Unit 6 mr. Johnson’s Business Activities

Proverbs and sayings

Everybody's business is nobody's business.	Общее дело - ничье дело.
Easier said than done.	Легче сказать, чем сделать.
A bad workman blames his tools.	Плохой работник ругает свои инструменты.
A penny saved is a penny earned.	Сэкономленное пенни – заработанное пенни.

Text mr. Johnson’s Business Activities

Mr. Johnson is a leading specialist at Foreign Trade Ministry. He has already visited a lot of European countries. He has a business trip every week. Mr. Johnson has a good command of four languages: English, German, French and Italian. His colleagues also go to different countries to do business with foreign firms.

Mr. Johnson works in Brussels in Belgium. He is in charge of a foreign trade department dealing with economic activities and trade operations.

Mr. Johnson’s job schedule is very tight. He’s got a lot of work to do almost every day. As soon as he appears in his office, he starts looking through business e-mail, British and American newspapers and journals. He is interested in the latest political and business events. Then he begins to receive visitors, mostly clients. He must admit, he is as busy as a bee all day long. But in midday he has a lunch break, sometimes he has lunch out with his customers.

During the day Mr. Johnson meets foreign businessmen and discusses with them various questions relating to prices for different goods, terms of payment, shipment and delivery. Very often he discusses business matters on the phone with various trade organizations outside the country. Every Monday and Thursday he holds regular morning business meetings on Skype with his business colleagues.

Mr. Johnson takes part in organizing trade exhibitions and fairs in Belgium and other European countries. He also participates in striking numerous transactions, concluding economic treaties and signing trade agreements.

In his activity Mr. Johnson attaches great importance to the improvement of interstate relations. Of course, he can’t do all this work by himself. He has a staff of employees which helps him greatly. He calls them “my team” and the team arranges all job routines.

Active vocabulary

to have a good command of the language	хорошо владеть иностранным языком
Foreign Trade Ministry	Министерство внешней торговли
to be in charge of	заведовать
foreign trade department	отдел внешней торговли
shipment	перевозка
to do business	иметь деловые отношения
delivery	доставка
exhibition	выставка
to deal with …	иметь дело с …
one must admit	следует признать
to be as busy as a bee	работать как пчела
to have lunch out	зд. обедать вне места работы
to hold regular morning meeting	проводить обязательные утренние совещания
to use Skype	пользоваться Скайпом
to be on Skype	быть в Скайпе
staff of employees	штат сотрудников
fair	ярмарка
in particular	в частности
to participate	участвовать
tight job schedule	зд. плотный, график работы
to strike a transaction deal	заключать сделку
as soon as	как только
to help greatly	много помогать
team	команда
job routines [ru:'ti:ns]	установленный порядок работы
to arrange	подготавливать, устраивать
colleague ['koli:g]	коллега, сослуживец
to conclude treaties	заключать договоры
to appear	появляться
to be interested in	интересоваться
to sing agreements	подписывать соглашение
to receive clients	принимать клиентов
goods	товары, товар
to attach importance to	придавать значение
terms of payment	условия оплаты
having in mind	имея виду
improvement	улучшение, совершенствование
to hold a meeting	проводить встречу
PR department	отдел по связям с общественностью
HR department	отдел кадров