2.4. Explain the meanings of the following notions, draw examples to illustrate their usage.

a) new competition;

b) new markets;

c) affordable luxury;

d) France's noisy anti-Americanism;

e) global business;

f) a new generation of French managers;

g) entrepreneurialism;

h) les trente glorieuses.

2.5. a) Complete the following collocations as they occur in the text

A	B
1. to dominate	a) industrial relations
2. to face	b) the world market
3. to widen	c) tax breaks
4. to do	d) entrepreneurialism
5. to foster	e) functions
6. to get	f) working time
7. to launch	g) the product range
8. to outsource	h) one's own firm
9. to limit	i) much offshoring
10. to improve	j) new competition

b) translate the above collocations into Russian;

c) make use of them to express the main ideas of the article.

2.6. Complete the sentences below using the following words from the text

to put; to take; to set; to slip; to shoot; to wipe; to deter; to compile; to rely; to venture

1. Some specialists claim that French businesses ..... too heavily on local customers.

2. France has ..... up from tenth to second place, behind Ireland, in the list of good companies to invest in.

3. Industrial relations ..... a turn for the worse with the introduction of the 35-hour week.

4. The European Venture Capital Association ..... a list of good companies to invest in where France currently occupies the second place.

5. Executives in big firms could get tax breaks to ..... aside capital for launching their own business in the future.

6. In the mid-1990s things started to go wrong for France: employment in industry fell by 5%, margins ..... by 12% and investment was down by 27%.

7. Another problem with French businesses, according to some analysts, is that they are afraid to ..... into the English-speaking world of exports.

8. Besides, too many French managers are ..... from starting their own business by the red tape involved.

9. Many businessmen are fascinated by a Portuguese online service allowing anyone to ..... up a company in 60 minutes.

10. Cheap Asian footwear is ..... out many European mass-market producers simply because they have lost their design flair.

2.7. A) Say how you understand the following sentences from the text, pay special attention to the words and expressions in bold type. Reproduce the context each of the sentences is used in.

1. Most other countries can only envy that glittering range.

2. In the category of affordable luxury, newcomers such as Paul Smith, a British menswear company, and Hugo Boss in Germany have come to the fore.

3. It does not trade on "made in Germany", whereas for luxury goods from France their Frenchness is part of the essence of the brand.

4. Its luxury-shoe sector is declining, not because of the cheap Asian footwear that is wiping out many European mass-market producers but because of a loss of design flair.

5. Yet beneath the upper crust of French international companies French business is inward-looking and timid.

6. Moreover, they export far less than Germany's famously outward-looking Mittlstand firms.

7. Some simple work has been passed to Poland and Romania for overnight processing.

8. Many of these firms will simply fold as their founders retire.

b) Translate the following sentences into Russian.