Ex.1. Discuss the expressions below

Hit the ground. If someone hits the ground (running), they are ready to start work immediately on a new activity.

He intends to hit the ground (running) when he starts his new job."

Keep your nose to the grindstone. A person who keeps their nose to the grindstone is someone who concentrates on working hard at his job. I'm sure that if you just keep your nose to the grindstone, you'll get the results you want.

An eager beaver. The term eager beaver refers to a person who is hardworking and enthusiastic, sometimes considered overzealous.

The new accountant works all the time - first to arrive and last to leave -a real eager beaver!

Have all your eggs in one basket. If you have all your eggs in one basket, you depend on one plan or one source of income.

If you invest your savings in one bank, you'll have all your eggs in one basket.

Use elbow grease.If you use elbow grease, you need energy and strength to do physical work such as cleaning or polishing.

It took a considerable amount of elbow grease to renovate the old house.

In the doldrums. To say that a person, a business or the economy in general is in the doldrums means that the situation is gloomy and that nothing new is happening.

Despite the recent measures, the economy remains in the doldrums.

Have an ace up your sleeve. If you have an ace up your sleeve, it means that you have something in reserve with which you can gain an advantage.

Hold all the aces. A person who holds all the aces is in a very strong position because they have more advantages than anyone else.

Given the high unemployment figures in some countries, employers hold all the aces.

Back to the salt mines Saying that you have to go back to the salt mines is a humorous way of talking about returning to work, usually with some reluctance.

We get two days off at Christmas and then it's back to the salt mines!

 

Ex.2. Match the two halves.

 

1.Benchmark a. a partner who invests in a business but

doesn’t take an active part in managing it

2. Background b. to give special permission not to pay taxes

3.Conman c. to accept the risk of any loss under insurance

contract

4.Downmarket d. expensive, of premium quality

5.Fake e. finance assets promised by a borrower to a lender

6.Hoarding f. to officially make someone pay taxes

7.Integrity g. all the things that a person has done in the past

8.Inventory h. compete

9.Loophole i. usage of knowledge of the situation that is not

available to other people in order to buy shares

10.Slush fund j. someone who buys shares in order to sell them

quickly and make profit

11.Sleeping partner k. good performance in a particular activity

that can be used as a standard

12.Track record l. complete honesty

13.insider trading m. a small mistake in a law that makes it

possible to do something illegal

14.collateral n. a copy of an original product

15.stag o. an amount of money collected for illegal

purposes

16. exempt p. education, qualification and past jobs

17.underwriter q. someone who tries to get money from people

by tricking

18. emulate r. a supply of goods kept for sale

19.high-end s. the people who buy cheap goods and services

20. levy t. a large sign used for advertising

 

Ex.3. Find the correct definition.

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Overdraft , security, expire, beneficiary, defaulter, indemnify, valid,

Reimburse, sue, stipulate, cover

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a debit balance on a bank customer’s current account

to pay back money spent by a person on one’s behalf

a person who fails to pay a debt

a document of value given as cover for a loan

to come to the end

state as a condition

to compensate a person or free him from liability

to ensure against risks

having force

to take legal action for non-payment

the person who receives payment by a draft

 

Ex.4. Identify the conditional in each example (1-5) and choose an option (a-e) to explain why a conditional is being used.

1. Expressing complaint or criticism about a past action or event.

2.Describing a hypothetical situation in the past.

3.Emphasising that something is unlikely to happen.

4.Desires or regret.

5. Warning.

a.Were we to need more time to complete the study, would that be a problem?

b.If we hadn't employed an outside consultant, we could never have got the project off the ground.

c. Had they given us enough time and resources, we could have done the work in-house.

d.You're going to burn yourself out if you keep working so hard.

e.If we had more time, we could fine-tune this proposal.

 

Unit 4.

Text.Translate, fill in the gaps.

Insider dealing

Insider dealing or insider trading is buying or selling of securities by people who have more knowledge than others of the company involved because they are connected with it in some way. Financial institutions are supposed to take measures to prevent knowledge gained in one department from being used in other departments to trade in shares at an unfair advantage. These measures are informally known as Chinese walls.

This article from The Times is about accusations of insider dealing in gilt-edged securities or gilts (British government bonds). Complete the article with the expressions listed. Each expression is used once.

a Chinese walls c inside e dealers g complaints b trades dinsider dealing fallegations h leak