Lectures on ESP listening for advanced bachelor education program

Listen and fill in the blanks Macroeconomics from the Greek prefix-Makro meaning “large’’ and “economics” is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior and

ACADEMY OF FINANCE

Nguyen Thanh Huyen, M.A Dang Phuong Mai, M.A

For Advanced Bachelor Education Program

FINANCE PUBLISHING HOUSE

PREFACE

Listening is one of the most difficult language skills among the four communication competences; however, it has received much less time in English learning than the other three (reading, writing, and speaking) Also, listening is often claimed

to be a passive skill in the classroom, as learners seem to sit quietly and listen to dialogues As language teachers, we are constantly striving to create the conditions under which our students can learn and succeed At Academy of Finance, the fact

is that, teachers and students do not get easy access to the English listening sources because not many books have been written regarding listening skill for academic purposes As a result, this book is designed to solve the classroom problem dealing with the improvement of listening skill of the students, especially those who are studying English for business and

financial environment Listen to Academic English came out

with an intention to help students develop excellent ears while they are joyfully responding to guided listening practices

LEARN TO LISTEN AND LISTEN TO LEARN

The tasks designed in this book, hopefully, will bring the teachers and learners effective tools to practice listening to Academic English Furthermore, both learners and teachers will

be provided with authentic listening materials to explore business

and financial world They will at the same time gather critical

facts and then stop worrying about what they are going to

say and focus on what’s being said, they will put more thought

into what the speakers want to communicate The book consists

of 10 units covering the topics of economics, public finance, banking, accounting and so on Learners can uncover underlying

issues in the field of economics and finance when exposing to

the listening audios Authentic listening tasks will promote active listening of the learners because they are guided to effective listening skill through each unit of lessons and by the way learn how to utilize academic terminologies

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank the Administration of Academy of Finance, who provides us great opportunities and much encouragement for designing the book We also thank the Department of Scientific Project management, AOF for giving us suggestions for formatting and procedures on completing the final draft

We must thank our Leader of Division of Foreign Languages, Doctor Tran Thi Thu Nhung, who strongly supported us in the production of the book

We also feel grateful to our colleagues who provided us with essential listening materials to be incorporated into the design of the book Special thank is given to the group of authors of English Department, the Faculty of Foreign Language at Academy of Finance The group of authors consists of:

1 Le Thi Huong Giang

2 Nguyen Xuan Huong Giang

3 Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh

4 Nguyen Thu Giang

5 Nguyen Thi Thuy Huong

6 Tran Thi Thu Nhung

7 Vu Quynh Nga

8 Vu Thi Phuong

9 Pham Thi Tam

10 Pham Thi Thu

11 Bui Thi Bich Thuy

Finally, we would like to say thanks to AOF students, AEP program who usually send us their good appreciation, and from whom we are much motivated to try our best to design a good piece of writing

TABLE OF CONTENT

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

UNIT 1: MICROECONOMICS AND

MACROECONOMICS 7

UNIT 2: PUBLIC FINANCE 14

UNIT 3: FISCAL POLICY 22

UNIT 4: MONETARY POLICY 29

UNIT 5: FINANCIAL MARKETS 36

UNIT 6: MONEY AND BANKING 46

UNIT 7: TAXATION 55

UNIT 8: ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 62

UNIT 9: FINANCIAL ANALYSIS 68

UNIT 10: INTERNATIONAL TRADE 76

Tapescript 83

UNIT 1: MICROECONOMICS AND MACROECONOMICS

Listening 1 – What is Macroeconomics?

Preview

Match the word on the left column with the correct definition on the right column Write the answer on the space provided

-

1 GDP

a a statement of what is judged, likely

to happen in the future, especially in connection with a particular situation

-

2 unemployment

rate

b the utilization of economic goods to

satisfy needs or in manufacturing

-

3 consumption

c the total value of everything produced

in the country It doesn't matter if it's produced by citizens or foreigners

-

4 forecast

d a change, or the process of changing,

especially continuously between one level or thing and another

-

5 policy

e the number of unemployed people as

a percentage of the labor force, where the latter consists of the unemployed plus those in paid or self-employment

-

6 fluctuation

f a set of ideas or a plan for action

followed by a business, a government,

a political party, or a group of people

Task 1 Listen and fill in the blanks

Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix-Makro meaning

“large’’ and “economics”) is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior and (1) ……… of an economy as a whole, rather than individual markets This includes national, (2) ……… and global economies With microeconomics, macroeconomics is one of the two most general fields in economics Macro economists study aggregated

indicators such as GDP, unemployment rates and price indices and the (3) ……… among the different sectors of the economy to better understand how the whole economy functions Macro economists develop models that explain the relationship between such factors as national income, (4) ………, consumption, unemployment, inflation, savings, investment, international trade and international finance In contrast, microeconomics is primarily focused on the (5) ……… of individual agents such as firms and consumers and how their behavior determines prices and quantities and specific markets While macroeconomics is a broad field of study, there are two areas of research that are implemented of the discipline: the attempt to understand the causes and consequences of short-run (6) ……… in national income, the business cycle and the attempt to understand the determinants of long run economic (7)………(increases in national income) Macroeconomic models and their forecasts are used by governments to assist in the development and evaluation of economic (8) ………

Listening 2 - Japan’s Recession

2 consecutive b phases

5 purse strings e close to

7 on the brink of g up-and-coming

Task 1 Listen and choose the best answer

1 Who is thinking about

implications for the global

d) tax authorities

2 How many quarters in a row

has Japan's economy shrunk?

7 What did David Cameron say the world was on the brink of?

a) 5

b) 4

a) a recovery and boom b) a new age

c) 3

d) 2

c) a second economic disaster

d) financial collapse

3 By how much was Japan's

economy expected to grow?

8 In which two emerging countries was growth slowing?

4 What do economists blame for

Japan's fall in GDP?

9 What is teetering on the brink of a third possible recession?

a) a rise in sales tax

b) the global economy

c) inflation

d) a lack of investment

a) the USA b) South America c) Asia

a) nuts and bolts

b) their purse strings

c) regulations

d) their belts

a) the European Union b) the World Bank c) emerging markets d) investment

Task 2 Listen and choose the suitable word to complete the article

Japan has slipped / sloped back into recession, leaving financial analysts to ponder over the imperfections / implications for the global economy Japan's economy unexpectedly shrank / shrunk for the second consecutively / consecutive quarter Two successive negative quarters officialdom / officially puts a country in recession The slide in the last / least quarter has taken economists by surprise / surprising Figures indicated that Japan's economy would growth / grow by 2.1 per cent in the last

quarter Instead, gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 1.6 per

cent between July and September Many economists attribute / contribute the fall to April's increase in sales tax from five to

eight per cent Many Japanese consumers have tightened their

purse strings and are simple / simply not spending World leaders

are worried that Japan's slid / slide back into recession could

be ominous / omnivorous for the global economy British leader David Cameron said the world was on the blink / brink of a second economic disaster He told reporters he saw "red warned / warning lights" for the global economy because of international

"instability and uncannily / uncertainty" and a slowing of growth

in emerging markets, especially Brazil and China Mr Cameron

said the problems were "plain / plane to see" He added: "The

Eurozone is teetotalling / teetering on the brink of a possible

third recession, with high unemployment, falling growth and

the reality / real risk of falling prices Emerging markets, which were the driver / pilot of growth in the early stages of

the recovered / recovery, are now slowing down."

Listening 3 - Price war over taxi apps

Listen and then read the headline Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F)

a The taxi price war has broken out worldwide T / F

b Some taxi companies have reduced fares by up to 50

UNIT 2: PUBLIC FINANCE

Listening 1 – What is Government Debt?

Preview

Match the word on the left column with the correct definition on the right column Write the answer on the space provided

1.Government debt a A person, business, or

government to which financial organizations are willing to lend money

2 Public interest b Involving more than one country, or

having power or authority that is greater than that of single countries

3 National debt c The amount of money owed by a

government to lenders at a particular time

4 Sovereign debt d The total amount of money that is

owed by a country's government

5 Ex-novo e Investment in a company or in

government debt that can be traded on the financial markets and produces an income for the investor

6 Securities f The debt of a nation government,

rather than a person or organization

7 Creditworthy g from the beginning, from scratch

8 Supranational h Used when talking about people's

rights to know the facts about a particular situation

1 .….… 2 …… 3 …… 4 ……

5 …… 6 …… 7 .…… 8 ……

Task 1 Listen and fill in the blanks

Government debt (also known as public (1) …………, national debt and sovereign debt) is the debt owned by a central government In federal states, government debt may also refer to the debt of a state or provincial, municipal or local government

By contrast, the annual government deficit refers to the difference between government receipts and spending in a single year A (2) ………… government with its own currency can pay for its spending by creating money ex-novo In this instance, a government issues securities not to raise (3) ……… , but instead to remove excess bank reserves caused by government spending that is higher than tax receipts and create a shortage of (4) …… … in the market, so that the system as a whole must come to the bank for liquidity Governments create debt by issuing securities, government bonds and bills Less (5)………… countries sometimes borrow directly from a supranational organization, for example: the World Bank or International Financial Institutions As the government draws its incomes from much of the population, government debt is an (6)………… debt from tax payers Government debt can be

(7)………… as internal debt (owed to lenders within the country) and external debt (owed to foreign lenders) Another common division of government debt is by duration until repayment is due Short term debt is generally considered to be for one year or less, and long term is for more than ten years Medium term debt falls between these two boundaries A broader definition of government debt may consider all government liabilities, including future (8) ………… payments and payments for goods and services which the government has contracted but not yet paid

Listening 2 – Public Revenue Types

Task 1 Listen and choose the best answer

1 What is the effect of the temporary growth under a

balance of blend revenue?

A Help balance cyclical

B Help temporarily increase in another source

C A&B

D Help offset cyclical & temporarily decrease in another source

2 How many public revenue types are mentioned by the speaker?

A 6

B 5

C 4

D 7

3 What is the governmental jurisdictions at all level looking for?

A The new ways to inhibit revenues

B The new ways to increase revenues

C The new ways to decrease revenues

D The new ways to generate revenues

4 Who allows counties & cities to impose local sales tax on top of the state tax?

source of revenue will help offset cyclical or temporarily decline

in another source let's review the most common sources of the state and local government revenue public revenue types include taxes user fees sales of products and assets lottery and gaming revenue intergovernmental transfers debt instruments balance carried forward and other miscellaneous revenue each revenue sources governed by its own unique set of legal restrictions let's start with taxes most states collect a personal income tax a corporate income tax and a retail sales tax in addition many states allow counties and cities to impose local sales tax on top of the state tax property taxes provide a major source of revenue for counties and cities tax limitations into place constraints on property tax increases in many parts of the United States Increasingly governmental jurisdictions at all levels are looking for new ways to generate revenues by charging for the services they provide to the public the most significant characteristic of the service is that they cannot be used to fund general government services instead the revenue from each fee goes into

a dedicated fund that can be used to support only the activity for which the fee is collected a number of government programs generate revenues through the sale of products and commodities other programs generate ran through the leaves of properties

Listening 3 – Brazil spending cuts

Task 1 Read the headline Guess if 1-5 below are TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)

1 The government announced spending cuts and tax decreases totaling almost $17 billion T / F

2 By bringing back the CPMF, the government raises more than

$8 billion T / F

3 Some law makers express an opinion about reducing

government aid for farmers T / F

4 Public health and low-cost housing programs couldn’t face

cuts T / F

5 Economists have said the expected savings look optimistic

T / F

UNIT 3: FISCAL POLICY

Listening 1 - US Budget

Preview

Match the word on the left column with the correct definition on the right column Write the answer on the space provided

1 proposal a The social group that consists

of ordinary people who usually have good jobs and are neither rich nor very poor

2 reform b An agreement or a settlement

of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions

3 middle class c A plan or suggestion,

especially a formal or written one, put forward for consideration or discussion by others

4 compromise d The group of politicians who

have the most power to make laws in a government

5 administration e The management or control of

an organization

6 Senate f An improvement or set of

improvements made to a system, law, organization, etc in order to make it more modern or effective

1…… 2 …… 3 …… 4 …… 5 …… 6 ……

Task 1 Listen and fill in the blanks

This month, the United States House of Representatives Budget Committee announced its 2014 budget proposal Committee

Chairman, Republican Paul Ryan, (1).……… the plan Supporters say it would balance the federal budget and cut 4.6 trillion dollars in government spending in 10 years The budget lists the Republicans’ goals of (2) ……… the size of federal government It would also cancel most of President Obama's health care (3) ……… law, which is often called Obamacare Democrats have criticized the budget plan They say the budget cuts would hurt America's middle class They say Mr Ryan's plan is not a (4) ………….and that they strongly disagree with its main goals Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid says the Republican budget proposal from the House reduces taxes on the (5) ……… He also says the plan would end the government health (6) ……… program for retired people, called Medicare The Obama (7) ……… says the Republican budget proposal does not balance government tax increases and spending cuts Republicans have criticized Democrats in the Senate and the president for being (8) …………to reduce federal spending

Listening 2 – Global Employment trends 2013

Preview

Synonym match: Match the following synonyms from the article

Task 1 Listen and choose the best answer

1 How many people are unemployed according to the ILO?

D Not correct answer

3 The labor market is especially difficult for ……… ?

A The old people

B The young people

C The unemployed people

D A&B

4 According to Guy Ryder, to create jobs, what all

countries must do?

A They provide more predictable policies

B They do nothing

C They provide more unpredictable policies

D They provide more realistic policies

Task 2 Listen and choose the correct answer

The International Labor Organization says nearly/ near 200

million people are without jobs around the world And the ILO is

warning of even higher unemployment/ unemployed this year

The United Nations agency released a report called "Global

Employment Trends 2013." It says the number of unemployed

worldwide rise/ rose by more than 4 million last year from the

year before The report says one fourth of this increase was in

developed/ develop economies The remaining 75% was in

mainly developing economies in Asia, and in African countries

south of the Sahara Desert The report also says an estimate/

estimated 39 million people stopped looking for work last year

The average length of unemployment increased sharply in

developed economies One-third of all job seekers in wealth/

wealthy countries were unemployed for a year or more The

ILO's Director-General, Guy Ryder, says the world's economic

recovery/ recover is not expected to be strong enough to reduce

unemployment quickly His group says the labor market is

especially/special hard for young people The ILO says 12.6% of

people between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed

worldwide It says/ said more and more young people, who

experience long-term unemployment, stop looking for work This prevents them from gaining needed on-the-job experience Guy Ryder says, to create jobs, all countries must provide more

predictable policies He says those/ these include measures to

raise/ rise wages and support buying

Listening 3 – Venezuela’s Economic Problems

Task 1 Each sentence contains at least one mistake Listen and correct the mistake

1 Rotzen Villabon’s business needs America dollars to import products made in China

2 He is unable to exchange Venezuelan money for dollars

at the official exchange rate of about 65 bolivares to the dollar

3 The economic troubles have resulted in shortage of products – from necessities like food to beauty product

4 Many social programs were paid during the ruled of former president Hugo Chavez by the nation’s oil wealth

14-years-5 Venezuela’s recent presidence election showed there are divisions in the country

Task 2 Listen then read the headline Guess if 1 – 5 below are TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)

1 Rotzen Villabon has a gift store and he needs US dollar

to import products from China T/F

2 Rotzen Villabon is able to exchange Venezuelan money for dollars at the official exchange rate of about 6.5

3 Venezuela is a major gas exporter T/F

4 Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of a close election over opposition candidate Henrique Capriles on

5 Henrique used to be a lawyer T/F

UNIT 4: MONETARY POLICY

Listening 1 - The Federal Reserve and The Money Supply Preview

Match the words with its meanings

1 Monetary policy

• • a Use to cool an overheating

economy and control inflation by raising reserve requirements, discount rate or selling bonds

2 policy

• • b Interest that is paid both on

the original amount of money saved and on the interest, that has been added to it

3 Restrictive policy

• • c Encourage economic growth

by expanding the money supply, lowering short-term interest rates, or buying bonds

4 Compound interest

• • d An official document that is

given bay a company, showing it has borrowed money from a person and stating the interest payments that it will make to them

5 Buoyant

• • e Government or Central Bank

measure the concerning rate

of growth of the money supply (the amount of money

in circulation)

6 Debenture • f Tending to increase or stay

at a high level, usually showing financial success

Task 1 Listen and choose the best answer

1 What is the concern because of energy prices?

3 What is the longest - term debt that the government sells?

A 13 – year Treasury bonds C.13 – year Treasury bills

B 30 – year Treasury bonds D.30 – year Treasury bills

4 When did the Fed start selling again the treasury bonds after the suspension?

Task 2 Listen and complete the following sentences

1 The new chairman of the Federal Reserve made his

………

2 The Fed can either ……… or ……… United States government securities These bonds, bills and ……… are all debt ……… that pay interest until they are repaid

3 The Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve trades in securities as a way to ………

4 If the Fed wants to make a purchase on the open market, it places an ……… through its trading ………… in New York City

5 More money in the economy can drive down interest rates People and businesses borrow more when

6 /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntɪŋli/ ………

Task 1 Listen and decide if each of the following

statement is True (T) or False (F)

1 The America economy recovered extremely fast T/F

2 The Central Bank will buy Treasury securities which aim

to increase long-term interests T/F

3 Buying longer-term Treasury securities will impact the

4 The Fed bought $1750 trillion of Treasuries and that

5 Some economists say that pumping more money into the economy will depress the dollar’s value T/F

Task 2 Listen and fill in the gaps

The Federal Reserve calls America's economic recovery

"(1)……… slow." So, the Federal Reserve decided to add six hundred billion dollars to the financial system by the middle of next year To do this, the central bank will buy Treasury (2) ……… from dealers The action is known

as quantitative (3) ……… The goal is to reduce long-term interest rates The hope is to create conditions where businesses will (4) ……… more and people will spend more Buying longer-term Treasury securities will make less government debt available to investors This will raise the price

As bond prices rise, their rates fall Long-term securities affect rates on home (5) ……… and other loans Lower rates on corporate bonds could lead businesses to invest in more (6) ……… and jobs Lowering short-term interest rates is the Federal Reserve's main way to get banks to increase lending But those rates are already near zero The Fed earlier bought one trillion seven hundred fifty billion dollars of Treasuries and other securities That program ended in March Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke wrote in The Washington Post:

"Easier financial conditions will (7) ……… economic growth." But interest rates are already low And critics say further cuts are unlikely to create much growth Inflation also is low so low that some economists worry more about the risk of falling prices and wages But others say pumping more money into the economy will (8) ……… the value of the dollar

Listening 3 – Watch the video “What are Open Market Operations?” and then summarize the main points mentioned by the speaker about Open market Operations

1 An OMO is

………

UNIT 5: FINANCIAL MARKETS

Listening 1 - China’s Slowing Economy Affects Stock Markets Worldwide

Preview

Match the word on the left column with the correct definition on the right column Write the answer on the space provided

Task 1 Listen and choose the best answer

1 What is China working to deal with?

a a volatile stock market

3 Volatility c To change something completely so

that it is the opposite of what it was before

4 slip d A group of stocks put together in a

standardized way to provide a useful window into a sector or market's performance at a glance

5 reverse e To fall to a lower level; to become

worse

d a volatile stock market and slowing exports

2 How much did the Shanghai Composite Index reach from

a decrease since June?

a a high of over 5,000 points

b a high of over 500 points

c a high of under 5,000 points

d a high of under 500 points

3 What have influenced the financial markets around the world?

a China’s stock prices

b China’s economic issues

c China’s exports

d The People’s Bank of China

4 What did the China’s central bank do to support the

economy?

a stopped the sharp decreases in its stock markets

b reversed the exchange rate of China currency

c made more than $23 billion in short term loans available to banks and increased the country’s currency

d made more than $23 billion in short term loans available to banks and reduced a main interest rate by a quarter percent

5 When did Chinese officials devalue the country’s currency?

a In June

b In July

c In late August

d In early August

Task 2 Listen then read the headline and decide if 1-4

below are True (T) or False (F)

1 These issues are continuing to influence area markets

T/F

2 Now, the index has decreased more than 14 percent T/F

3 The People’s Bank of China made more than $23 billion in

short term loans available to banks and investors in late August T/F

4 In June, stock exchanges stopped trading of 1,400 listed stocks

to keep prices from falling T/F

5 Within twelve days, the yuan lost more than three percent in

value T/F

Listening 2 - Money Market

Preview

Discuss with your partner to figure out the meanings of

the following terms Then present your findings to the

whole class

debt instruments mutual fund

excess cash maturity date

certificates of deposit liquidity

Task 1 Listen and answer the following questions

1 What is money market?

………

………