Business English in Fiction. Практикум

Business English in Fiction

The Text

Read the Extract. Pay attention to the words and expressions in bold letters and keep them in mind. Check the Vocabulary list while reading the text.

It had come to that, Warren Trent reflected despondently. In four days from now – on Friday before the close of business – a twenty-year-old mortgage on the hotel property was due for redemption and the investment syndicate holding the mortgage had declined to renew. At first, on learning of the decision, his reaction had been surprise, though not concern. Plenty of other lenders he assumed, would willingly take over – at a higher interest rate, no doubt – but, on whatever terms, producing the two million dollars needed. It was only when he had been decisively turned down by everyone approached – banks, trusts, insurance companies and private lenders – that this original confidence waned. One banker whom he knew well advised him frankly, “Hotels like yours are out of favour, Warren. A lot of people think the day of the big independents is over, and nowadays the chain hotels are the only ones which can show reasonable profit. Besides, look at your balance sheet. You’ve been loosing money steadily. How can you expect lending houses to go along with that kind of situation?”

His protestation that present losses were temporary and would reverse themselves when business improved, achieved nothing. He was simply not believed.

It was at this impasse that Curtis O’Keefe had telephoned suggesting their meeting in New Orleans this week. “Absolutely all I have in mind is a friendly chat, Warren,” the hotel magnate had declared, his easy Texan drawl coming smoothly down the long – distance phone. “After all, we’re a couple of ageing innkeepers, you and me. We should see each other sometimes.” But Warren Trent was not deceived by the smoothness; there had been overtures from the O’Keefe chain before. The vultures are hovering, he thought. Curtis O’Keefe would arrive today and there was not the slightest doubt that he was fully briefed on the St.Gregory’s financial woes.

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Unit 2

Comprehension Check

Answer the following questions about the text, use the bold words and expressions.

1.What kind of trouble was the St. Gregory Hotel in?

2.How did the proprietor of the hotel, Mr. Warren Trent, try to improve the situation?

3.What organizations did he approach?

4.Why did everyone turn him down?

5.What was the purpose of Curtis O’Keefe’s phone call?

6.Why do you think he asked Warren Trent for an appointment?

Section II. Speaking

Roleplay

(for two participants: A, B ) Background information.

Предприятие заложено. Срок закладной истекает в бли- жайшее время. Два сотрудника обсуждают возможное разви- тие событий.

А: Вы – оптимист. Вы считаете, что можно попытаться убедить держателей закладной продлить её, или обратиться в различные финансовые учреждения за поддержкой.

B: Вы – пессимист. Вы считаете, что все попытки достать деньги на выкуп закладной потерпят неудачу, т.к. надежд на возрождение предприятия нет. Судя по балансовому отчету оно постоянно терпит убытки, оно устарело. Получить фи- нансовую поддержку в такой ситуации будет сложно.

Section III. Writing

Vocabulary Practice

Translate the following sentences into English in writing. Use the Vocabulary list for the translation of the bold

words and expressions.

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Business English in Fiction

1.Этот банк отказывается продлить нам кредит. Мы можем обратиться в другой банк и получить кредит, но по более высокой процентной ставке.

2.– Согласно балансовому отчету ваши убытки состав- ляют … .

–Я думаю, это временные трудности.

3.Он предложил имвстретитьсядлядружеской беседы.

4.Срок выкупа закладной наступает завтра. Я предпо- лагаю, что кредиторы откажутся продлить его.

5.Мыпредлагаемсделатьэтодоокончаниярабочегодня.

6.Я хочу, чтобы вы срочно проинформировали его по

этому вопросу.

7.Этот частный банк – очень надежный. Они вас нико-

гда не обманут и не подведут.

8.Вы снова нарушили условия контракта. Мы не наме- рены мириться с такой ситуацией.

9.Владелец этой сети магазинов скончался. Мы предпо-

лагаем, чтоего сын возьмет насебя руководство компанией.

10.Я предлагаю вам обратиться в другую страховую компанию.

Test

1.

Match the words on the left with their meanings on the right.

2.

Match the words on the left with the words they are most likely to be associated with on the right.

3.

Fill in the gaps with suitable words from the list below.

1.When is the best time to… my employer about an increase in salary?

2.The sales manager is going to… the representatives on the new product.

3.When Mr. Green retires his son will…the business from him.

4.We are not satisfied with the quality of your goods. Therefore we refuse to… the contract.

5.I can’t… with you on that point.

6.According to this contract they are to…the mortgage for three years.

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Business English in Fiction

Unit 3

Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing

Section I. Reading

Background information to the extract from A. Hailey’s novel “Hotel”

Владелец огромной сети гостиниц (Curtis O’Keefe), желающий приобрести независимый отель (St. Gregory Hotel), слушает отчет своих сотрудников (Ogden Bailey & Sean Hall), собравших информацию о финансовой и хозяйственной дея- тельности этой гостиницы, которую их босс может впоследст- вии эффективно использовать на переговорах о купле- продаже отеля.

Vocabulary Guide

Here is the list of words and expressions commonly used in business communication. You will come across these words in the text that follows.

Look through the list carefully before you read the text. It will help you to understand the text adequately.

Learn these words and use them in the conversation you will have to make up as a business communication assignment in the Roleplay Section of the unit.

The Text

Read the Extract. Pay attention to the words and expressions in bold letters and keep them in mind. Check the Vocabulary list while reading the text.

Ogden Bailey, O’Keefe’s senior accountant, began respectfully, “I won't speak as to price, Mr. O'Keefe. As always, of course, you’ll make that decision. But there’s no question that the two- million-dollar mortgage due on Friday should make bargaining a good deal easier, at least on our side.”

“There’s been no change in that, then? No word of renewal, or anyone else taking it over?”

Bailey shook his head. “I’ve tapped some fairly good sources here, and they assure me not. No one in the financial community will touch it, mostly because of the hotel’s operating losses – I gave you an estimate of those – coupled with the poor management situation, which is quite well known.” O'Keefe nodded thoughtfully, then opened the folder he had been studying earlier. He selected a single typewritten page. “You’re unusually optimistic in your ideas about potential earnings.” His bright, shrewd eyes met Bailey’s directly.

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Unit 3

The accountant produced a thin, tight smile. “I’m not prone to extravagant fancies, as you know. There’s absolutely no doubt that a good profit position could be established quickly, both with new revenue sources and overhauling existing ones. The key factor is the management situation here. It’s incredibly bad.” He nodded to the younger man, Hall. “Sean has been doing some work in that direction.”

A shade self-consciously, and glancing at notes, Hall began, “There is no effective chain of command, with the result that department heads in some cases have gained quite extraordinary powers. A case in point is in food purchasing where… .”

“Just a moment.”

At the interruption from his employer, Hall stopped abruptly.

Curtis O'Keefe said firmly, “It isn’t necessary to give me all the details. I rely on you gentlemen to take care of those eventually. What I want at these sessions is the broad picture.” Despite the comparative gentleness of the rebuke, Hall flushed.

“I take it,” O'Keefe said, “that along with the weakness in management there is a good deal of staff larceny which is siphoning off revenue.”

The younger accountant nodded emphatically. “A great deal, sir, particularly in food and beverages.” He was about to describe his undercover studies in the various bars and lounges of the hotel, but checked himself. That could be taken care of later, after completion of the purchase and when the “wrecking crew” moved in.

In his own brief experience Sean Hall knew that the procedure for acquiring a new link in the O'Keefe hotel chain invariably followed the same general pattern. First, weeks ahead of any negotiations, a “spy team” – usually headed by Ogden Bailey – would move into the hotel, its members registering as normal guests. By astute and systematic observation, supplemented by occasional bribery, the team would compile a financial and operating study, probing weaknesses and estimating potential, untapped strengths. Where appropriate – as in the present case – discreet inquiries would be made outside the hotel, among the

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Business English in Fiction

city’s business community. The magic of the O'Keefe name, plus the possibility of future dealings with the nation’s largest hotel chain, was usually sufficient to elicit any information sought. In financial circles, Sean Hall had long ago learned, loyalty ran a poor second to practical self-interest.

Next, armed with this accumulated knowledge, Curtis O'Keefe would direct negotiations which, more often than not, were successful. Then the wrecking crew moved in.

The wrecking crew, headed by an O'Keefe Hotels vicepresident, was a tough-minded and swift-working group of management experts. It could, and did, convert any hotel to the standard O'Keefe pattern within a remarkably short time. The early changes which the wrecking crew made usually affected personnel and administration; more wholesale measures, involving reconstruction and physical plant, came later. Above all, the crew worked smilingly, with reassurance to all concerned that there were to be no drastic innovations, even as it made them. As one team member expressed it: “When we go in, the first thing we announce is that no staff changes are contemplated. Then we get on with the firings.”

Sean Hall supposed the same thing would happen soon in the St. Gregory Hotel.

Comprehension Check

Answer the following questions about the text, use the bold words and expressions.

1.How did O’Keefe’s people usually obtain information about the property they wanted to buy?

2.What kind of information did they look for?

3.What information about the St. Gregory’s operations and financial position did O’Keefe’s accountants provide for their chief?

4.Why did they think it would make the bargaining easier?

5.What did they suggest should be done to establish a good profit position in the hotel?

6.How did O’Keefe’s “Wrecking crew” work?

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