C Understanding meanings

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 476.

B Understanding details

A Understanding main points

Reading tasks

1. Which of these statements gives the best summary of the text?

a. Fewer young managers want to work abroad than in the past.

b. Companies should prepare and support families in overseas postings.

c. Most spouses of expatriates want to work when they are abroad,

2. According to the text, is an overseas posting becoming more or less popular for ambitious managers? Why?

3. Which company seems to be the most generous in its financial support for expatriate couples?

4. What is the main reason mentioned in the article for the failure of an overseas posting?

5. What are the consequences of failed postings?

Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text Find the part of the text that gives the correct information.

1. Companies send only the best candidates on overseas postings, F

2. Finding the right people for expatriate postings is difficult.

3. High-fliers are the people who most want to work overseas.

4. Shell prefers to give expatriates advice and information rather than money.

5. Most accompanying partners want to be able to work in the foreign country.

6. EBRD organises jobs for the spouses of its expatriates.

1. Choose the best explanation for the sentence “Companies ignore the problem of the "trailing spouse" at their peril” (line 2)?

a. Some companies have never thought about this problem.

b. It is very important for companies to try to deal with this problem.

c. It is dangerous to send families to some parts of the world.

2. What is the best explanation for the phrase “can you entice them [high-fliers] to set off for foreign parts?” (line 11)?

a. Can you oblige them to go overseas without their spouse?

b. Can you tell them to go overseas alone?

c. Can you persuade them to go overseas with their spouse?

3. The way in which Motorola's offer of US$7,500 a year for education can be spent is “broadly interpreted by the company” (line 15). What does this mean exactly?

a. The money must be spent on training to be an interpreter.

b. Education need not only mean formal study.

c. Motorola must give its permission before the money is spent.