XIII. Read and remember some English idioms useful for businessmen:

1. Facts are stubborn (things)/facts are a stubborn thing - you can’t go against the facts; факти - вперта річ.

2. A baker's dozen - thirteen; тринадцять.

PART II

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

TEXT 1

NATURAL ECONOMY

Each village was self-sufficient, that is, most of the necessities of life were produced in the village itself. The needs of the villagers were few and simple. Food, clothing and shelter were their basic needs.

Arable-farming and cattle-breeding satisfied the needs of the people in the way of foodstuffs, clothing and footwear. Wool from the sheep was spun into yarn and woven into rough cloth in the peasant's hut. The hides of the і cattle were made into leather for shoes and harness. The trees provided wood which was used in the building of houses and in making furniture and wagons. Smaller branches from the trees were cut and used as firewood.

In the village there was a forge where a blacksmith made and mended tools and weapons. There was also a wheelwright's workshop and a mill. Nearly every village had a stream which worked the mill and gave the people water.

There was very little trading at that time. There were no shops - the village artisans produced goods only to order; the farmers were not skilful, і heir crops were very poor, and they had not much to sell. The villagers had little or no money, and very little need for it, since they themselves produced most of what they wanted. Yet there were some things which the villagers could not produce. Iron and salt had to be brought in from outside.

Roads were very poor; there was seldom anything better than a muddy Hack between one village and the next. If goods had to be sent from one part of the country to another, they were carried on pack-horses or pack-mules. People did not travel very much. It is very likely that a person born in a village, lived in it all his life and died in it without ever having once left it. They knew nothing of what was going on in the world. To them the village was the world.

A travelling pedlar sometimes called at the village. He was always warmly welcomed. Everybody would gather round him eager to see what he had in his pack. Nails and needles and thread, salt and tar could be bought from the pedlar. Sometimes he had toys for the children.

Thus, natural economy, that is, a system under which every village was self - sufficient and produced all the necessities of life for consumption and not for sale, predominated in Britain in early medieval times. In the VIII-IX centuries the Anglo-Saxons sold only some surplus above their personal consumption.

Text 2 prices

All products and services have prices. Any price depends on different factors, for example, credit terms, delivery, trade-in-allowance, quality etc. How are prices set?

Through most history, prices were set by buyers and sellers communicating with each other: sellers asked for a higher price than they expected to get, and buyers offered less than they expected to pay. So, through deal-making process they settled a reasonable price.

The necessity of setting one price for all buyers arose with the development of large-scale retailing at the end of the 19th century. In modern business a price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue: the other elements represent cost.

Companies handle pricing in a variety of ways. In small companies prices are often set by top management rather than by the marketing or sales department. In large companies pricing is typically handled by divisional and product-line managers. In industries where pricing is a key factor (aerospace, oil companies, railroads), companies often establish a pricing department to set prices or assist others in determining appropriate prices. This department reports either to the marketing department or top department. Others who influence the pricing are sales managers, production managers, finance managers and accountants.