7. Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:

1) What does the term "double taxation" mean?

2) What organizations are involved in this process?

3) When was the first consumer programme adopted?

4) What is the 'consumption' structure in Great Britain?

5) What kind of legislative programme is mentioned in the text?

6) What types of corporations are described?

7) What is the maximum corporation tax rate for taxable income up to $10.0 million?

8 Составьте аннотацию к тексту (2 - 3 предложения).

9 Составьте реферат текста (10 - 15 предложений).

10 Составьте план текста и перескажите текст.

Вариант № 8

1. Прочитайте и переведите тексты

Opium for tea

Trade between China and the outside world has always been important for Hong Kong. In 1841, the British seized Hong Kong Island. They wanted to trade with China and having their own port meant they could force China to accept foreign trade. They could also continue to sell opium, which was shipped from India, to Chinese merchants. Profits from the opium trade paid for the Chinese tea, silks and porcelain that Britain wanted to import.

China resisted the illicit opium trade but was defeated by the British in two Opium Wars. The Chinese had to sign a treaty giving Britain the Kowloon peninsula in 1860. Britain took over another part of the mainland, called the New Territories, as well as 235 islands in 1898. These were on a lease from China, which gave the land to Britain for 99 years.

Hong Kong remained a British colony despite the victory of the Chinese Communist Party, which took over the rest of China, except Taiwan, in 1949. The colony's population grew from one million in 1946 to five million by 1980, as Chinese refugees poured in.

The economy also grew fast. In the 1970s, when Deng Xiaoping liberalized China's socialist economy, Hong Kong boomed because it acted as a trading link with the West. The British never gave Hong Kong's people full democracy, as they thought it might offend the Beijing government and harm trade between the colony and China.

China in charge

The Communist Chinese government never recognised the treaties that gave Hong Kong to the British. Britain knew that it would not be possible to keep Hong Kong and Kowloon when the lease on the New Territories ended in 1997. When organising the return of Hong Kong to China, the priority for both the Chinese and the British was to ensure business as usual.

There were long, difficult and secret negotiations between Britain and China. The result was the Sino-British Declaration of 1984, by which China agreed to maintain Hong Kong's capitalist system for 50 years after the colony was returned. There were some nervous moments, but Hong Kong's trade has continued to grow fast. It has the world's busiest container port and it is the financial centre of South East Asia. Both shores of Victoria Harbour are crowded with glittering skyscrapers. Hong Kong now has a higher standard of living than Britain.

Despite reassurances from the Beijing government, Hong Kong people are worried about life under Chinese rule. In 1989, the Chinese government crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese government has insisted that democracy will not be allowed in Hong Kong and it has abolished the partly-elected Legislative Council. Many Hong Kong residents have bought homes in Canada or Australia, in case things go wrong.

West and East

Hong Kong is Western in business and Eastern in culture. The main annual festival is the Chinese New Year in spring, when everyone visits friends and relatives to wish them good luck for the year ahead. The Mid-Autumn Festival also brings families together. The symbol of this festival is the full moon and Chinese people wish their families to be as bright and complete as the full, autumn moon. Feasts are held at round tables that symbolise the moon.

English is the language of business, while Cantonese Chinese is used at home and in everyday life. While Hong Kong was a British colony, English was the only language used in law and government. New laws were written in Chinese, as well as English, shortly before the handover to China. English is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools. Because parents and students know that English is the key to many jobs, most schools teach in it. However, the new government is now encouraging more schools to teach in Cantonese Chinese. The administration also wants schools to teach Mandarin Chinese, the language of Beijing.

How I Succeeded in My Business By Stephen Leacock

Secrets of Success as Related In the Best Current Literature

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944), a well-known Canadian writer, was born in England. When he was 7 years old his family emigrated to Canada. He was educated at Toronto and Chicago Universities. His first collection of humorous short stories Literary Lapses appeared in 1910. He also wrote articles, essays and sketches, in which he developed his own conception of humour.

I had been employed in one business and another quite a good few years, and yet I hadn't made good. I hadn't made good, and I knew I hadn't made good, and sometimes the knowledge that I hadn't made good made me feel bad. Often when I came home nights, I'd say, "Doll," I'd say, "I haven't made good." "No, Jim, old boy," she'd say, "I know you haven't made good, but never mind you'll make good yet!"

Often I used to think it over as to why it was I hadn't made good. I'd had about as much education as most, and more experience than many and better chances than some. I was willing enough and steady enough. I was a non-drinker and a non-smoker; I never touched a card and had never seen a horse race in my life, and never been inside the doors of a poolroom. Yet I knew as well as anybody just where my shortcomings were; I lacked pep, I had no punch, I had practically no magnetism... And I knew that nowadays in business it is magnetism and pep that make for success.

Well, I was thinking it all over one Monday morning in the back yard before going to work, when all of a sudden the reason of my failure came to me like a flash. I had no belief in myself: that was it. I couldn’t accomplish anything because I couldn't believe in myself.

I got up and I walked right into the house to the kitchen where Doll was getting the breakfast ready. "Doll," I said, "I've found out what was wrong. I've got no belief in myself," and I hit the table with my fist till it jumped up. "Oh, Jim," Doll said, "you frighten me?" "Ha? Ha!" I laughed - that was the first time in six years that Doll had ever said that I frightened her...

Well, I got my breakfast and I started down to the office for my new job just feeling fine. I could sense myself reaching against everything. "Jim Dudley,” I kept repeating to myself, "you're going to make good."

The first person I ran into at the office was the general manager just going in.

"You're ten minutes early, Dudley," hg said.

"Mr. Kitson," I answered, "I'd rather be early than not".

And with that I opened my desk and got right to work. I guess I never worked in my life as I did that morning. Everything seemed easy. Letters I would have taken half an hour to consider I answered in two minutes. And every letter I answered I tried to put in just a little sunshine. Even if I didn't know who the correspondent was I found time to write in Peek-a-boo! or Keep on Smiling! or some little thing like that. "Jim Dudley," I said to myself, "you're going to make good."

Two or three times in the morning Mr. Kitson walked through the office. About one o'clock he came over to my desk. "Dudley," he said, “I’ve something I want to talk to you about, come out to have lunch with me."

"Now, Jim," said Mr. Kitson, "I've had my eye on you all the morning, and I believe you're the man we want. The company wants someone to go to Kansas City to line up a man and to swing a big proposition."

"Mr. Kitson," I interrupted, "I can line him up and swing it."

"When can you go?"

"Right now," I said, "as soon as I finish my spinach. Just tell me what it is that I swing when I get there."

When I got to Kansas City, I found I was up against something pretty big. I found John Smith but he wouldn't see me. I went right into his office, and I said, "Mr. Smith, can I see you?" "No," he said, "you can't." However, I hung on. "Let me see you," I said. "No. I won't," he answered. Still I wouldn't give in. I went up to his house that evening and right into his library. "Can I see you now?" I asked. "No," he answered, "you can't see me." "Look here! Mr. Smith," I pleaded, "I've come two thousand miles to see you: let me see you!" "No, Dudley," he said, "I won't."

That went on four days and at last he gave in. "All right, Jim," he said, "state your business. What do you want?" "I want to line you up – swing you," I said, "come out with me, Mr. Smith, and eat spinach, and I'll tell you about it."

So I took him out to a swell restaurant where they had the best spinach in Kansas City. "Now," I said after we had eaten, "you're a big man and this is a big thing: we want to put over something pretty big and you're the man we want in on it. You're big."

"Jim," he said, "you talk well. And what's more, you've got personality and that's the biggest thing in business today. As soon as I see a man who has personality, I do whatever he wants. Personality gets me every time."

So I got what I wanted, and I took the train right back to New York. Doll met me at the depot. I kissed her right there on the platform. "Did you swing it?" she asked. "Yes, Doll, I did," I answered. I saw Doll drop a tear right on the platform. "Good old Jim," she said.

Next morning I found an envelope on my desk with a cheque for five thousand dollars in it. Well, that was how I got my first start. Once the firm found that I could line up a man and swing a thing of that size there was lots more to do. So the end of it was they made me the head of the company.

So I went home to Doll and I said, "Doll," I said, "I'm made the president of the company." "Oh, Jim!" she said, "you've made good. I'm so proud — and I'm proud of the company, too, now that you're president of it. So you must tell me all about it, what it does and what it makes and sells."

"Doll", I answered, "don't ask me. I've been so busy in swinging propositions and lining things up and eating spinach, that I've never had time to find out what on earth the company does do."

2 Переведите на русский язык следующие английские словосочетания:

1) to accept foreign trade; 6) pro-democracy protests;

2) full democracy; 7) Western in business and Eastern in culture;

3) to ensure business; 8) the language of business;

4) secret negotiations; 9) а general manager;

5) a high standard of living; 10) a trading link with the West.

3 Найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты следующих словосочетаний:

1) внешний мир; 6) современная система;

2) подписать договор; 7) мировой важный порт;

3) капиталистическая система; 8) главный ежегодный фестиваль;

4) финансовый центр; 9) символ фестиваля;

5) верить в себя; 10) обязательный предмет.

4 Найдите в тексте слова, имеющие общий корень с данными словами. Определите, к какой части речи они относятся, и переведите их на русский язык:

to govern, to negotiate, to reassure, symbol, to administrate, well, humor, short, person, to propose.

5 Задайте к выделенному в тексте предложению все типы вопросов: общий, альтернативный, разделительный, два специальных: а) к подлежащему, б) к любому члену предложения.

In 1989, the Chinese government crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

6 Выполните анализ данных предложений, обратив внимание на следующие грамматические явления: формы и функции инфинитива, инфинитивные конструкции (сложное дополнение, подлежащее), существительное в роли определения, функции слов one (ones), that (those), условные предложения:

1) They wanted to trade with China and having their own port meant they could force China to accept foreign trade.

2) The Communist Chinese government never recognised the treaties that gave Hong Kong to the British.

3) Britain knew that it would not be possible to keep Hong Kong and Kowloon when the lease on the New Territories ended in 1997.

4) The main annual festival is the Chinese New Year in spring, when everyone visits friends and relatives to wish them good luck for the year ahead.

5) The symbol of this festival is the full moon and Chinese people wish their families to be as bright and complete as the full, autumn moon.

6) I've been so busy in swinging propositions and lining things up and eating spinach, that I've never had time to find out what on earth the company does do."

7) They could also continue to sell opium, which was shipped from India, to Chinese merchants. Profits from the opium trade paid for the Chinese tea, silks and porcelain that Britain wanted to import.