August 10, 2011

Week 4 (cont): Reading exercises

www.usingenglish.com
Business English Certificate Vantage (BEC) - 3 Exercises
Exam Board: Cambridge ESOL
Description: An intermediate test of English used in the context of business

    Child Labour  (12/15)
    The Banker to the Poor  (13/15)
    UK Current Account Record  (12/15)

 

Child Labour

Child workers, some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile 1) __________ in conditions described as close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for one the major high street 2) __________.
Speaking to a British newspaper, the children described long hours of 3) __________ work and threats and beatings. The company said it was unaware that clothing intended for its 4) __________ had been improperly 5) __________ to a 6) __________ that used child labour. It further announced it had withdrawn the garments involved until it had investigated the alleged 7) __________ of the 8) __________ code it imposed on manufacturers three years ago.
The discovery of these children working in appalling conditions in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi has renewed concerns about the 9) __________ by some large retail chains of their 10) __________ production to India, recognised by the United Nations as one of the worlds's hotspots for child labour. According 11) __________ one 12) __________, over 20 per cent of India's economy is 13) __________ on children, which comes to a total of 55 million youngsters under 14 working.
14) __________ in the West should not only be demanding answers from retailers about how their 15) __________ are produced but also should be looking into their consciences at how they spend their money and whether cheap prices in the West are worth the suffering caused to so many children.

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The Banker to the Poor

Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. 1) __________ a professor of economics, he is most famous for his successful application of the concept of microcredit, the 2) __________ of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. He is the 3) __________ of Grameen Bank, and he and the bank were 4) __________ awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to create economic and social development among the poor.

During visits to the poorest households in the village of Jobra near Chittagong University, Yunus discovered that very small loans could make a 5) __________ difference to a poor person. Jobra women who made bamboo furniture had to take out usurious loans to buy the bamboo. He made a loan of USD 27.00 from his 6) __________ pocket to 42 women in the village, who made a net profit of USD 0.02 each on the loan.Yunus believed that if given the chance the poor would repay the 7) __________ money and hence microcredit could be a 8) __________ business 9) __________.  He  eventually managed to 10) __________ a loan from the Janata Bank to lend it to the poor in Jobra in December 1976.
By July 2007, the Grameen Bank had 11) __________ USD 6.38 billion to 7.4 million borrowers. To ensure repayment, the bank uses a system of solidarity groups. These small informal groups apply together for loans and its members act as co-guarantors of repayment and support each other's efforts at economic 12) __________.

The 13) __________ of the Grameen model of microfinancing has inspired similar efforts in many countries throughout the developing world, and even in industrialised nations, including the USA. Many, but not all, microcredit projects also retain his emphasis on lending specifically to women. More than 94% of Grameen loans have 14) __________ to women, who suffer disproportionately from 15) __________ and who are more likely than men to devote their earnings to their families.

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UK Record Deficit

The UK's current account 1) __________, a key 2) __________ indicator, widened to a record level in the three months from July to September, 3) __________ to official data.   It was £20bn, or 5.7% of gross 4) __________ product, compared 5) __________ £13.7bn in the 6) __________ three months, the Office for National Statistics reported.
Analysts also 7) __________ worries about the record level of government 8) __________. The data is evidence of a "dangerously unbalanced economy", according to one analyst.  In its monthly report on government financing, the Office for National Statistics announced that public 9) __________ net borrowing had hit a record £11.21bn in November.
The borrowing 10) __________ suggested that the government was 11) __________ track to overshoot its pre-Budget report forecast by at least £5bn this year.  "Overall, a pretty ugly picture, supporting our view that the coming economic 12) __________ will be a prolonged period of adjustment rather than a short pause for breath like that seen in 2005," the analyst explained.
"What is really shocking about these 13) __________ is that they reveal that the Exchequer was running a large current deficit before the credit crisis 14) __________ home, when the economy was doing very well and it should have been showing a large current 15) __________," said Professor Peter Spencer.

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