Language Area

Task 1. Match the words as they occur in the text and translate them in your native language.

1) tangible 2) joint-stock 3) portfolio 4) foreign 5) global 6) individual 7) capital 8) building 9) financial 10) common

a) investment b) corporation c) expenditure d) assets e) subsidiary f) societies g) company h) resources i) stock j) investors

Task 2. Find the words or expressions in the text that mean the following.

1) the purchase of materials, machines, property, services etc. in order to produce income or profits (par.1 and 2);

2) those whose value can only be qualified or returned into cash with difficulty ( patents, copyrights, trade marks) (par.10);

3) US equivalent of the British word “share” and in Britain a block of shares with a nominal value of 100 or various kinds of fixed-interest securities; in Britain goods ready for sale, raw materials etc) (par.14);

4) another word for to buy (par. 3);

5) companies that provide financial protection for property, life, health etc. against specified risks(accident, fire, theft, loss etc) (par.13);

6) the ending or relaxing of legal regulation or restrictions in a particular industry (par. 6);

7) an interest-bearing security redeemed after fixed period (par.14) ;

8) a large combination of business organization, possibly tending towards a monopoly (par.9);

9) available stocks of raw materials, money, labor and other assets that a company can put to use (par.4);

10) rivalry between business in the same market (par. 10).

Task 3. Match the investment goals (1 - 3) with the statements (a-c).

1) capital preservation

2) growth

3) income

a) I want to accumulate wealth, but I know that this means taking risks and buying securities with volatile prices that could go down as well as up.

b) I want a regular return every year, because I need that money, even this means I might have to risk losing some of my capital.

c) I definitely don’t want to risk losing any of my capital, even if this means that some years I get a very low return.

Task 4. Match the two parts of the sentences

1. The value of index-linked funds will change frequently

2. Private banks

3. Asset managers buy more bonds than shares

4. Mutual funds

5. Asset managers buy more shares than bonds

a… if the client wants to avoid risks.

b… diversify the money of small investors.

c… if the whole market is volatile.

d… manage the investments of rich investors.

e… if the client hopes to accumulate capital.

Focus on Grammar

The passive: actions, systems and processes

a) Form

The passive is formed by using the verb be and the past participle (e.g., broken, driven, used). For example, the present tense passive is formed with am/is/are+past participle:

I am driven You are driven He/she/it is driven We are driven They are driven

I am not driven You are not driven He/she/it is not driven We are not driven They are not driven

Am I driven? Are you driven? Is he/she/ it driven? Are we driven? Are they driven?

b) Focus on action

We often use the passive to focus on something that happens to someone, when we do not want to focus on the person who does the action:

About 85% of the world’s rubber is produced in the Far East.

(We use the passive here because we do not know, or need to say, who produces it).

c) Systems and processes

The passive is often used to talk about systems and process:

On most rubber plantations, the latex is collected from the rubber trees every day. It is mixed with water and then formic acid is added. This process creates crude rubber, which is then rolled into sheets.

d) Active or passive?

If it is important to say who performs an action, we can use the active, or we can use the passive and the word by:

active: Peter Franks runs the Marketing Department.

passive: The Marketing Department is run by Peter Franks.

Both of these sentences are correct. If we were already talking about Peter Franks, we would probably use the active:

Peter Franks is an old colleague of mine. He works for Butterfield International, and he runs the Marketing Department.

If we were talking about the Marketing Department, and don’t want to change the subject in the second sentence, we would probably use the passive:

The Marketing Department is a large and very successful division that employs over 100 people. It is run by Peter Franks.

Task 5. Many of the following sentences sound unnatural because they are in the active. Rewrite them in the present simple passive, but do not mention the agent (e.g., by workers, by people).

1. Workers in China make these telephones.

These telephones are made in China.

2. Employers pay many manual workers weekly.

Many manual workers ___________________

3. They keep a large amount of gold at Fort Knox.

A large amount of gold __________________

4. Workers build a lot of the world’s supertankers in South Korea.

A lot of the world’s supertankers______________________

5. Farmers grow a third of the world’s cocoa on the Ivory Coast.

A third of the world’s cocoa __________________________

6. Countries store most nuclear waste underground.

Most nuclear waste________________________

7. Scientists test most new drugs extensively before they go on sale.

Before they go on sale, most new drugs__________________

8. Printers print a lot of our books in Hong Kong.

A lot of our books _________________________