - наукоёмкий
IX. Find words and expressions which mean:
1) почти все научно-технические дисциплины;
2) расти со скоростью 9,2% в год;
3) предоставить работу;
4) самый высоко оплачиваемый;
5) долгосрочный актив;
6) доход;
7) составлять 42%;
8) почти в 3 раза превысить темпы;
9) быть лидером в …
10) в целом;
11) создавать рабочие места;
12) вклады (инвестиции) в образование;
13) сдерживать;
14) нанимать на работу;
15) преобразовывать рабочее место;
16) резко увеличивать производительность.
X. Read the second part of the article more carefully to find answers to these
questions:
1) Why is the software industry a great field for anyone entering the work force?
2) What is the dynamic of employment by software companies in the United States?
3) What can you say about the wages in the software industry?
4) Why is a healthy software industry a fabulous long-term asset for any nation?
5) What are the results of a recent study by Business Software Alliance?
6) Does the future belong to custom software or packaged software?
7) Is software a win-lose industry? Why? Or why not?
8) What constrains the ability to grow and take on new projects at Microsoft?
9) Why is software helping globalize the world economy?
XI. Now speak about the part the software industry plays in the world economy
Give about 10-15 sentences.
ИСПОЛЬЗУЕМАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА
1. «Moscow News», 1998г. № 3,5,37,38,40,41
2. «Английский язык для менеджеров», Агенство печати «NВ-Пресс». Москва. 1992 г.
3. С.А. Шевелёва «English on Economics». Издательское объединение «ЮНИТ». Москва. 1998 г.
