Before his fleet assembled, he knew several of his captains personally and the rest by reputation. Immediately after their rendezvous, he began to work upon all of them the wonder of his command, the magic “Nelson touch”. Asking them to come in turn to the ship, he encouraged them into informal open discussions - an unheard - of combination of briefing and brainstorming. While always knowing who was in charge, their common understanding grew so great that later, paraphrasing Henry V, he said: “I had the happiness to command a band of brothers.”
By Stephen Howarth
From the Financial Times.
2. Train your reflective mind! Answer the questions
a) The article states that 20th century warfare has made it almost impossible to use war leaders of the past as role models for the present. Do you agree? Why or why not?
b) Can a military style be used in business today? Do you know such examples?
c) Why would Nelson have advanced management theory by two centuries if had written books?
d) Management-speak is the language of management books. Why is the word “challenge” inadequate, or not enough, to describe what Nelson had to do?
e) How far can military-type methods be used by business leaders?
3. Number these things in order they are mentioned in the article:
a) letting people say what they want
b) giving clear aims to people
c) getting people to work together
d) getting people to feel they belong to the organization
e) getting people to decide and do things on their own
f) allowing people to take part deciding things
4. What do these figures to in the text?
1) 5
2) 17
3) 20
4) 300
5) millions
6) 39
7) 1798
8) 1759
5. Find adjective in the text that describe the following:
1) the common understanding among Nelson’s officers of what they had to do
2) the combination of briefing and brainstorming
3) Nelson’s discussions with the officers
4) the “Nelson touch”
5) the task facing Nelson
6) the French fleet
1. Read the text «The Unforgiving demand of “Six sigma” process controls»
The term “six sigma” is one familiar to statisticians. In practical terms, it means reducing the defects in a process to just three per million. It is thus an extremely demanding target for quality control.
The term was thought up 10 years ago by the US electronics group Motorola, based on Japanese methods of totals quality management. The approach is particularly suited to the high-volume, high precision electronics industry. For example, a mobile phone such as Motorola produces might contain 400 components. If a company operates to two-sigma - 45000 defects per million - on each part, the chances of the phone being defective are far too high.
General Electric is now in its second year of applying six sigma across its businesses. Last year, it spent $200m on the initial parts of the programme. This year it aims to spend $300m and expects cost savings in the year of $400-500m: that is, a profit of $100m-200m.
Six sigma is by no means confined to manufacturing. GE Capital, the financial services division of General Electric, applies it to processes ranging from billing to various kinds of customer. Denis Nayden, president of GE Capital, says that in practical terms that hard part of applying six is obtaining real data. “It’s highly dependent on the data you have,” he says. “And given all the businesses we’re in, the data are all different.” Thereafter, he says: “The real question is whether you can put the right model in place, so the process has fewer moving parts and less things to break down. It’s very important to change the process fundamentally. You need to change the whole behavior of the company, to become more responsible to the customer.”
This last part is crucial. GE Capital surveys its customers regularly - some monthly or quarterly, depending on their business - to check their performance. “It’s very important that the customer is engaged in this,” Nayden says. “We use a score card, whereby customers identify what’s going wrong and what we should focus on.”
By Tony Jackson
from the Financial Times
2. Questions to the text:
1) What does the term “six sigma” mean?
2) How often does GE survey its customers?
3) When was the “six sigma” term introduced?
4) If a company operates to two sigma, is the a big chance you will gat a detective product?
5) Where was the “six sigma” approach equally suitable for all goods?
6) Is the “six sigma” approach equally suitable for all goods?
3. What do these figures refer to in the text?
1) 2 9) 6
2) 200 10) 3
3) 400 11) 10
4) 400-500
5) 45.000
6) 100-200
7) 300
8) 10.000
4. True or false? Read the statements and correct that false ones.
1) GE says six sigma makes it more aware of customers’ needs.
2) GE changes the way it does things when it applies six sigma.
3) GE has found it easy to apply to different activities.
4) GE only uses six sigma in manufacturing.
5) GE expects to save over $400 million in the second year by using it.
6) GE spent $200 million on six sigma in the first year.
7) GE has been using six sigma for three years.
5. There are certain contractions used in the article, such as “the US” which refers to the United States, or “GE” which is General Electric.
Here is a list of some more widely-used contractions. Can you say what they stand for?
1. NBA 2.NHL 3.GB 4.UK 5.NY 6.USSR 7.HR 8.HP 9.RD 10.R’n’B 11.R’n’R 12.TGIF 13.WC 14.e-mail 15.UN 16.NATO 17.CV
6. Use the words and phrases separated by slashes and add the missing to make complete sentences about GE, based on the article. Each slach indicates one missing word, and the words in brackets have to be put into their correct grammatical form.
1) Mr. Nayden (think) it /very important/ customers should / (involve)/ the process
2) /involvement/ customers/extremely/
3) GE (use) /score card, where customers (show) what (need) (improve) /what it/ concentrate/.
4) GE Capital (question) /customers regularly - some /week, some /month, some /three months: /depend) /their type /business - /order / check how it / (do)
1. Read the text «Amusement park»
I always say that I am not little any more and I am not interested in any theme parks. When my classmates invite me to go there with them I always: “No, I am busy doing more interesting things than going to the amusement park.”
But last weekend I felt sorry that I told everybody at school that. Last weekend my little sister had her birthday and asked me to take her to the amusement park. What could I do? Of course, I went with my sister to the amusement park. It took us half an hour to get to the park by the underground. At first my sister rode on a merry-go-round. She took a ride on a white horse while I watched her. The merry-go-round moved very fast but my little sister was not afraid. Then she saw a roller coaster. It was low and high hills and a tram ran up and down them. She enjoyed the ride very much. Then we came up to the Big Wheel. I was tired of watching my sister and that time I decided to take a ride on the Big Wheel. My sister and I got into the car. There are four seats in each Wheel car. We waited a little and then I saw two girls from my class. They saw me, laughed and took their seats in our car. They had a very good time and laughed a lot. I think they laughed at me. My sister also had a great time… But not me…
Find in the text the sentences with these words and word combinations and write them out:
1) Я больше не маленький
2) Мне стало жаль
3) Она попросила меня отвести ее в парк аттракционов.
4) Я наблюдал за ней.
5) Поезд ехал вверх и вниз.
6) Я устал наблюдать за своей сестрой.
7) Моя сестра и я сели в вагонетку.
Lexical Work: fact/quickly
1) The planes fly fact
2) Peter can run fast
3) Look! Helen is writing very fast!
4) My father drives very fact.
5) You are talking very fast. Please, talk more slowly.
***
1) The bell rang and the children ran quickly to the door.
2) Helen heard a noise outside ran up to the window.
3) The children were walking slowly, when they saw the river they quickly ran to it.
4) Tom Sawyer hated to wash himself with soap. He usually did it very quickly.
5) The teacher asked the question and it was Samuel who answered very quickly.
2. Fill in quickly or fast.
1) I can ride a bike very_______.
2) In the morning Pete could not find his bad but his mother did it_______.
3) Mary hated soup. At the lunch time she was eating the soup very slowly but when her mother gave her ice cream she ate it________.
4) The children were skating. Helen was skating ______. But when she saw her friend Daniel she stopped ________ and called him.
5) There were one hundred pieces in the puzzle. The children did the puzzle_____. It took them only half an hour.
6) We were walking along the street ____ but when we saw a new beautiful sweet shop we ____ decided to get in and eat something tasty.
4.4 Клише, используемые при реферировании текста или статьи
I. The title of the article. - Название статьи.
1. The article is head - lined … - Статья называется…
2. The head - line of the article I have read is… - Статья, которую я прочитал, называется …
3. It is (en)titled… - Она называется…
II. 1. The author(s) of the article is (are) … - Автором(-ами) этой статьи является (являются)….
2. The article is written by … - Статья написана …
3. It is (was) published in … - Она (была) опубликована в …
III. 1. The main idea of the article is … - Основная идея статьи заключается в том, что …
2. The article is about … - Статья о …
3. The article is devoted to … - Статья посвящена…
4. The article deals with … - Статья имеет дело с …
5. The article touches upon … - Статья затрагивает …
6. The purpose (aim, objective) of this article is to give … - Цель этой статьи дать …(читателям определенную информацию о …) - (the readers some information on …)
IV. 1. In the first part of the article the author speaks about … - В первой части статьи автор говорит о …
2. The author shows … - Автор показывает …
3.The author defines … - Автор определяет …
4.The author underlines … - Автор подчеркивает …
5.The author notes … - Автор отмечает …
6. The author emphasizes (marks out, pints out) … - Автор выделяет …
7. First of all it is necessary to underline… - Прежде всего необходимо подчеркнуть ….
8. The author begins with the describing … - Автор начинает с описания …
9. According to the text … - Согласно тексту….
10. Further the author reports (says) that … - Дальше автор сообщает, что…
11. In conclusion … - В заключении …
12. The author comes to the conclusion that … - В заключении автор приходит к выводу, что…
13. The author concludes by emphasizing the fact that … - Автор заканчивает выделением такого факта, как …
V. 1. I find the article interesting. - Я нахожу, что статья интересна.
2. I consider the article important. - Я считаю, что статья важна.
3. I found the article of no valus. - Я нахожу, что статья не имеет большой ценности.
4. The article holds much new for (to) me. - Статья содержит много нового для меня.
5. Список рекомендуемой литературы
1. Р.В. Резник, Т.С. Сорокина, Т.А. Казарицкая, И.В. Резник. «Грамматика английского языка», Москва, 2004г., издательство центр «ТОК»;
2. Л.И. Кравцова «Английский язык», Москва, «Высшая школа», 2004 г.;
3. Т.Ю. Дроздова «Everyday English», Санкт-Петербург, издательство «Химера», 1999 г.;
4. Г. Выборова, К. Махмурян, О. Мельгина «Тесты по английскому языку», Москва, «АСТ- Пресс», 2000г.;
5. Т.Г. Николенко «Тесты по грамматике английского языка», Москва, «Айрис Пресс», 1998г.;
6. О.В. Зубанова «Английская грамматика в таблицах и упражнениях», Москва, Менеджер, 1998г.;
7. Raymond Murphy «Essential Grammar in USE», Cambridge University Press, 1990г.;
8. Большой справочник для школьников, Москва, Дрофа, 2004г.;
9. Англо-русский, русско-английский словарь, Москва, «АСТ - Пресс», 2001г.
6. Приложение А
Ключи к тестам
Тест 1
| а) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| б) | 11 | 6,14 | 8 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
Тест 2
| а) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| б) | 8 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 9 |
Тест 3
| а) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| б) | 2 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 5 |
Тест 4
| а) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| б) | 9 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 11 |
Ключи к упражнениям
Упражнение 1
1. Высокое падение на слове go придает вопросу доп. эмоциональный оттенок (заинтересованность, раздражение и т.д.)
2. Высокое падение на do и sure придает эмоциональность диалогу (неуверенность первого и убежденность второго собеседника).
3. Высокое падение + низкий подъем на словах sorry и vase показывают сожаление говорящего, а высокое падение на all показывает, что он прощен.
4. Первое предложение нейтрально. В ответной реплике высокое падение на said свидетельствует о том, что говорящий не верит в то, что были найдены, намекая на то, что возможно они были украдены.
5. Высокое падение на late и подъем на right придает диалогу сердечность и искренность.
6. Высокий подъем на hurt выражает беспокойство. Низкий подъем на serious говорит о стремлении собеседника успокоить, заверить в том, что ничего страшного не случилось.