A GOOD INVESTMENT I. Complete the sentences by changing the word in brackets into an appropriate form. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) .

have started to sell their shares because of poor company results. ( invest) J. M. Keynes was one of the worlds most influential . . ( economy) At the annual general meeting the . who have invested in the company hear a statement from the chairman. ( share) I dont understand very much about . matters. ( finance) You should have a range of . ; its dangerous to put all your money in one or two companies. (invest) Good politics can be bad . . (economy) The USA and Germany are powerful . economies. ( capital) She was one of the earliest female . to work in the City of London. ( stock)

II. Complete the text about shares in Sippy soft drinks using the correct form of the following verbs and information from the table to describe the share movements. increase rise soar peak reach recover fall plummet remain steady

Shares in Sippy started the year at $57, they 1. through till February. In the spring they 2. gradually until they 3. $66. In August, the announcement that they were opening new bottling plants in Vietnam made the shares 4 . to $90. They finally 5. at $98 on 25 August. In early September Sippy was hit by the success of a competitors new product so they 6. to $55 and then 7. even further to $46 when there were rumors that plans for the new factory had been cancelled. Over the next two months Sippy shares gradually 8. to $60 and 9 . again suddenly to $65 when its new CEO confirmed that the plants were going ahead after all. January $57 February $57 March $60 April $63 May $66 June $72 July $80 August $90-98 September $55-46 October $50 November $60 December $65

III. Number work: increases and decreases. a) Study these ways of expressing increases and decreases. Deaths from smoking have halved / gone down by 50% in the past ten years. Accidents involving cyclists have doubled / gone up by 100% in the last decade. Our costs have increased by 25% / by a quarter since the 35-hour week was introduced. The number of burglaries in this area has trebled / is three times higher. b) Express these statistics using some of the suggestions in a). last year $0.60 3.3% 1,200 $2.40 this year $0.90 6.6% 3,600 $1.20

1 2 3 4

Petrol price per liter: Interest rates: Stolen cars: Price of shares:

IV. Katie Hobbs, Julie Barlow, Graham Jones, and Chris Scott are four members of an investors club. Complete what they say during the first part of their meeting by underlining the correct word or expression in italics. Katie If everyones here I think we should 1do/make a start. Lets get 2up/down to business, 3do/shall we? As you can see there are just three 4items/goods on todays 5agenda/diary. The first is 6whether/unless we should buy shares in Foxserve, a new Internet server. Who would 7like/rather to start? Julie? Thanks, Katie. Well, in my 8opinion/thinking, this is a great opportunity to buy shares at an excellent starting price. I 9look at/see your point, but according to 10me/the Economist, the server market is already over-crowded. Yes, I must say that I 11am agree/agree with Graham. We 12should/need wait and see how the shares perform in the first few weeks and then make a decision. I 13listen to/hear what youre saying, but I think we should take a risk to 14make/do a quick profit. Im 15afraid/worried Im not convinced. Me neither, Chris. So, does 16anyone/no one have anything to add? Right, to 17recap/revise then, Julie thinks its a good time 18to/for buy, but the rest of the group think we should wait and see. Well, if thats what 19all/everyone wants, Ill have to go 20along/through with the majority.

Julie Graham Katie Julie Chris Katie Julie