Fakultet for samfunnsfag
Institutt for økonomi og administrasjon
Professional English
____________________________________________
Dato:
Tirsdag 9. desember 2014
Tid:
5 timer / kl. 9-14
Antall sider (inkl. forside): 5
Antall oppgaver:
3
Tillatte hjelpemidler: Engelsk-engelsk ordbok, Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English (eller tilsvarende)
Kandidaten besvarer all oppgavene.
Kandidaten må selv kontrollere at oppgavesettet er fullstendig.
Besvarelsen skal merkes med kandidatnummer, ikke navn.
Bruk blå eller sort kulepenn på innføringsarket.
Emnekode:
ØASPR2000
1
PART I (33%)
Translation
Translate the following Norwegian text and sentences into English, including the heading
and the date below the text:
Mer olje fra USA presser ned prisene
Norges viktigste pris er på vei nedover: Tirsdag falt oljeprisen med 3 dollar og havnet rett under
94,50 dollar. Oljeanalytiker Torbjørn Kjus peker på tre årsaker: Libya har fått i gang sin
oljeproduksjon igjen, svakere økonomisk vekst i Asia gjør at de etterspør mindre olje, og
USA øker sin produksjon. "Skiferoljen fra USA er rett og slett en revolusjon i oljemarkedet,
og dette har vi snakket om lenge", sier Kjus. I sum betyr dette at oljeproduksjonen i verden i
det siste har økt raskere enn etterspørselen.
Oljeprisen påvirker norsk økonomi på ulike måter på kort og lang sikt. Den første virkningen
kommer ved at oljeselskapene kutter kostnader. Hos leverandørene har allerede 5000 ansatte
mistet sine arbeidsplasser. Nedtrappingen er allerede i gang, og det vil bli verre hvis
oljeprisen faller videre, hevder Kjus. Om dette vil påvirke arbeidsledigheten i Norge i stor
grad, er usikkert.
Heldigvis går det opp og ned. Etter flere uker med kraftig kursfall på amerikanske og
europeiske børser, steg aksjekursene i forrige uke pga. en liten oppgang i oljeprisen. Så langt
i år har Oslo Børs steget med 4,5 prosent.
Aftenposten, 2. oktober 2014 (adapted)
Translate the following sentences:
1. Næringslivsledere må ta ansvar for forurensende utslipp og ikke bare true med å
stenge fabrikken.
2. Sjefsøkonomen var overrasket over at revisoren ikke kritiserte det usedvanlig store
budsjettunderskuddet.
3. På generalforsamlingen regnet man med aksjonærenes enstemmige støtte til en
eventuell overtagelse.
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PART II (33 %)
a)
Text comprehension
Read the text below carefully and answer the following questions in complete sentences
and as far as possible in your own words:
1. According to this article, how important is it for a German company today to be based
in the eastern or western part of Germany? (2-3 sentences)
2. How does the article describe and evaluate productivity in eastern Germany compared
to that of western Germany? (3-4 sentences)
3. In terms of business and industry, to what extent has German reunification been a
success for East Germany? (4-5 sentences)
4. Explain the heading “Still not over the wall”. (1-2 sentences)
Still not over the wall
Few big companies have headquarters east of
Germany’s old internal border
Nov 8th 2014 | BERLIN AND JENA | From the print edition
GEOGRAPHIC balance is, relatively speaking, a strength of German business. Whereas
London and Paris dominate in Britain and France, Germany’s great companies are spread
across the country, north, south and west. But not so much east. Twenty-five years after the
Berlin Wall fell on November 9th 1989, eastern Germany has closed much of the
macroeconomic gap that once separated it from the west. Gross domestic product per
inhabitant has grown from 33% of the western average in 1991 to 67% in 2013. But
entrepreneurship is still finding its feet in the “new states”, as they are officially referred to.
East Germany’s legendary little car, the Trabant, has long ceased production, but West
German carmakers have built factories in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia. Many
eastern businesses were taken over by western ones after the wall fell. But just as no eastern
football club plays in the elite Bundesliga, none of Germany’s biggest 30 listed companies,
which make up the DAX stock index, are based in the east. Headquarters matter. The people
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at a company’s heart are its biggest brains and highest earners. Headquarters also attract
professional services: accountants, lawyers and consultants.
Berlin, situated in the east but divided during the cold war, is an exception. Before the
Second World War it was a big banking and industrial centre. Wartime destruction and postwar division pushed big companies like Deutsche Bank and Siemens to friendlier West
German locations. Called “poor but sexy” by its own mayor, Berlin is getting less poor.
Artists and designers have made the city attractive for programmers and professionals. Air
Berlin and Deutsche Bahn (the national rail operator) are based there, as is Axel Springer, a
publisher.
These old companies are now joined by Berlin’s digital startups. Rocket Internet, a builder of
e-commerce businesses, and Zalando, one of Rocket’s firms, both went public in September.
Other digital darlings include ResearchGate, a social network for academics; SoundCloud, a
music-sharing service, and Wooga, a games-maker.
Outside Berlin, the picture is more varied. The rapid productivity gains eastern workers made
after reunification have stalled: they are still only 76% as productive as western ones. That is
partly because the east German economy is concentrated in less productive industries, like
construction and agriculture. But even in others, like finance, eastern workers have made
smaller productivity gains than westerners. That said, the stereotype of the eastern worker as
nostalgic and lazy is outdated. Easterners work longer hours and participate in the labour
force at higher rates than westerners. They are more likely to consider their wages unfair
(about 44%, against about a third of westerners), according to the German Institute for
Economic Research. But they are more likely to rate German reunification a success.
Eastern unemployment is down to 9.7%, though that is largely due to young easterners going
west in search of work. Some skilled labour is therefore in short supply. Technical education
was one of East Germany’s strengths, and it still has well-regarded universities in Dresden,
Leipzig and Jena. This has helped the east to hold on to some remnants of its old industries,
like the chemicals industry in Saxony-Anhalt. But many companies complain about their
ability to find and keep the best workers.
A happy exception is Jena, including successes such as Asphericon and Zeiss. Asphericon is
one of the few companies to export to Mars: its lenses are on-board NASA’s Curiosity rover,
now crawling across the red planet. Zeiss and Asphericon both say that though optical
scientists are hardly in surplus, they can find the people they need—most of them easterners.
The Economist Nov 8th 2014 (shortened)
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b) Questions from English for Business Studies
Answer the following questions in complete sentences:
1. Explain the two phrases a brief and the comparative-parity method in the context of
a company’s decision to advertise their products. (2-3 sentences)
2. Explain the difference between Douglas McGregor’s theory X and Theory Y, and
indicate why Abraham Maslow criticized Theory Y. (3-4 sentences)
3. What are the three main financial statements of a company? Explain the difference
between them, including examples of the information you find in each of them. (4-5
sentences)
PART III (33 %)
Essay
Write an essay on ONE of the following topics. Suggested length of the essay: 400-500
words.
EITHER
1. After a brief outline of the reasons why education has always been so important in the
USA, go on to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the American educational
system.
OR
2. After a brief outline of some of reasons for the tremendous growth of the American
economy during the 19th century, go on to discuss the role of the US government in
the economy both in the past and today.
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