Business News - a test
If you’d like a test to see how your business English vocabulary is, read the article at this link.
Some of the language is quite difficult. The main point of the story is that a very rich man (Kerkorian) is going to sell a large amount of the shares he owns in General Motors. The reason why this is newsworthy is because Kerkorian is a billionaire (has more than 1,000 million dollars) and owns a fairly large amount of GM’s shares (currently 9.9%). This article uses language that is typical of news stories about shareholdings in major American companies. Let’s go over some of the key vocabulary.
stake (n.) - this has the same meaning as share; a percentage of the company. (Remember, stocks and shares are essentially the same, but a share of a company refers to the percentage owned, not the piece of paper we also refer to as a stock.)
His stake in the company rose to 15%.
500 shares were added to her stake in the company.
Solely owned (adjective) - when a person (or company) owns 100% of a company; they own all of the shares.
GM shares closed down.
GM shares closed up.
- these two sentences refer to the price of GM’s shares when the stock market closed. It compares the opening price, the price when the markets open, and the closing price.
speculate - to guess
We can only speculate why he’s selling his shares.
walk away from - to abandon (a plan), to cancel, to forget about
He walked away from a really good job offer because he decided to do volunteer work instead.
They walked away from the new product idea because of technical difficulties.
Great language in this article. There may be other words you don’t quite understand, but the ones I’ve highlighted should clear up the basic meaning of the story. Reading newspapers is extremely difficult, but for those of you who are advanced or upper intermediate learners, it can really add to your vocabulary.
Kris
Hey, Kris! your website is extremely amazing!
Comment by lilyelf — November 28, 2006 @ 5:09 am
Hi lilyelf,
Thanks for the compliments, but it’s not MY website - there are lots of people that put work into this project. There are IT people, lesson planners, website publishers, etc. who work day in and day out to bring you these lessons. I just add my voice to the podcasts and blog on the site. Actually, we need to update our About Us page - we only feature the people who record the lessons, but there are many others who contribute.
Kris
Comment by Kris — November 29, 2006 @ 1:22 am
oh. sorry for my misunderstanding. thanks all of you:)
How many lessons should I listen at one time? I don’t know why I got a little bit absent-minded when I heard the third lesson every morning! What I downloaded are UI lessons. On this condition, should I start from LI or E lessons?
Comment by lilyelf — November 29, 2006 @ 5:36 am
lilyelf,
Your comment brings up a good point - today I’ll blog about “How to Use ODE to Learn English.” For now, some brief comments:
3 podcasts a day is probably too much, unless you’re spending the whole day studying… it’s really too much information to remember it all. Slow down, do one a day. Listen to the same podcast 2 or 3 times. Listen on your way to work, then spend a few minutes before you start work or at lunch, reviewing the lesson online - this is where you can really learn the new words and phrases. Go over the transcript and listen sentence by sentence and use the rollover for any words you’re unsure of - add interesting ones you want to review later to your WordBank. Check the expansions to see new language used in sample sentences. Do the exercises to make sure you’re really learning everything. Then listen one last time (at work, on the bus/subway, at home, shopping, wherever). 3 days later, review the same lesson to see if you remember and retain that information.
About the levels, if you find Upper Intermediate is good for you, stick with it. You need to understand the basics of the conversation between the hosts to learn much from the podcast. Of course it should be a little bit difficult; it has to be a challenge. Once in a while, listen to a Lower Intermediate to review or if the topic is one you have trouble with. Also once in a while try an Advanced to see if you’re ready to ‘graduate’ to a new level. If you listen to every podcast that’s fine, lots of students do that, but concentrate on the level you think is appropriate for you.
Once again, if you want more info on how to use ODE effectively, read the blog post (I’ll write it soon) or read through the New User Study Guide.
Best,
Kris
Comment by Kris — November 29, 2006 @ 10:23 pm
Business News is too difficult. I must lose the test.:(
Want to escape when I open a webpage and face 铺天盖地 business news, sports news. Too many new words and long sentences. Is reading English news really useful?
Comment by lilyelf — December 6, 2006 @ 11:53 pm
lilyelf,
I think it is useful - but there are limits. As I said before, reading newspapers is difficult, but I think if you can follow the main idea, it’s a good place to get exposed to higher-level English. Sports news is extremely hard to read, as the vocabulary is very specific. Business news is a little easier, but still challenging. The key is not to get upset about not understanding every word. Understanding every word is not necessary to your comprehension of the article as a whole. As you get more used to seeing more advanced vocabulary and phrases in context, you will start to recognize their meaning.
Just be careful - newspaper English is NOT the same as spoken English. Even in most business situations, spoken English is more casual and informal than what you read in the newspapers.
Comment by Kris — December 7, 2006 @ 12:22 am
system down
Comment by system down — April 3, 2007 @ 10:09 pm