Text1: A PROBLEM OF PAY INCREASE
Peter Baker has set up an advertising Agency and employs Waters as his
Office Manager. This conversation occurred last Friday evening.
John : Did you sign those letters Mr Baker ?
Baker : I put them in the out-tray. I made a slight change to the Caldwell letter.
John : Oh yes. I see....Mr Baker. I wonder if you could spare me a few minutes on a personal matter ?
Baker : O.K. John. As long as you dont keep me too long. Ive promised my wife
Ill be home by six.
John : Alright. M. Baker. Its about my salary as Im sure you know, my last pay
increase was eighteen months ago and Ive had more responsibilities since
Miss Oldroyd left. As you know Ive bought a house and the mortgage
Repayments are over f300 a month.
Baker : If you saw my bank overdraft youd realise youre not the only one with
problems, but I know youre got to live too. And Im very pleased with the
effort youve made since Miss Oldroyd left. What sort of figure have you
got in mind ?
John : Well, I was hoping another fl, 000 a year.
Baker : f1,000 ? I cant go that far. But I tell you what.
lets make it can extra f10 a week for now and well have another chat in
six months time. If we get the Caldwell contract I might be able to be a bit
more generous. Does that seem fair ?
John : Yes M. Baker, that seems very fair.
Baker : well start with the new amount next month O.K. I have a good weekend a
Me best wishes to that lovely wife of yours.
John : Good night M. Baker and thank you very much.
COMPREHENSION
1°) What did John tell M. Baker ? 1 pt
2°) Is his request justified ? Why ? 2 pts
3°) What agreement did they reach at the end ? 3 pts
4°) Do you think the title is justified ? Why or why not ?
( 8 10 lines ) 6 pts
GRAMMAR
Put the bracketed word into the right form
1°) When you go to this company, you (be) hired.
2°) BICIA (open) a cash point some years ago in Ouahigouya.
3°) If you open a savings account, your money ( yield) interests.
4°) Once he got his money, Ali (ask for) an over draft some days after.
Text 2: WHAT IS BUSINESS
Business is a word that is commonly used in many different languages. But exactly what does it mean ? The concepts and activities of business have increased in modern times.
Traditionally, business simply meant exchange or trade for things people wanted or needed.
Today it has a more technical definition. One definition of business is the production, distribution, and sale of goods and services for a profit. To examine this definition, we will look at its various parts.
First, production is the creation of services or the changing of materials into products one example is the conversion of iron ore into metal car parts. But these products need to be moved from the factory to the market place.
A car might be moved from a factory in Detroit to a car dealership in Miami.
Third is the sale of goods and services. Sale is the exchange of a product or service for money. A car is sold to someone in exchange for money. Goods are products that people either need or want ; for example, cars can be classified as goods. Services, on the other hand, are activities that a person or group performs for another person or organization. For instance, an auto mechanic performs a service when he repairs a car.
A doctor also performs a service by taking care of people when they are sick.
Business, then, is a combination of all these activities : production, distribution, and sale. However, there is one other important factor. This factor is the creation of profit or economic surplus. A major goal in the functioning of an American business company is making a profit. Profit is the money that remains after all the expenses are paid.
Creating an economic surplus or profit is, therefore, a primary goal of business activity.
I COMPREHENSION
1) What is the traditional definition of business ?
2) What is production ? Give an example ?
3) What example of distribution is given in the reading ? Can you think of another example ?
4) What does the word sale mean ?
5) How can we define business now ?
6) In addition to production, distribution, and sale, what other factor is important in defining business ?
7) What is the most important objective of business nowadays ? Do you agree with this
analysis ?
8) In general, what do companies do with their profit ?
II VOCABULARY PRACTICE
1-After reading the text, link the words in the left-hand column to their corresponding synonyms in the right-hand column
1) goods moving or transporting
2) for instance trade
3) conversion look at
4) distribution change
5) exchange for example
6) examine products
2) Complete the sentences with the noun and verb forms provided
*sales/sells
a) An annual report includes the.figures of the company for the current fiscal year
b) An auto dealership cars, trucks, vans and sometimes recreational vehicles
*distribution/distribute
a) Some companies hold exclusive. rights for specific products
b) Factory representativesproducts to wholesalers and retailers
*production/produces
a) How efficiently a company .its products will in large measure determine its success
b) Theof high technology instruments was one of the most rapidly growing industries in the 1990s
*classification/are classified
a) Items.in order to show the relationship between them
b) .means the grouping of items to show the differences between them
*conversion/convert
a) When travelling from country to country, people.one currency to another
b) The production process often involves theof raw materials into finished products
Text 3: REGIONAL MARKET OF WEST AFRICA
The saying that United we stand, divided we fall goes well for Africa. In the colonial days, the West African region was doing trade with the colonial masters and among the natives through the barter system. The colonial masters introduced their various currencies like Pound, Franc and dollar as the medium of exchange. We have to import all the manufactured goods.
We have now obtained our political independence, but what about our political independence ?
Local currencies like Naira, Cedi, Dalasi, Leone and CFA are now used in the region. We do not have any control over both the imports and exports of our raw materials we are exporting. They buy them cheaply, transform them and sell these products at high prices. Secondly, through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), our various local currencies are devalued. As a consequence, our goods become cheaper to export, and our import far more expensive, draining all our foreign exchange, leading to deficits in our foreign trade.
As a solution, we now import cheaper, inferior and sometimes shoddy goods from the Far East (Taïwan, Hong Kong, Korea and China) to the detriment of our few local industrial goods.
We have a vast regional market under the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS). There is the need to make this regional integration a reality and a priority to any Anglophone or francophone grouping. Under it we can harness our resources to produce and market our goods. We can also attract big time investors because of the big regional market, which in the long run will bring about sustainable development.
I-COMPREHENSION
1°) Answer by True (T) or False (F) (3,5 pts)
a) Formerly West African people used to exchange goods
b) Money was introduced by the colonizers
c) We now control our imports and exports
d) We sell our products in low prices
e) We import expensive commodities
f) We now import poor quality goods
g) Regional integration is a priority
2°) Answer these questions
a) How did the African natives trade with their colonial masters ? (1 pt)
b) Why are our imports becoming more and more expensive and what are people doing now to solve this problem ? (1 pts)
c) How can big time investors be attracted to West Africa ? (1,5 pts)
d) After reading the text explain how a country can get its political independence without getting its economic independence (2 pts)
e) Are you in favour or against regional markets ? Why ? (2 pts)
f) After reading this text, do you think integration is a necessity for Africa? (3 pts)
g) What are the advantages and disadvantages of devaluation ? (3 pts)
h) Modibo KEÏTA, the first Malian President said :True independence starts with monetary independence. Do you agree with him ? Why or why not ? (3 pts)
Text 4: WHAT DO WE MEAN BY PRODUCTION
Economists recognize three different kinds of production in relation to goods.
Changing the form of a commodity. By this, we mean taking raw materials and turning them into finished articles ; the sort of production we all easily recognize.
Changing the situation of a commodity. Two things, identical in appearance, quality and structure, are not alike economically if one is in Ouagadougou and the other in Bobo. Clearly, it is of little use to a man in Dori who is in need of sugar to know there is a good supply in Banfora : the company engaged in this kind of production, precisely the SOSUCO, is concerned with the transfer of goods from their place of manufacture to the consumer.
Changing the position of a commodity in time. A kilogram of millet in august is not the same as a kilogram of similar millet in November. In order to enable us to buy commodities at the time when we want them, it is necessary for someone to build up stocks hen the goods are in plentiful supply, and hold them until consumers want them. This is one of the main functions of wholesalers, and to a lesser degree, of retailers.
Most people would probably regard only the changing of the form of a commodity as being a productive process ; but production is not really completed until the goods have reached the people who actually want to consume them. Changing the geographical situation of a commodity or the time of its availability are essentially the final stage of production ; and economically, they are of equal importance to changing raw materials into finished products.
Adapted from The Structure of Modern Commerce
COMPREHENSION
1°) What is commonly considered as production ?
2°) What are the different types of production given by the author ?
3°) Why can we consider changing the time of availability of a commodity as production ?
4°) Would you agree that all these forms of production are of equal importance ?
Text 5: EDUCATION AND MASS PRODUCTION
If the dreams of the educationists were realised, and the majority of human beings began to take an exclusive interest in the things of the mind, the whole industrial system would collapse.
Given modern machinery, there can be no industrial prosperity without mass production. Mass production is impossible without mass consumption. Consumption varies inversely with the intensity of mental life. A man who is exclusively interested in the things of the mind will be quite happy sitting quietly in a room. A man who has no interest in the things of the mind will be bored to death if he has to sit quietly in a room. Lacking thoughts with which to distract himself, he must acquire things to take their place ; incapable of mental travel, he must move about in the body. In a word, he is the ideal consumer, the mass consumer of objects and transport.
Now it is obviously in the interest of industrial producers to encourage the good consumer and to discourage the bad. Those who sit quietly in rooms with nothing but their thoughts and perhaps a book to amuse them are represented as miserable, ridiculous and even rather immoral. Happiness is a product of noise, company, motion and the possession of objects. The more noise you listen to, the more people you have round you ; the faster you move and the more objects you possess, the happier you will be the happier and also the more normal and virtuous.
Aldous HUXLEY Music At Night
I / COMPREHENSION 12 points
1) Give one condition for mass production according to the text. 1 pt
2) What kind of person is the ideal consumer ? 2 pts
3) How can producers encourage people to consume their goods ? 2 pts
4) Can you think of other conditions for mass production ? 3 pts
5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of mass production ? 4 pts
II/ LANGUAGE PRACTICE 08 POINTS
Put the words between brackets into the right form
1) The more you work, theyour boss will be (happy)
2) If you open a deposit account, your money.interests (yield)
3) When you finish your studies, you .your own business (set up)
4) Adamasecond hand cars from Togo for three years (import)
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