I dioms in focus:

Task 1. Study the following examples and try to understand the underlined idioms in context. Find their Russian equivalents.

1. Both government and private institutions should not be closed during holiday seasons, and skeleton staff should attend work.

2. Today, the logic of cost cutting doesn’t distinguish between blue collar and white collar. So, one day both managers and factory workers may face the sack.

3. The successful freelance web designers can choose the most interesting orders and plan their own time so that they can work when and where they want.

4. Read this contract one more time and then consult with our advocate! Don’t sign on the dotted line unless you know exactly what you are doing and you have a legal representative.

5. After the elections to the Parliament, newly elected politicians learn the ropes of public office

6. My grandparents muddled through droughts and crop failures and family crises.

7. In our recruitment agency, we more often need to headhunt for following positions: CEO, Directors, Presidents, Vice-Presidents, National Heads and for those typical positions which are hard to find.

8. British Chamber of Commerce is going to publish the estimation results of the money lost because of red-tape in British state institutions: bureaucracy burden is “out of control”.

9. Look at them! The working day is over, but they just talk shop all the time!

10. High-ranking Russian officials made a visit to India last week to do the spadework for a deal on tech transfer, which is going to be discussed during the next visit of Vladimir Putin.

Task 2. Match the following idioms with their corresponding definitions.

a skeleton staff blue collar/white collar freelance sign on the dotted line to learn the ropes to muddle through to headhunt red tape/cut on the red tape to talk shop 10. to do the spadework

to write your signature at the bottom of a contract, or other form manual workers in a factory / office employees, clerks the smallest number of employees needed to keep the office to learn how an organization works troublesome bureaucratic rules / get rid of bureaucratic procedure to talk about business to try to reach results without proper preparation or clear strategy to find people with the right skills and to persuade them to leave their present job working independently for different companies rather than being employed by one particular company to make the preliminary preparations or do the preliminary research for something

Task 3. Substitute for the underlined phrase an idiom with the same meaning.

1. Railroad and subway conductors, along with flight attendants, are at the top of the manual workers in a factory pay scale.

2. If you find all of this a little too boring or complicated, then let someone else make the preliminary preparations for you.

3. Welcome to Worldwide Writer, the leading site for writers working independently for different companies around the world.

4. County Council is continuing to provide core services with the smallest number of employees needed to keep the office during strike action over local government pensions.

5. In fact, it's vitally important that you've well checked everything before you put your signature at the end of a contract.

6. Inevitably, UK companies will need to find ready-made senior executives from abroad with the right skills and to persuade them to leave their present job.

7. The team managed to try to reach results without proper preparation or clear strategy another season.

8. Three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, troublesome bureaucratic rules and poor planning have left thousands of evacuees without basic services.

9. This month, we are to discuss business issues with Andrew Kris, founder of Borderless Executive Search and chairman of the SharedXpertise Forums Advisory Board.

10. On my new job I spent the first month learning how an organization works.

Task 5. Translate the following sentences into English using idioms instead of the phrases underlined.

1. Хотя вопросы были очень трудные, я смог кое-как справиться.

2. Кропотливая подготовительная работа вымотала нашего шефа, и в день презентации он слег с гриппом.

3. Я уже не внештатный дизайнер, теперь я работаю в сети магазинов «Папирус».

4. Давайте сменим тему. Я не люблю, когда мои гости говорят о работе.

5. По результатам исследования, бюрократизм в государственных учреждениях Украины возрос на 20% по сравнению с прошлым годом.

6. Переманивание кадров – это очень прибыльный бизнес, потому что компании всегда много платят за хороших профессионалов.

7. Последняя волна увольнений на нашем заводе коснулась как рабочих, так и служащих.

8. На вечеринку, посвященную 15-летию компании, мы пригласим только минимальное число основных сотрудников.

9. Так как у Бонда не было времени на ознакомление с работой компании, ему пришлось немедленно приступить к выполнению задания.

10. Дорогая, я буду поздно. Мы наконец-то подписали контракт!

Task 4. Complete the sentences with one of the idioms in focus, paying special attention to the form of the verbs.

1. I will lose the house, I know that now! I would say to others, don’t ……………… without taking legal advice!

2. Once you’ve started operating as a …………………..photographer, you should understand the pro’s and con’s of being self-employed.

3. The heads of the world's leading companies admitted that overregulation has become the biggest threat to their businesses, in a sign of the dramatic creep of ……………….. across the globe.

4. Since John and his dad have worked in one department, they………………………..whenever they get together.

5. Members of the Tour X Student Club arranged recently a barbecue style meeting with Mr. Johnson, the head of ANP Tours, to ……………….. of tourism business.

6. Faced with any sort of technology, very few people take the time to read instructions. Instead, they try to ……………………, making up their own ideas about what they're doing and why it works.

7. Such……………………… agencies gather information first and then make the provocative calls to potential candidates.

8. Our goal is to become your primary resource for any information related to obtaining and maintaining ………………………. positions, be it a career in the plant, as a skilled technician within the manufacturing industry, or as a self-employed service mechanic.

9. While some schools were closed yesterday, others struggled on with a ………………………in order to take care of those pupils who hadn’t heard about the teacher’s strike.

10. So, today we‘ll show you the result. But most of the ………………………..had been done by 1990.

REVISION TEST 1

UNITS 1 - 3

Task 1. Substitute in place of the words underlined a suitable idiomatic expression.

1. "To find people with the right skills and to persuade them to leave their present job over here, we don’t have to advertise in the main print media," said Mark Wylie, general manager of Apple Recruitment.

2. Remember: your task is to attract investors who are not part of the company.

3. Laser Research Inc. has had some separation of the one part of a parent corporation into an attached independent corporate firm in the eye surgery area.

4. This new senator really appeals to the ordinary people in an organization who have no special position in the labor unions.

5. Excuse me, how many retail stores do you have in Donetsk region?

6. It’s a hot time for the owners of the overpriced young well-paid business people bars.

7. The BCC says that the flow of new troublesome bureaucratic rules is continuing. Over the past two years the government has introduced new rules governing flexible working arrangements for parents.

8. Société Générale wants to be among important, influential people in the French banking.

9. The changes have left only the smallest number of employees needed to keep the office to manage the transition of Netscape's development activities.

10. I’ve sent 10 letters to the most popular companies which produce advertising for another companies, inviting them to our “Outdoor advertising” seminars.

11. When he was born with severe disabilities, doctors said he would not survive for long. But 19-year-old Mridul Seth has overcome all odds to become the MHM’s young person who becomes successful very quickly, esp. in business.

12. Firstly, you'll have to get permission from the important person. Secondly, try to get rid of that unmanageable person; dishonest & careless in business in your department.

13. “Citybus” is just a small or young company, but they have a potential to become the leading transport corporation.

14. The human resources department will reassure you that it's a minor detail-just to write your signature at the bottom of a contract, but in reality these documents are not minor.

15. In his speech he even hasn’t mentioned people who to make the preliminary preparations or do the preliminary research.

16. After two difficult financial quarters, Intel on Wednesday reported about important changes in the highest levels of the company.

17. Developing a new product, some manufacturers turn to designers working independently for different companies.

18. 57% of the food market is presented by three food large, slow-moving companies that have not changed with the times, and we think it’s not good for the competition.

Task 2. Translate the following sentences into English using idioms instead of the phrases underlined.

1. Российский нефтяной магнат сломал ногу, катаясь на Альпийском горнолыжном курорте.

2. Корпорация «Звезда» и ее дочерняя фирма «Звезда-тур» приглашают на работу юристов, секретарей и переводчиков.

3. На работе я – только маленький винтик, но дома меня все уважают.

4. На твоем месте я бы не ставил свою подпись. В этом контракте нет четко оговоренных условий поставки.

5. Первый месяц на новой работе Иван чувствовал себя не в своей тарелке.

6. Вчера у меня было очень много заказов, но я кое-как справился.

7. Петренко хорошо работает, но мы не должны ему очень доверять. Он – перекати-поле.

8. Должно быть, вы проделали грандиозную подготовительную работу!

9. Председатель этого районного учреждения не любит, когда его называют авторитетом местного масштаба.

10. На нашем заводе все довольны зарплатой – и рабочие, и служащие.

11. После окончания института мы с друзьями планируем открыть рекламное агентство.

12. В нашем отделе не хватает людей, так что тебя некому учить, что к чему на предприятии.

13. Пять лет назад я начинал как индивидуальный предприниматель, а сегодня у меня небольшой мебельный завод и 60 человек рабочих.

14. Алексу не понравилась новогодняя вечеринка, потому что все сотрудники говорили только о работе.

15. В цену также входит доставка и обслуживание.

16. Посмотрите на этого толстосума! Купил еще один сахарный завод!

17. У нашего банка есть филиалы во всех районах города.

18. Откуда у него деньги? – Его родители - «молчаливые» совладельцы Проди-банка.

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UNIT 4

COMPANY ACTIVITIES