Чтение литературы по специальности на английском языке. Теория и практика информационной обработки текста. Учебное пособие для студентов факультета эк
.pdfШироко используется рекламная лексика. К примеру, широко известное выражение to sell an idea, которое буквально означает «продать идею», на самом деле должно переводиться «убедить в привлекательности чего-либо». Отсюда “selling a candidate” – это «рекламирование кандидата», а не «продажа кандидата».
Достаточно широко употребляется сленг. Например, стандартные словосочетания unlicensed sales или illicit trade часто заменяются в американской прессе выражением boot-legging, которое несет на себе явно сленговый оттенок.
Используются пословицы: to let the cat out of the bag (= to reveal a secret); you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours (= услуга за услугу). Появились особые экономические и политические по-
словицы: A rising tide lifts all the boats, смысл которой заключа-
етсявтом, чтокогданаблюдаетсяобщийполитическийиэкономический подъем, то все от этого выигрывают, и How you stand depends on how you sit, где содержится намек на то, что оценка популярностикакого-либокандидатавзначительноймерезави- сит от его поста и влияния.
В целом газетный текст характеризуется стремлением к сжатости и лаконичности изложения, причем эта черта проявляется особенно ярко в газетных заголовках, на которых мы остановимся несколько подробнее.
2.2. Газетные заголовки
Заголовок в англо-американской прессе играет весьма важную роль. Основная его задача заключается в том, чтобы привлечьвниманиечитателя, заинтересоватьидажепоразитьего, и лишьвовторуюочередьзаголовкупоручаетсяинформационноразъяснительная функция – сообщение читателю краткого содержания статьи.
Вследствие такой целенаправленности в американской прессе выработался особый стиль газетного заголовка, характерной чертой которого является экспрессивность лексических и грамматических средств.
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Заголовки, как правило, написаны «телеграфным языком», то есть представляют собой максимально сжатые, предельно лаконичные фразы, в которых опущены все семантически второстепенные элементы.
Вместе с тем, с целью обеспечения максимальной доходчивости заголовки строятся на базе общеупотребительной лексики и простейших грамматических средств.
Рассмотрим более подробно лексико-грамматические особенности заголовков и способы их перевода.
Опускаются артикли и личные формы вспомогательного глагола to be. Используются обычно формы Simple или Continuous:
Russian Athlete Winning Prize. Houses Smashed by Hurricane.
Сообщения о недавних событиях передаются с помощью формы Present Simple. Это как бы приближает события к читателю и усиливает его интерес:
Influenza Kills 200 in India.
Будущее действие часто передается инфинитивом: Glasgow workers to resume work.
Нередко опускается сказуемое: Hurricane in Miami.
Deadlock in Committee. No Timber for Sale.
Опускается подлежащее, если оно уступает по значению сказуемому:
Expect New Economic Depression.
Притяжательный падеж употребляется с неодушевленными существительными:
Price Control’s Affect Discussed.
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Широко применяются сокращения, причем нередко значение такого заголовка может быть понято только из текста самой статьи, например:
N.G.O.A. Rejects Strike Clause.
Данное сокращение N.G.O.A. не является общеупотребительным и поэтому не приводится в словарях. Значение его –
National Government Officer’s Association – можно установить только из текста самой статьи. Поэтому для правильного пониманияипереводазаголовканередкотребуетсяпредварительное ознакомление с содержанием текста статьи.
Все эти особенности необходимо учитывать при работе с материалами из периодических изданий.
Практические задания
Задание 8
8.1.Прочитайте текст и определите, соответствует ли заголовок содержанию текста.
8.2.Подчеркните в каждом абзаце одно-два предложения, которые можно было бы опустить как несущественные.
A Need for More Speed
By Christopher Brown-Humes
Pearl, which specialises in the low to middle income end of the life assurance market, was in crisis when Richard Surface, an American, arrived from Sun Life. Market share was falling, costs were rising, the product range was too complex. ‘The best of the salesforce were leaving, the worst were hanging around, productivity was dropping and we were selling uneconomically,’ he says.
His solutions were radical: completely changing management, cutting back costs and halving the product range. Twelve out of 14 top managers were replaced, with four “outsiders” chosen to provide a broader perspective. The most important reform concerned the salesforce. Instead of having one sales agent covering an area,
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Pearl introduced teams of three – an area manager and two agents – covering a wider area. It was a delicate task, not just because it involved cutting more than 1,000 jobs but because it also meant pay cuts for some who stayed. While some agents were promoted to area managers, the two “supporting” agents had less responsibility.
Mr Surface insisted on implementing this new structure in a few weeks. He believed the salesforce was demoralised and further uncertainty would be bad for the company. ‘We go fast around here. We don’t plan everything in micro detail. We accept we are going to make mistakes’. He has some blunt advice for companies when it comes to getting staff behind a big upheaval: ‘Too many companies think you have to communicate with everybody in the same way. You have to segment your staff for the same reasons and in the same way as you segment your customers’.
Mr Surface identifies three types of employee: high flyers, “anxious” people and the “cynics and refuseniks”. Anxious people want certainty and leadership, he argues, while refuseniks are basically lost causes. ‘Many managements make the huge mistake of trying to convince them and turn them round. We didn’t. We drove round them. We don’t waste time trying to convert the unconvertible,’ he says. ‘You don’t have to bring all staff with you in a major change. You need a coalition. You start with the vital few in key jobs, the anxious will follow, and the cynics will step aside’.
The figures suggest Pearl got it right. Operating costs were £411 million in 1995 but the following year were £265 million. Market share recovered to 2.2 per cent from 1.5 per cent in 1995, but it is still well short of the 6 per cent level achieved in the 1970s.
From the Financial Times
Задание 9
9.1.Проанализируйте текст и определите его тему.
9.2.Проследите, как основные тематические слова, фигурирующие в заголовке, повторяются в тексте и развивают его центральную идею.
9.3.Найдите перифразированные варианты выражения
темы.
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Long Hours, Insecurity and Low Morale
By Andrew Bolger
Managers are unhappy about continued change and restructuring in British organisations, which are leading to long working hours, job insecurity and low morale.
That is one of the main findings of a survey published today by the Institute of Management and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. It aims to follow changes in the quality of working life in corporate Britain over the next five years. This first annual survey found that 82 per cent of UK managers regularly worked more than 40 hours a week. Thirty-eight per cent worked more than 50 hours a week and 41 per cent said they regularly took work home at weekends.
Workplaces in the 1990s are in a state of constant change. Sixty-one per cent of managers said their organisations carried out a change programme in the past 12 months. The most common forms of change were: cost reduction, redundancies, culture change and performance improvement. Sixty-five per cent of respondents felt that employee morale and job security had decreased, while 50 per cent agreed that motivation and loyalty had been negatively affected.
However, reactions varied according to management level: 79 per cent of junior and 74 per cent of middle managers thought morale in particular had suffered, compared with 60 per cent of senior managers and only 21 per cent of chief executives and managing directors.
Poor internal communication was one of the key reasons for managers’ insecurity. Sixty per cent of junior and middle managers felt they were not kept informed about future strategies in their organisations. Moreover, 40 per cent of junior managers said senior executives were poor communicators.
When asked to indicate how satisfied they were with aspects of their job, managers rated the relationship with their other managers and their boss highest (80 per cent and 64 per cent were satisfied). Workload and recognition for performance were the two aspects causing most dissatisfaction: 36 per cent of managers thought their
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workload was too heavy and 33 per cent did not think their work was recognised.
Managers at all levels were concerned about not having sufficient time to get work done (64 per cent), lack of resources to do the job effectively (45 per cent), and information overload (42 per cent). Sixty-three per cent said they felt guilty about taking time off when sick.
Another significant finding was that restructuring had left organisations with a mix of skills that were badly suited to their needs. The survey concluded: ‘Change management has not generally had its intended consequences, while headcount reduction has negatively affected morale and feelings about job security’.
From the Financial Times
Задание 10
10.1.Проанализируйте текст.
10.2.По ключевым словам сформулируйте идею текста в одном предложении.
Scenarios
By Tony Jackson
Making up stories about the future might seem a curious occupation for grown-up executives. But there was a time, in the 1970s and early 1980s, when scenarios were a familiar part of the planning process. They then fell out of fashion for a while, as did strategic planning overall. Now that strategy is making a comeback, so are scenarios. In essence, the scenario technique consists of describing a range of possible futures. Let us suppose that the Chinese economy collapses, or that it flourishes: that the Internet enriches the telephone companies, or drives them out of business. What then?
The aim is not to make predictions, but to provide a framework into which subsequent events can be fitted. If executives have thought out the possible outcomes, they should be quicker to react
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when one of them arrives. As Arie de Geus, former head of planning at Shell, puts it, they can remember the future.
Since the oil industry undertakes vast single investments such as refineries or petrochemical complexes, scenarios appealed as a form of risk analysis. What would happen if the oil price soared or plummeted? What was the probability of a given host government collapsing, or nationalising the industry?
Then came the reaction. In a recent book, The Living Company, Mr de Geus describes how in the 1980s, Shell’s senior executives became skeptical. Making up stories, they said, was great fun and good public relations. But how many decisions could be attributed directly to the scenario process?
Over the last 10 years, says Roger Rainbow, Shell’s present head of planning, there has been more emphasis on getting the managers involved. ‘The trend has been to get them to bring scenarios into their decision processes,’ he says. ‘We need to help people make decisions on quite specific issues, down to the level of a specific strategy in a given country, or a specific project’.
At the same time, he reports, there is a rising level of interest outside. ‘We get one or two companies a week calling us up to ask our advice on scenarios. If we were a consultancy, we’d be making a lot of money’. There are a number of consultancies doing just that. Northeast Consulting, of Boston, was founded by a group of consultants who had previously done scenario work for IBM.
According to Keith Anderson, senior associate for Northeast Consulting Resources in Europe, the difference in origins is fundamental. Where Shell began with geopolitical change, the computer industry was more concerned with detailed developments in technology.
As Mr Anderson puts it, the task is not merely to describe possible futures, but to identify the preferred one and work to bring it about. Microsoft, he observes, was dismissive about the Internet at the outset. When it perceived its mistake, it set out not merely to catch up, but to take a lead in determining how the Internet developed.
From the Financial Times
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Задание 11
11.1.Проанализируйте текст.
11.2.Выпишите ключевые фрагменты.
11.3.На основе ключевых фрагментов кратко изложите содержание текста.
Managing International Retailing
Among international retailers, two have set the pace: IKEA, the Swedish furniture chain, and Toys “R” Us, the US toy retailer. They have built up worldwide networks – IKEA in 28 countries, Toys “R” Us in 26 – of giant stores which have killed competition from local rivals.
IKEA is opening 12 new stores a year in cities including Frankfurt, Shanghai, Chicago, and Wroclaw in Poland.
A committee of senior executives at the group’s international headquarters in Denmark oversees investment in new markets and the redesigning or expansion of existing stores.
Responsibility for product development and purchasing lies with IKEA of Sweden, the original company that pioneered the “blond” style of Scandinavian furniture and furnishings which has gained a huge international following.
A third layer of country managers tailors the presentation and marketing of those products in their home territories. Country managers usually assume control for day-to-day activities only when there are more than two stores in their region. They are allowed some flexibility in choosing additional products which they think will meet local tastes.
At Toys ‘R’ Us, by comparison, the fickle nature of children’s choices requires more latitude for local managers. Toy tastes vary significantly between different cultures, says Greg Staley, President of the company’s international division. For example, Asian families like educational toys, whileAmerican children are heavily influenced by Saturday morning television programmes. Some toys, such as Barbie dolls and Lego building sets, do well everywhere. But others are less predictable.
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Headquarters decides whether to open a new store but local managers take all the day-to-day decisions on what toys to buy and in what quantities; how to market them, and how much to spend on advertising. ‘We really do give them great latitude in the management of their business’, says Mr Staley.
From the Financial Times
Задание 12
12.1.Проанализируйте текст.
12.2.Найдите в тексте высказывания, подтверждающие мысль, высказанную в заголовке.
Do not Waste Time and Energy Trying to Beat Your Competitors
By W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
We have looked at a number of factors that are often thought to be related to a company’s potential to achieve high growth. We asked, for example, is high growth a function of young managers? Of being a small entrepreneurial upstart? Of big financial investments in the latest technologies? Of operating in a favourable competitive or industry environment? No systematic differences were spotted along any of these lines. But what we did find was a fundamental difference in the way companies approached strategy.
When, for example, Callaway Golf, the US golf club manufacturer, launched its ‘Big Bertha’ golf club, it rapidly rose to dominate the market. This was not because Callaway had no competitors – in fact, it had long-standing ones. But the golf clubs of all the main manufacturers looked alike and were out of line with what players wanted: a golf club with a larger head that made playing more rewarding and fun. Callaway broke away from the pack with Big Bertha and earned high growth in revenues and profits. The competition, by contrast, so focused on one another, failed both to perceive and act on this opportunity.
High-growth companies in our study paid little attention to matching or beating the competition. Instead, they sought to make
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the competition irrelevant by offering buyers a quantum leap in value. The question they posed was not what would it take to be better than the competition, but what would it take to win the mass of buyers even without marketing? The drive for this type of innovation pushes these companies to question everything an industry and competitors are doing, opening their eyes to the differences between what companies are competing on and what buyers actually value. This is not only the route to high creativity, but to tremendous cost savings. Just think of home products retailer IKEA; Direct Line Insurance; Home Depot, the US Do-it-yourself and home improvement retailer; news organisations CNN and Bloomberg, or Starbucks, the US coffee shops chain. The innovative ideas fuelling these companies’ highly profitable growth are not the result of aiming to build advantages over the competition. They are the result of a drive to offer superior value to buyers.
From the Financial Times
Задание 13
13.1.Проанализируйте текст.
13.2.Выпишите предложения, в сумме передающие основной смысл текста.
Daewoo and the Art of Customer Focus
When Daewoo entered the UK car market in spring 1995 it was hardly known at all; its cars were technically average and had an unfashionable country of origin (Korea). With a r o u n d 40 carmakers, the market was crowded. Less than half of these had market shares of over 1%. Many companies had a “Buy UK” or “Buy European” policy for their fleet purchases, which account for about half of all car purchases.
Since the mid 1970s, no new entrant to the UK car market had achieved more than a 1% market share. Yet Daewoo did exactly that in less than a year. We believe it did so by achieving its aim of being the most customer-focused car company in the UK.
Daewoo’s market research revealed that its best target market would be drivers primarily interested in a car’s ability to get from
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