Sample TEST1 - HP4

Business English (ENG101)

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 EXAM IN ENGLISH FOR BUSINESS STUDIES
SECTION 1: Vocabulary and Structure (30 marks, 1 mark/answer)
Make the best choice
1. The power of money has become __________ D. underlie
in today’s business world, which can 7. A person such as an employee, customer or
unfortunately contribute to unethical citizen who is involved with an organization,
decisions. society, etc. and therefore has responsibilities
A. pervading towards it and an interest in its success is a(n)
__________ .
C. pervaded A. account holder
D. pervasion B. shareholder
2. The __________ strategy was to target the C. stockholder
heads of the household as they had the final
say on where the disposable income would be 8. A __________ is an amount of a company’s
spent. profits that is paid to people who own shares
in the company.
B. promoting A. loan
C. promoted B. mortgage
D. promotive
3. To __________ is to make a deal between D. surplus
different parties where each party reduces 9. __________ is the process of designing the
demands or changes their opinions in order to products or services to benefit a local market
agree. while at the same time developing and
A. deal with distributing them on a global level.
B. confront A. Globalization
C. complain B. Localization

4. People in __________ cultures are good at D. Grobalization

changing plans. 10. He was employed to __________
the computerization of records.
B. reactive A. integrate
C. linear-active B. motivate
D. collective
5. It’s not fair to make __________ out of loans D. achieve
to poor students. 11. __________ is the extra money that you pay
A. changes if you have borrowed money, or the extra
money that you receive if you have money in
C. efforts some types of bank account.
D. messes A. Investment
6. The President has accused two cabinet B. Intangible
ministers of working secretly to ________ his
position. D. Income
12. _____________ is the difference between the
B. undergo funds a country receives and those it pays for
C. undertake all international transactions
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 A. Balance sheet
C. Stockbrokers
C. Balance of trade D. Conglomerates
D. Balance outstanding 19. More resources are being __________ to the
13. It is difficult to __________ the success of the project.
campaign at this stage. A. divided
B. separated
B. allocate
C. include D. conformed
D. classify 20. __________ is a strategy for setting a low
14. __________ is the process of dividing a broad price to try to sell a large volume and increase
consumer or business market, normally market share of a particular product or
consisting of existing and potential customers, service.
into sub-groups of consumers based on some
type of shared characteristics. B. Market development strategy
A. Market expansion C. Product development strategy
D. Product expansion strategy
C. Market penetration 21. __________ measures the responsiveness of
D. Market promotion the quantity demanded or supplied of a good
15. All the companies or individuals to a change in its price.
(‘middlemen’) involved in moving goods or A. Price differentiation
services from producers to consumers are B. Price response
called _______________ .
A. vehicles D. Price adaptivity
B. distribution couriers 22. At the _________, prices may have to be
C. transportations reduced because competitors are established
in the market, but companies try to defend
16. __________ is a marketing process that their market share while also maximizing
showcases the differences between products. profit.
A. Product variation A. introduction stage
B. Product marketing B. growth stage

D. Product segmentation D. decline stage

17. Some car manufacturers, food retailers and
department stores now offer products like
personal loans, credit cards and insurance.
Technically these are not banks but
. B. cash flow statement
A. credit crunch
C. traditional investment funds
D. stockbroking management services
18. __________ are private investment funds for
wealthy investors that use a variety of risky
investing strategies than traditional
investment funds, in order to achieve higher
returns.
A. Non-bank financial intermediaries
23. A statement showing the value of a business’s
assets, its liabilities, and its capital or
shareholders’ equity is called a(n)__________
A. income statement
D. financial record
24. The _________ account shows if a company
is receiving more money than it’s spending.
A. profit and expense
C. profit and share
D. profit and fund
25. LeoStone PLC has declared __________ after
a year of heavy pre-tax losses.

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 B. dividend
C. equity B. annual turnover
D. recession C. bankruptcy
26. __________ free trade is potentially hostile to D. placement
environmental concerns and may put human 29. A __________ is a country or place that has a
health and safety at risk. low rate of tax so that people choose to live
there or register companies there in order to
B. Restricted avoid paying higher tax in their own
C. Limited countries.
D. Definite A. money launderer
27. DVP has cut its __________ to 2 USD per B. tax harbour
share after two years of declines in annual
turnover. D. tax evasion
30. __________ is comprised of all capital
B. turnover contributed to the company including paid-in
C. sample capital and retained earnings.
D. distribution
28. Hoang Yen group, a restaurant & buffet chain, B. Shareholders’ dividend
is suffering in the current __________ C. Stocks
because consumers are spending less money D. Liability
going out.

SECTION 2: Reading Cloze (20 marks, 2 marks/answer)

Fill in each blank with one suitable word/phrase. You don’t need to use all the words provided
statistical features conditions statements
agency shareholders motivation individual
communication strategy external balance

One of the most important (31) ________________ in any business is communication. Good
communications are required at all stages of the business process. Businesses employ, and are owned
and run by, various groups of people. Workers, directors and (32) ________________ are three
important groups closely involved with a business. Other influential groups include customers, suppliers
and the government.
Communication takes place between these groups and the individuals who make up the groups. Within
individual companies, internal communications occur at, and between the various levels. Directors
communicate with one another concerning the company’s overall (33) ________________. They
inform managers of their plans, and the managers then communicate with the other employees.
Negotiations are conducted concerning pay and working (34) ________________. Managers
communicate decisions and orders and try to improve morale and (35) ________________ through
good communication. Employees also communicate with each other, for example over production and
wages.
(36) ____________ communication occurs when a company’s directors or employees communicate
with those individuals and groups who deal with the company. Shareholders receive copies of the
company’s financial (37) ________________ together with the reports of the Chairman and Directors.
Government departments require (38) ________________ and financial information from the company.
An adveritising (39) ________________ is consulted about the company’s advertising policies.
Customers need to know if goods have not been despatched and suppliers contacted if their goods have

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not been delivered. Reliable and effective (40) ________________ is one of the key elements which
leads to efficient management of a company.

SECTION 3: Reading Comprehension (40 marks)

The Business Cycle

Expansion and contraction
All market economies have periods when consumption - spending on goods and services - rises.
Consumers buy more, companies invest more, and production, income, profits and employment
increase. These periods are always followed by periods when spending and investment fall, and
unemployment rises. This is the business cycle.
A period during which economic activity increases and the economy is expanding is an upturn or
upswing. If it lasts a long time it is called a boom. The highest point of the business cycle is a peak,
which is followed by a downturn, during which the amount of economic activity decreases. If the
economy keeps contracting for more than six months, the downswing is called a recession. A serious,
long-lasting recession is called a depression or a slump. The lowest point of the business cycle is a
trough, which is followed by a recovery, when economic activity increases again, and a new cycle
begins.
Fiscal policy
Governments and central banks use fiscal policy, which involves changing the levels of government
expenditure and taxation to try to limit the extent of the business cycle. If an economy is moving into a
recession, the government might have a reflationary fiscal policy. This means trying to stimulate the
economy by increasing government spending, or by cutting levels of direct or indirect tax so that
individuals and companies have more money to spend.
If an economy is overheating - expanding too quickly - it means that industry is working at full capacity
and producing as much as it possibly can. Because demand is greater than supply, leading to rising
prices and inflation, the government might have deflationary fiscal policy. This means trying to cool
down the economy: reducing the amount of economic activity by raising tax rates or cutting
government expenditure. This reduces the level of demand in the economy and helps to reduce inflation.
Monetary policy
Governments or central banks can also use monetary policy - changing interest rates and the level of the
money supply - to influence the level of economic activity. They can boost or increase economic
activity if the economy is in a downturn by reducing interest rates and allowing the rate of growth of the
money supply to increase. Alternatively, if the economy is growing too fast and causing inflation, they
can slow it down by increasing interest rates and reducing the rate of growth of the money supply.
The main reason for having an independent central bank is to prevent governments from creating a
political business cycle - a cycle that will be at a high point at the time of the next election.
Governments can do this by beginning their periods of office with a couple of years of policies designed
to stop the economy from growing, followed by tax cuts and monetary expansion in the two years
before the next election. This policy, sometimes called boom and bust, helps the government get re-

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elected but is not good for economic stability. An independent central bank makes this less likely to
happen.
Based on the information in the article, say whether the following statements are True (T), or
False (F).
41. If the government thinks the economy is contracting too much, it can cut taxes and increase its
spending.
42. If an economy is overheating, it means that industry is working below its potential.
43. Monetary policy involves interest rates and the money supply.
Choose the correct answer:
44. What should the government do if the economy is growing too quickly?

B. cut tax and increase its expenditure

C. raise tax and raise its expenditure
45. A recession is a period when….
A. the economy keeps contracting for less than six months.
B. the economy keeps expanding for more than six months.

What does each of the underlined words refer to?

46. “… by a downturn, during which the amount of economic activity decreases …” (para 2)
47. “…producing as much as it possibly can …” (para 4)
48. “… causing inflation, they can slow it down by increasing interest rates and reducing …” (para 5)
Find words from the text which mean:
49. purchasing and using goods and services
50. the willingness and ability of consumers to purchase goods and services
51. government actions concerning taxation and public expenditure
52. the total amount of money available in an economy at a particular time
53. the money collected by the government from the income of individuals and businesses
Fill in each gap of these sentences with one suitable word FROM THE ARTICLE:
54. __________ policy, including setting interest rates, is designed to maintain financial stability.
55. During a(n) __________, parts of the economy expand to the point where they are working at full
capacity.

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SECTION 4: Listening (10 marks) - You may listen 2 times.
Microfinance schemes started with several NGOs and social enterprises, for example Grameen Bank in
Bangladesh. They distribute very small (56) _________ to poor people, often without financial
collateral. But they use some kind of different collateral, sometimes it can be social (57) _________, so
they create a group of people and within the group, people help each other to repay the loan, but it’s
usually a very small amount of money, and from the bank’s point of view it actually provides a unique
risk (58) _________ tool. Of course, (59) _________ loans to poor people sounds very risky, but
because we are talking about a large number of people, with a very small amount of money, it actually
creates a very nice porfolio in which the risk can be (60) _________.
NGOs and social enterprises proved that these kinds of schemes can be (61) _________, and the poor
people are actually repaying the loans, so now the (62) _________ banks like Citibank and Barclays are
taking part in these schemes, not for the (63) _________ of doing good only, they are actually doing it
as part of their business. They are developing their microfinancing and (64) _________ products in
developing countries. It seems that microfinance is doing really well particularly in Bangladesh and part
of India, and there are some (65) _________ cases in Latin America and Africa too.

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KEY
SECTION 1

01. B pervasive 02. A. 03. D 04. A multi-active 05. B. profits

promotional compromise
06. A undermine 07. D. 08. C. dividend 09. C glocalization 10. C. supervise
stakeholder
11. C. interest 12. B balance of 13. A. measure 14. B. market 15. D. distribution
payments segmentation channels
16. C. product 17. B. non-bank 18. B hedge 19. C. allocated 20. A. market
differentiation financial funds penetration
intermediaries
21. C. price 22. C maturity 23. C. balance 24. B. profit and 25. A bankruptcy
elasticity stage sheet loss
26. A. unfettered 27. A dividend 28. A recession 29. C tax havens 30. A. Shareholders’
equity

SECTION 2
31. features
32. shareholders
33. strategy
34. conditions
35. motivation
36. external
37. statements
38. statistical
39. agency
40. communication

SECTION 3
41. TRUE
42. FALSE
43. TRUE
44. A
45. C
46. a downturn
47. industry
48. governments or central banks

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49. consumption
50. demand
51. fiscal policy
52. money supply
53. tax
54. monetary
55. upturn/upswing/boom

SECTION 4
56. loans
57. collateral
58. management
59. distributing
60. diversified
61. scalable
62. conventional
63. purpose
64. microcredit
65. positive

AUDIO SCRIPTS
... Microfinance schemes started with several NGOs and social enterprises, for example Grameen Bank
in Bangladesh. They distribute very small to poor people, often without financial But
they use some kind of different collateral, sometimes it can be social collateral, so they create a group of
people and within the group, people help each other to repay the loan, but it’s usually a very small
amount of money, and from the bank’s point of view it actually provides a unique risk-
tool. Of course, loans to poor people sounds very risky, but because we are talking about a
large number of people, with a very small amount of money, it actually creates a very nice portfolio in
which the risk can be NGOs and social enterprises proved that these kinds of schemes can
be , and the poor people are actually repaying the loans, so now the banks like
Citibank and Barclays are taking part in these , not for the purpose of doing good only, they are
actually doing it as part of their business. They are developing their microfinancing and

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