Сделать по business books keeping up with developments in your professional field is getting more and more difficult. it used to be enough to read a few trade magazines, attend the occasional conference and subscribe to a professional website. nowadays, though, it seems this is not enough. many
people involved in business today will have heard of long tails, black swans, freakonomics and one-minute managers. however, if you haven’t read the right books and don’t know the jargon, a “long tail” is a way of describing sales patterns, a “black swan” is an unusual but high-impact event,
“freakonomics” is a way of describing unusual economic effects and the “one-minute manager” is a good time manager. books on the subject of business, and the jargon (or specific language) they produce have now become a business in themselves. most bookshops now have several shelves filled with books
suggesting all sorts of revolutionary theories which will change the way you do business, manage your time or do your accounting procedures. many of these books claim they can make you rich and successful. there are now books which tell you how to persuade people and close the deal, how to read and
use body language, how to unlock the secrets of international markets, how to go global and stay green, or list the 25 principles of success, the ten ways to make yourself a better manager, the 100 richest people in the world. as well as these books, there is another style of business book: the
biography or autobiography of the successful business person. these days, it seems, no one can become the ceo (chief executive officer) of even a small company without putting pen to paper and telling the story of their rise to the top, especially if they have a personal tragic story to overcome, or
some fantastic ideas to share. in one of these books, a fairly well-known ceo says “everything i know about business, i’ve learned myself” which makes me wonder why people would buy his book. some of these books sell by the thousands, often appearing in the bestseller lists alongside blockbusting
works of fiction. who is buying them, and what do they learn? are these books essential tools for the modern workplace, or just a way for publishers to make money? undoubtedly some books do become vital textbooks for students of business at any level, and some of the biographies can hold valuable
lessons for any aspiring or practicing entrepreneurs. however, the accusation that many of these books are creating unnecessary jargon, words and terms which complicate, not simplify, the world of business, also seems true. 41 choose the best ending. 1. according to the article, being more informed
in your profession a) is becoming more complex. b) has never been easy. c) means reading a lot of magazines. d) is now done through the internet. 2. if you haven’t read certain business books. a) you won’t be able to do your job properly. b) you won’t understand what your colleagues are talking
about. c) you won’t know certain new terms. d) you won’t use terms correctly to describe things. 3. many bookshops a) have books full of radical ideas. b) will help you to become successful. c) stock a lot of business books. d) are successful businesses. 4. books are available a) about all kinds of
business subjects. b) about management. c) which will improve your career prospects. d) which will make you a successful person. 5. according to the article a) many company directors have written their life stories. b) it is necessary to have good ideas to write a book. c) it is necessary to have
had personal difficulties before you can be successful. d) biographies of famous people are useless. 6. some business books a) are made into films. b) are very commercially successful. c) are works of fiction. d) only helps publishing companies.
He wanted to drive his car to some nice place but the car was broken. Он хотел поехать на своей машине в какое-нибудь хорошее место, но машина была сломана.
He wanted to spend the afternoon with his friends but it started to rain cats and dogs. Он хотел провести день со своими друзьями, но начался ливень как из ведра.
He wanted to say "I love you" to his friend Rose but didn't come to his place in the evening. Он хотел сказать "Я люблю тебя" своей подруге Розе, но она не пришла к нему вечером.
Contents
The Reader of Books Mr Wormwood, the Great Car Dealer
The Hat and the Superglue
The Ghost Arithmetic The Platinum-Blond Man Miss Honey
The Trunchbull The Parents Throwing the Hammer
Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake
Lavender The Weekly Test
The First Miracle The Second Miracle Miss Honey’s Cottage
Miss Honey’s Story
The Names The Practice
The Third Miracle A New HomeThe Reader of Books
It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.
Some parents go further. They become so blinded by adoration they manage to convince themselves their child has qualities of genius.
Well, there is nothing very wrong with all this. It’s the way of the world. It is only when the parents begin telling us about the brilliance of their own revolting offspring, that we start shouting, "Bring us a basin! We’re going to be sick!"
School teachers suffer a good deal from having to listen to this sort of twaddle from proud parents, but they usually get their
own back when the time comes to write the end-of-term reports. If I were a teacher I would cook up some real scorchers for the children of doting parents. "Your son Maximilian", I would write, "is a total wash- out. I hope you have a family business you can push him into when he leaves school because he sure as heck won’t get a job anywhere else." Or if I were feeling lyrical that day, I might write, "It is a curious truth that grasshoppers have their hearing-organs in the sides of the abdomen. Your daughter Vanessa, judging by what she’s learnt this term, has no hearing-organs at all."
I might even delve deeper into natural history and say, "The periodical cicada spends six years as a grub underground, and no more than six days as a free creature of
sunlight and air. Your son Wilfred has spent six years as a grub in this school and we are still waiting for him to emerge from the chrysalis." A particularly poisonous little girl might sting me into saying, "Fiona has the same glacial beauty as an iceberg, but unlike the iceberg she has absolutely nothing below the surface." I
think I might enjoy writing end-of-term reports for the stinkers in my class. But enough of that. We have to get on.
Occasionally one comes across parents who take the opposite line, who show no interest at all in their children, and these of course are far worse than the doting ones. Mr and Mrs Wormwood were two such parents. They had a son called Michael and a daughter called Matilda, and the parents
looked upon Matilda in particular as nothing more than a scab. A scab is something you have to put up with until the time comes when you can pick it off and flick it away. Mr and Mrs Wormwood looked forward enormously to the time when they could pick their little daughter off and flick her away, preferably into the next county or even further than that.
It is bad enough when parents treat ordinary children as though they were scabs and bunions, but it becomes somehow a lot worse when the child in question is extraordinary, and by that I mean sensitive and brilliant. Matilda was both of these things, but above all she was brilliant. Her mind was so nimble and she was so quick to learn that her ability should have been obvious even to the most half-witted of
parents. But Mr and Mrs Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter.