If you are a customer, your funds will move automatically to

meet your needs. You will easily get answers to questions such as:

Am I saving enough? Have I gathered all the information I need to

file a tax return (налоговая декларация)? Am I keeping to my

budget? How does this month's electric bill compare to the bill for

the same month last year?

These changes won't come at the expense of the banking industry.

On the contrary, the Web will let companies offer services that

meet individual needs, which is an essential advantage.

Productivity improvements tend to produce many more winners

than losers. Life gets better when people discover a fundamen-

387

tally better way to do something important. That is why the Web is

unlikely to dehumanize banking or anything else.

The Web will offer banks great opportunities, especially as their

services expand to include insurance, advice and a broad range of

Investments. Some banks will offer to manage your assets (имущество,

активы баланса) and provide you with credit. If your

checking account balance (баланс счета) gets too high, the bank

will offer to move funds into investments that have higher yields

(процентный доход).

Banks will advise you to pay down credit-card balances or other

loans (заем, ссуда), and let you do it with a click. They will know

that if they do not give you this kind of advice and convenience,

you are likely to take your business elsewhere.

The Internet is a tool of communication, a place for people as

well as for extensive information.

Упражнение 1. Дайте русские эквиваленты выделенным словам. Переведите

предложения. Запомните ключевые слова и словосочетания.

1. Businessmen can lend (давать взаймы) and borrow (брать

взаймы) money.

2. The money to be borrowed from the bank is called a loan.

3. Most companies borrow money to finance (i.e., to pay for)

investments (e.g., equipment they buy in order to do business).

4. If you borrow money from the bank you must pay interest.

Interest rate is per cent (процентная ставка) you should pay

back.

5. Businesses have to make a profit, not to make a loss.

6. To make a profit means to earn or receive more money than

you spend.

7. If a company does not make a profit or a loss, it breaks even

(рентабельна, безубыточна).

8. The money a company receives for its products is called the

turnover.

9. The money spent is called the expenditure.

10. A company spends money on raw materials, labour (workers,

employees, staff) and overheads (e.g., rent for buildings, electricity,

telephone, etc.)

11. In order to grow or expand and prosper (do well, be successful)

the companies need low inflation or rate of inflation (which

means the continuous increase in the price of products), low interest

rates, economic and political stability, a healthy economy, not

an economy in recession, and tax cuts as well. Recession is a pe-

388

nod of reduced and slow business activity. Tax is a sum of money to

be paid by citizens (according to income, for example) to the government

for public purposes.

12. A trend is a change or movement of prices, profits, sales,

etc. To describe a trend we can use the following expressions:

The government will raise taxes.

Taxes will rise (increase, go up) by 2 % (or to 28 %).

There will be a sharp rise in inflation.

Taxes will fall (go down, decrease) slowly.

There will be a slow fall (decrease) in taxes.

Prices are up by 5 %; profits are down by $2 million.

Inflation will probably remain stable at around 3 %.

13. Expenditure is spending or using money, for example, government

expenditure.

Упражнение 2. Замените выделенные слова и словосочетания близким

по значению словом или словосочетанием.

1. Our company is doing well now. 2. Sales have increased dramatically.

3. This came after a dramatic fall last year. 4. Profits

have risen considerably. 5. Our turnover has gone up this year.

6. The company is growing very quickly. 7. We expect sales to increase

for about two years. 8. Then they will fall slightly. 9. It is

necessary to spend more money on R&D (Research and Development).

Уш|1ажненше 3. Заполните пропуски, образуя составные слова или общеизвестные

фразы.

healthy ... ... and loss credit...

... stability interest... ... return

break... ... materials account...

economy in... tax... productivity...

turn ... over ...

Упражнение 4, Составьте возможные словосочетания глаголов из колонки

А и существительных из колонки В.

А В

1. finance а. money on

2. offer b. services

3. provide with с a profit / loss

4. gather d. needs

5. make e. investments

6. meet f. information

389

7. spend

8. expand

9. lend/borrow

10. pay

g. opportunity

h. interest

i. credit

j . money

Упражнение 5. Заполните таблицу на словообразование.

Verb

educate

differ

Noun

expenditure

payment

comparison

Adjective

reducible

comparable

expensive

Упражнение 6. A. Прочитайте текст и постарайтесь догадаться о значении

следующих слов и словосочетаний: unit of account^ value, grains, print,

consider, cease, cash, withdraw, bank account.

Money as a Unit of Accoimt

The most difficuh aspect of money to understand is its function

as a unit of account. Money is difficult to define, because the value

of anything changes with time and circumstances.

Sir Isaac Newton defined the pound steriing (£) in 1717 as 113

grains of pure gold. By the end of the nineteenth century the gold

standard had spread around most of the trading worid, with the result

that there was a single world money. It was called by different

names in different countries, but all these supposedly different currencies

were interconnected through their particular definition in

terms of a quantity of gold.

The end of the gold standard began with the introduction of the

agreement in 1946. This fixed the value of all world currencies relative

to the US dollar, which in turn was fixed to a specific value of

gold (US $ 0.35/oz.) However, in 1971 the US government finally

refused to exchange US dollar for gold, and other countries soon

followed. Governments printed as much paper money or coinage as

they wanted, and the more that was printed, the less each unit of

currency was worth.

390

The great advantage of the nineteenth-century gold standard

was not just that it defined the unit of account, but that it operated

throughout almost the entire world. A price in England was the

same as a price in Australia or any other country.

Today we can determine price differences between countries by

considering the exchange rate of the day.

The great advantage of having a single stable world money is

that such money has very high information content. It tells people

where to invest their time, energy and capital, all around the world,

with much greater accuracy and predictability than would otherwise

be possible.

Nowadays many specialists believe that within the next decade

money, as we know it will probably cease to exist in technologically

advanced countries. The familiar coins and notes will soon be replaced

entirely by plastic money — plastic cards of various kinds.

And the shops of the future will be linked directly to the network of

banking computers. The shop assistant will simply key in your bank

account code number and the amount you have spent, and thank

you politely.

Banks have invested huge amounts of money in new technology.

Credit cards are issued by credit card companies such as Visa

and MasterCard. These companies work closely with all the major

banks. A credit card enables you to pay for goods or services immediately

without cash or cheque. You are given free credit for an

agreed period. At the end of this period you are charged high interest.

Every credit card holder is given a credit limit.

Most banks provide their customers with banker's cards. Using

PIN (personal identification number) you can use this card to withdraw

cash from the ATMs (Automated Teller Machines).

Some banks have already introduced «first generation» smart

cards. A smart card contains a computer «chip». It can do all the

things other cards can do but it can also store and display each

transaction. In the near future you may be using these cards for

«home shopping», satellite TV, telephone charges, and as passports

and identity cards.

B. Подберите к каждому слову и словосочетанию из колонки А соответствующее

ему по значению из колонки В.

А В

1. unit of account а. take into account

2. bank account b. take out money from the bank

3. value с money in coin or notes

391

4. grains' d. keeping one's money at a bank

5. print e. stop, come to an end

6. consider f. unit of counting

7. cease g. worth of smth.

8. cash h. tiny, hard pieces

9. withdraw i. make books, pictures, etc.

Упражнение 7. Заполните пропуски терминами, переведите.

1. ... is money that may be used to start a business.

2. ... is the type of money used in a country.

3. ... is money in coin or notes.

4. ... are metal money, ... is system of coins in use.

5. ... are paper money.

6. ... money is different kinds of plastic cards.

7. ... is to be worth in terms of money.

8. ... is price asked for goods or services.

9. To ... means to ask smb. to pay.

10. To ... money means to keep some of one's money, e.g., for a

new computer.

11. To ... money means to use it badly on things that one does

not need.

12. The ... of living means how much people pay for things.

13.... of living is the level of money and comfort people have.

Упражнение 8. Заполните пропуски синонимами или антонимами.

value ... waste

condition ... lend

quantity ... cheap

common, often see or heard ... unstable

various ... minor

Упражнение 9, A. Назовите 20-25 ключевых слов и словосочетаний на

тему: «Business and finance».

В. Speak about:

1. The state of the economy at the moment. Is it strong or is it

in recession?

2. The current rate of inflation in the country. Has the government

reduced company taxes or personal taxes lately? Has public

expenditure risen or fallen recently?

3. New technology and money.

392

Text 3

Какое значение имеют электронные средства связи в современной организации

производства?

А. Прочитайте текст и постарайтесь догадаться о значении в данном

контексте слов: vital, corporate^ compile, memo, pace, respond, intranet, empower.

Paperwork and the Digital Nervous System

Bill Gates states it did not take Microsoft Co. long to get rid of

most of the company's paper forms. The move from paper to electronic

forms is a vital step in the evolution of a modem organization's

nervous system. A corporate system defines how an

organization deals with planned and unplanned events alike. It includes

meetings, paperwork and electronic systems. It governs the

way information about customers is stored, the way workers are organized,

the way budgets are compiled and activities are coordinated,

and the way information is exchanged.