Study newsletter. Phrase of the week. 2014, week 25. Someone s hands are tied. Someone is unable to change or help in a particular matter.

Transcription

1 Study newsletter 2014, week 25 Content Language level Page Phrase of the week Someone s hands are tied All levels 1 Mind map Annual report All levels 2 Headline English True Al? Pre-intermediate (B1-) Advanced (C1) 3 4 Business Writing Check Your Meaning Pre-intermediate (B1-) Advanced (C1) 5 6 Test English for Acquisitions Pre-intermediate (B1-) Advanced (C1) 7 8 Phrase of the week Someone s hands are tied Someone is unable to change or help in a particular matter. You can use this phrase in language. Spoken Written Informal Formal Example 1 The manager claims his hands are tied and that the dismissal of half of the staff is necessary for the company s survival. Example 2 I d honestly help you to keep your job if I could, but my hands are tied and there s nothing I can do. 1

2 Mind map Learning new vocabulary in the most effective way Vyzkoušejte si interaktivní Mind mapy zde: Klikejte na slova, uslyšíte jednotlivá slovíčka namluvená rodilým mluvčím. Slovíčka Slovo Shareholders Financial performance Balance sheet Income Cash flow Liabilities Credits Debits Auditor s report Registry Význam slova akcionáři finanční výkonnost účetní rozvaha příjem peněžní tok závazky kredit/úvěr dluh auditorská zpráva registr 2

3 True AI? A computer programme succeeded in convincing humans it was a 13-year-old boy in simulated conversations. This amounts to passing what is called the Turing test. The programme called "Eugene Goostman" pretended to be a 13-year-old boy (of that very name). It was created by Russian-born Vladimir Veselov, who lives in the United States, and Ukrainian Eugene Demchenko, who lives in Russia. The test was devised in 1950 by Alan Turing, a genius mathematician and computer pioneer. The idea of the test is really simple: if you cannot tell that you are dealing with a machine, then you should accept that the machine is "thinking". Turing explicitly refused to analyse what thinking meant at a deeper level. In this sense, some scientists have called the news a PR stunt for a mediocre university, arguing that the only new thing about the programme was a larger database of predefined answers. The testing took place to mark the 60th anniversary of the death of Turing, who was a critical member of the British codebreaking team that succeeded in deciphering the German secret code in World War Two. Arguably, he had substantially helped the Allies to win the war and saved many thousands of lives. Instead of being hailed a hero, though, Turing was persecuted for his homosexuality. In 1952 he was convicted of gross indecency with a 19-year-old Manchester man and chemically castrated. He died from cyanide poisoning two years later; in what presumably was a suicide. Last year Turing was given a posthumous royal pardon. 3

4 Questions 1) Who is, according to the article, Eugene Goostman? 2) According to the article, of what does the Turing test consist? 3) What does the acronym AI stand for? 4) How was, according to the article, Alan Turing involved in World War 2? 5) Why did Turing have to face criminal charges? 6) Is he still regarded as a criminal? 7) What do you think will be the impact of computers that are really good at pretending they are real people? 8) Would you consider befriending an intelligent computer? Vocabulary stunt (line 12) something that is done to attract people's attention, especially in advertising or politics decipher (line 16) to change a message written in a code into ordinary language so that you can read it hail (line 19) to describe someone or something as being very good indecency (line 20) behaviour that is sexually offensive You can find additional explanation and more examples to help you understand and use English words and phrases at or 3

5 Business Writing Business Writing Tip #39 Check Your Meaning Carefully read what you have written to make sure your meaning is clear. I was just drafting the first sentence of this tip and I m glad I checked it. My first draft was, Read what you have written carefully to make sure your meaning is clear. A bit of confusion here! Was I reading carefully, or had I written carefully? Who knows? Another great example this one from Funny English Errors and Insights compiled by Troy Simpson Never crumble your bread or roll in the soup. Unfortunately it is easy to write something that we don t really mean to write. Word order and word choice are important. But, there are other aspects of the English language we need to consider when we are writing to make sure that our readers understand what we intended. Punctuation You may have seen this story doing the rounds of Facebook. An English professor wrote the words, Woman without her man is nothing on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly. The men wrote: Woman, without her man, is nothing. The women wrote: Woman: without her, man is nothing. Pronouns Readers assume that a pronoun refers to the last noun mentioned. You need to make sure it does. I ve taken this example from The Little Green Grammar Book by Mark Tredinnick. A successful Hong Kong architect fell nineteen floors to his death with a friend as he tried to stop him committing suicide. Read this carefully. It s really not clear who was trying to stop whom. Dangling Modifiers Tredinnick also has great examples that illustrate the confusion dangling modifiers can cause and the unintentional humour. We make recommendations for fixing all the problems in this report. Read it carefully, then reword. In this report, we make recommendations for fixing all these problems. 5

6 DALICE TROST, původem z Austrálie, je absolventkou magisterského studia managementu lidských zdrojů na University of Canberra v Austrálii. Lektorka je držitelkou certifikátu TEFL opravňující k výuce cizích jazyků. V rámci své profesní praxe zastávala vysoké manažerské pozice jako personalistka, senior supervizorka, HR manažerka, a to mimo jiné ve společnostech v Dubaji a Austrálii. Aktivně se věnuje publikační práci v oboru vzdělávání a anglického jazyka. Lektorka je autorkou knihy, ze které čerpáme tyto tipy: Business Writing-A Tip a Day for 30 Days 6

7 TEST English for Acquisitions Apple announced that company will buy Beats, the music streaming and audio (1) company, for about $3 billion. They believe that the collaboration will help them catch up in fast-growing music (2), especially in music streaming, and that it will bring them the advantage on market. As expected, Beats co-founders Iovine and rapper Dr. Dre will join Apple as part of the (3), which could also help them in bargaining with record labels. CEO of Apple said in an interview that the present (4) between Apple and music producers could be compared to Berlin Wall. Iovine, who is a music producer, has consistently been (5) the music business and produced stars such as Lady Gaga and U2. Thanks to his experience, he could ease the difficult negotiations (6) licensing for a future streaming service. $3 billion, the price for acquiring Beats, makes it the most expensive and significant deal for Apple for it appears that they have been (7) mainly in acquisitions worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The deal is seen as Apple s effort to improve its position on the market, for itunes sales have declined while others have raced (8). Apple created the digital download business, but the industry is going in the streaming service direction and the company seems to have problems with (9). With less people downloading music on itunes, record labels have also put pressure on Apple and hope that Apple can turn Beats Music into a strong (10) to Spotify and other streaming services.though industry executives say the company was impressed with Beats music service, they are also gaining a line of popular headphones. 1. A equipment B goods C outfit D gadget 2. A labour B store C industry D trade 3. A purchase B profit C hostile takeover D acquisition 4. A relationship B war C attitude D involvement 5. A directing B leading C director D leader 6. A beyond B behind C off D over 7. A attracted B concerned C interested D focused 8. A front B ahead C forward D to 9. A keeping up B keep up C sticking to D stick to 10. A candidate B rivalry C racer D competitor 7

8 Správné odpovědi naleznete v příštím vydání newsletteru, tj. v pondělí , nebo si můžete test vyzkoušet on-line a dozvědět se výsledky ihned po dokončení testu zde: Správné odpovědi z minulého týdne (English for Meetings): 1B, 2A, 3C, 4D, 5C, 6A, 7D, 8A, 9C, 10B. 8