Business English Test

Pound or Euro?

A country's … is an emotional subject! It is now unclear whether the UK public, left to its own devices, would have had any strong objection to monetary union. Political parties have used it as a tool in their campaigns and the press has been zealous in whipping up support for the pound as a symbol of national identity.

Logical arguments for and against are lost in a wave of hysteria.

A country's currency is an emotional subject! It is now unclear whether the UK public, left to its own …, would have had any strong objection to monetary union. Political parties have used it as a tool in their campaigns and the press has been zealous in whipping up support for the pound as a symbol of national identity.

Logical arguments for and against are lost in a wave of hysteria.

A country's currency is an emotional subject! It is now unclear whether the UK public, left to its own devices, would have had any strong objection to monetary union. Political parties have used it as a tool in their campaigns and the press has been zealous in … support for the pound as a symbol of national identity.

Logical arguments for and against are lost in a wave of hysteria.

What’s a cookie?

Bearing no relation to the biscuit barrel in your kitchen, an Internet cookie is a text file placed on your computer when you visit a website. The cookie is then used to monitor the number of times an individual accesses that website and can also retain personal information about your buying ...

Sell the product or sell what the product does…

Do you sell an electric drill or do you sell the hole it makes? … thinking can be a positive asset in sales talk. By thinking about what the customer might actually want, in this case, a hole, it will be easier to sell the tool for creating the hole. After all, if holes could be bought over the counter, drills would not be needed at all!

What’s in a brand?

Coca Cola is a brand … throughout the world with some 60% of its sales coming from outside the United States. The distinctive red and white logo is so closely identified with the all-American image that it has acquired political status in countries antagonistic to the US. This has led to its restriction in significant markets such as China.

Providing that personal touch!

Some companies in the US have created a new term which they call hoteling - providing employees with … and furnished work spaces that can be booked by the hour, day or week. To make it more personal, the electronic desktop is customised with the individual's personal photographs or other souvenirs which are then removed at the end of the session!

Raising finances!

Just as modern governments raise money by … taxes on popular commodities such as alcohol and tobacco, so earlier regimes looked for imaginative sources for additional funding. Some of the most unusual were a tax on hearths in seventeenth century England and a French tax on windows and doors. The latter was finally abolished at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Intellectual property

An organisation holds a variety of assets - … assets such as property and buildings, and intangible assets such as goodwill and intellectual property. In order to protect its intellectual property from theft and plagiarism, there are a number of legal safeguards that can be used.

Intellectual property

A design relates to the … appearance of an article.

The design should not be purely functional and should be a truly aesthetic stand-alone design which competitors do not need to copy in order to compete. Once registered, a design confers monopoly rights for a maximum of twenty-five years.

Economic sanctions

In 1919, after the First World War, the idea was … to use sanctions as an alternative to military action, rather than as an additional tool of warfare. More than eight decades later, sanctions are now widely used, mainly by the US.

Sanctions also have an impact on the country applying them, particularly when the action is unilateral. During 1995, the US … sanctions against twenty-six countries with the resultant loss of $19 billion in US exports.

This, coupled with the drop in effectiveness, means it may not be too long before sanctions fall from favour.