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QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT BUSINESS, TRADE
AND MARKETING COLLEGES
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT LIVING,
SURVEYORS AND ARCHITECTS COLLEGES
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT HOSPITALITY AND
CULINARY ARTS COLLEGES
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT OPTICIANS AND
OPTICAL COLLEGES
QUESTIONS FOR THE ORAL EXAMINATION
General questions?
1) What is a text?
2) What do we mean by the words coherence and cohesion?
3) Which kind of texts can we have?
4) Which are the main features of a text?
5) Which are the main features of a scientific text?
6) What is a "topic sentence"? (main concept)
7) What are "linkers" or "connectors"? They are grammatical words
that signal the logical relationships within a sentence and between
sentences and paragraphs.
8) Make an example of linkers for "Addition", "Result", "Time
Sequence", "Purpose", "Concession", and so on.
9) How would you define the kind of education you receive at school
? (Excellent, Good, Unsatisfactory, Very bad).
10) What is the cause of your answer? (Inadequate teaching methods,
Uninteresting subjects, Too much discipline, Too many students in a
single classroom, Other reasons).
11) Do you think the subjects you are studying, or you have studied
are - or will be - of some use to understand the world in which you
live or to find a job?
12) At the end of the secondary school, are you planning to...a) go
to the university? b) look for a job?
13) Should anyone who wants to go to the university be allowed to?
MONEY, MATTERS AND COMMERCE (Include
the ten golden trading rules)
Economics is the social science that studies the production,
distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics aims
to explain how economies work and how economic agents interact.
Economic analysis is applied throughout society, in business,
finance and government, but also in crime, education, the family,
health, law, politics, religion, social institutions, sex, war, and
science.
Economy - the system of production and distribution and consumption.
The efficient use of resources; "economy of effort". Types of
economy. Planned economy, Free market economy Mixed economy. In the
first type the government or state makes decisions about what will
be produced, how it will be produced and in what quantities, at what
price it will be sold and who will benefit from the sale of the
products and services. Several countries in Eastern Europe followed
this model in the past. The second type is also known as the
“capitalist system”. The main decisions about production and prices
are established by the economics of supply and demand. Consumers
choose who to buy from and how much they are willing to pay for a
product or a service. Japan and USA are example of this type. Mixed
type is the economy that combines elements of both free market and
planned economy. Private companies are free to compete for most
goods and services, but the government provides other services, such
as public transport, education and health care. Italy, France, U.K.
and Germany are example of mixed economy.
The first Law of Economics: the only thing more dangerous than an
economist is an amateur economist. The second Law of Economics: the
only thing more dangerous than an amateur economist is a
professional economist!
The four factors of production: Natural resources, Labour, Capital
and Entrepreneurship. In developing countries mining and farming
provide most of the jobs for the working population. As countries
like India and China become richer, industries grow up and people
move from the countryside into the cities to find work in the
secondary sector. Richer countries, like Japan and those in Europe
and North America, employ most people in their service industries.
Three things are needed to make the economy of a country work: land,
labour and capital, which are exploited by various enterprises to
provide products and services. The three sectors of production:
primary sector: farming, mining, fishing, forestry. The secondary
sector processes the raw material from the primary sector. This
means that they take the raw materials and transform them into goods
and products. It includes manufacturing and construction. (food and
beverage, textile, car industry, building). The tertiary sector
involves the provision of services to final consumers and
businesses. Types of industries in the tertiary sector are:
retailing, the sale of goods from a store; banking and insurance;
education.
Commerce is a general term used to describe the sale and
distribution of goods and services. The commercial activity of
buying and selling goods and services is called “trade”. Trade is
divided into home trade, when goods and services are sold and bought
inside a country, and foreign trade, when this commercial exchange
happens between two different countries. In foreign trade we
distinguish between import, when goods or services are bought from a
foreign seller, and export, when goods or services are sold to a
foreign buyer. Another aspect of commerce refers to the services
which make trade possible, for example: banking, insurance,
transport and marketing.
Trade - The business of buying and selling commodities; commerce.
Stages of a sales transaction
The basics of importing and exporting are not different from the
essential principles of buying and selling on a single market.
Business transactions usually go through a series of steps that
bring buyer and seller closer together until the deal is finalised
and completed.
Stage 1 The Enquiry. The buyer requests general information and a
quotation. The voluntary offer. The seller offers goods to potential
buyers. The unsolicited offers and spam. Stage 2 The reply to the
enquiry. The seller provides information and quotes prices. The
follow-up letter. The buyer requests further information and a
quotation.
Stage 3 The Order The buyer places the order. Stage 4 The
confirmation and execution of the order. The seller agrees to fulfil
the order and arranges for delivery. Stage 5 The payment. The buyer
pays for the goods.
1. Introduction to business communication.
Personal phone calls. Business phone calls. Layout of a business
letter. Faxes. Emails.
The supplier and the prospective customer …. Get in touch in order
to do business.
Documents: business letters, faxes, and emails.
Keywords: addressee, person a letter, etc, is addressed to.
Layout: the way the parts of the letter are arranged.
Letterhead: name and address printed at the top of writing paper.
Written communication in business is increasingly done via email and
certified emails and, to a lesser extent, by fax. Letters are still
used, however, when sending documents like contracts, etc, which
need signatures, or to accompany some parcels, or catalogues, etc.
Business letters are laid out following a standard sequence. You
usually include the following elements:
Letterhead - References (Our Ref……/Your Ref…..) – Date - Addressee -
Attention Line (The import Manager/ Mister….) – Salutation (Dear
Sir/Madam etc.) – Subject Line (Your promotional offer) – Body of
the letter – Closing greeting (Yours faithfully) – Signature –
Enclosures (Enc: 1 list of articles).
Writing an email. Some elements that you need to write in a letter
are automatically provided by the email system. For example, you
don’t need to write the date and your internet address. You should
always write the subject of your message to signal to your addressee
what the message is about. An email body text usually tends to be
direct and to the point. As a general rule, avoid unnecessary
information and wordy sentences. If you wish to provide more
information or data attach a file. In general the register of the
language tends to be more informal than in a business letter, so you
can safely use abbreviations, acronyms and linguistic devices that
speed up reading, and consequently, action. But caution: avoid
excessively colloquial expression.
Fax machine have been replaced by new technologies such as text
messages and e-mails. Traditional business letters have been
substituted by e-mails. Text messages are not called sms in North
America and the UK . The term “text messaging” is preferred. E-mails
are a quick and simple way to send messages. E-mails can be sent and
received at any time of the day and you can receive immediate
feedback. Fax are still used because electronic signatures on
contracts are not always recognized by law if you use emails, while
faxed contracts with copies of signatures are. Nowadays, however we
have the certified e-mail, and so the problem doesn’t exist any
longer.
Telephone communications are very useful and employed because they
allow people to communicate on the move and do business from any
location. Nowadays, however, with the development of wireless
internet connections and mobile phones you can use your smartphone
or Ipad or netbook wherever you are as well.
2. Offers and replies
Telemarketing. Unsolicited offers and spam. Replies.
The supplier….sends informative material, either unsolicited or on
request. The prospective customer…examines the material and
responds. Documents: catalogues, price lists, brochures. Keywords:
discount, that is a reduced price; junk mail: advertising material
sent to people who have not requested it; quotation: a written
statement of how much something will cost; spam: advertising
material sent by email to people who have not requested it;
telemarketing: is the telephonic equivalent of unsolicited offers
and spam. It can be used to get new customers or to encourage old
ones to continue or to increase the number of services they use. It
tends to gain the listener’s attention, giving the main message and
encouraging the listener to take action, that is to buy.
3. Making and responding to enquiries
Enquiries on the telephone. Enquiries in writing. Internet
enquiries. Responding to enquiries.
The prospective customer…….phones or writes to ask for information
or material. The supplier….responds as requested. Documents:
catalogues, price lists, brochures, etc. Keywords: delivery: the act
or process of taking things to their destination; payment: amount of
money that has been or must be paid; samples: small amounts of a
product for potential customers to evaluate; terms and conditions:
how and when things will be delivered or paid for, how much it will
cost.
If you need information about something, you can make an enquiry by
phone or in writing. Many people prefer the phone as it is often
quicker and means that you can ask follow-up questions if the answer
you receive is not completely clear or does not tell you everything
you need to know. In internet most websites have a FAQs (Frequently
Asked Questions) section, but for those users who need more specific
information there is usually an email address or an enquiry section
with an online form to fill in.
When you reply to enquiries you should not only try to answer your
prospective customers’ questions, but also mention any other
information that may induce them to place orders. When you receive a
lot of requests for generic information you may send off whatever is
requested (catalogues, proce lists, etc.). Most enquiries, however,
ask about prices and terms. You can give prices in two ways:
supplying a price list, i.e. a list of your products and the price
for each, valid for all customers up to the expiry of the list. This
can be an enclosure in a letter or an attachment to an email; or
making up a quotation, i.e. a price that you give a customer after
evaluating the various aspects of that specific transaction. A
quotation may refer just to the cost of goods or may include other
costs, such as freight and insurance. A set of internationally
recognized rules called INCOTERMS governs the composition of the
price given in a quotation. Terms usually cover how things will be
done: delivery terms state how and when the goods will be supplied
and how they will be paid for; payments terms state how much the
goods will be and particularly how much time is allowed for payment.
4. Negotiating Orders
Orders on the phone. Online orders. Orders in writing. Responding to
orders. The customer….places the order. The supplier….acknowledges
receipt of the order and responds. Documents: order forms, letter of
order, email orders. Keywords: form: official document containing
questions and spaces for answers; terms of sale: the conditions
people offer or demand when selling something. Making orders on the
telephone. After examining an offer, if you find the quotation
acceptable, you place an order. You can usually order electronically
using an online order form, or you can do it by post or fax on a
form, either supplied by the seller with his offer, or on your
company’s own printed form. If you do it by post, you will usually
write a short covering letter, which will mention only the previous
correspondence, if any, and the hope that the order will be
fulfilled with care. You may be also be able to order telephonically
if you give your credit card number or if you are a regular
customer. Customers are increasingly doing their shopping on the
Internet where they make their purchases by filling in “order forms”
on the various websites they visit. Payment is usually by credit
card or, nowadays, with Paypal, which offers a higher degree of
security. Obviously the basic information required for an order is
always the same: name, address, article and quantity, but sites
often ask for extra information like the purchaser’s job or place of
work for marketing purposes, and usually ask if the consumer is
interested in receiving news updates electronically. Making orders
in writing. If your order is in the form of a letter, the major
points to cover are: quantity of goods: number of articles-weight of
each item ordered: quality of goods: description of items (catalogue
number, colour, model, finish, reference to samples submitted;
price: price per item; total price of items ordered; discount
granted if applicable; delivery terms: prompt-ready delivery;
delivered by…including INCOTERMS; transport instructions: details
concerning route to be covered, preference for a particular
forwarding company, means of transport to be used (by road, rail,
sea or air); insurance: instructions concerning coverage of the
shipment; payment: details of settlement (means of payment
agreed-time of settlement-name of bank involved in payment).
Remember that your order is a legally binding document: if the
supplier fills your order correctly, you cannot refuse payment.
Responding to orders, giving confirmation. When an order comes in,
you check to make sure that you can supply the goods requested and
that the terms correspond to those stated in your offer. You then
send your customer confirmation of the order if you can fulfil it.
If you are not able to fulfil the order for any reason, you reply
with an apology and, if appropriate, offer an alternative solution.
If something is out of stock, for example, you could offer a
different product with similar characteristics. You should never
promise something that you cannot then provide. Your confirmation is
a legally binding commitment to supply what has been ordered in
conformity with the conditions stated.
5. Making and responding to complaints
Complaints on the phone. Complaints in writing. Responding to
complaints. The customer ….informs the supplier about problems
connected with the execution of an order. The supplier….suggests an
adjustment. Documents: complaint forms, letters, faxes, emails.
Keywords: adjustment: a change made to correct or improve something.
Making complaints on the phone. Unfortunately, in buying and
selling, sometimes things can go wrong for a number of different
reasons. Communication about this sort of problems needs tact and
restraint by both the importer and exporter, as the situation may be
due entirely to circumstances beyond their control. In a first
complaint to a supplier, outline the situation and ask for an
explanation and-or solution. The tone of the letter, email or phone
call should be non-provocative and relaxed. It may later become
firmer or more annoyed if the exporter fails to respond and to
complaint adequately.
Planning your complaint:
1. Refer to the order or goods and say what the problem is.
2. Say whether you intend to take or have already taken any action,
or suggest a solution.
a. When the delivery is late, you can:
• tell the supplier to speed it up and give a deadline or ultimatum,
• reject it,
• cancel the order,
• offer to keep the goods at a discount.
b. When articles are missing you may either ask your supplier to
complete thè delivery or cancel the order for what is missing.
c. When you receive the wrong goods or extra goods you can:
• reject them and ask the supplier to deliver what you ordered,
• keep them if the exporter grants a discount,
• keep the surplus on "sale-or-return" basis or on consignment,
which means that you will try to sell it at the best obtainable
prices, but you
will pay only when you have sold it and return it if you can't.
d. When the goods are the wrong quality or faulty, you can:
• claim a replacement at the supplier's expense,
• return them (at the supplier's expense) and cancel your order,
• offer to keep them at a discount.
e. When you receive damaged goods, you have to find out who is
responsible for the damage. For example, the exporter may not have
packed the
goods correctly, or the carrier may have treated them roughly. In
most cases you need to contact the insurers to recover the cost of
the damaged
goods (and the lost profits) and you contact the suppliers for
replacements, etc.
Responding to complaints:
Even if you feel that a complaint is unfounded, your reply should be
polite and helpful. If the complaint is justified, you should try
and put the matter right as quickly as possible.
Planning your letter or email
1. Say that you have received your customer's complaint and
summarise the problem.
2. Apologise and explain the cause of the problem, if appropriate.
3. Accept the customer's suggestion or give a counter-proposal.
a. When you have delivered the wrong goods or quantities, or
something is missing, apologise and negotiate what to do
• with extra goods: the customer can return them or keep them with a
discount or on consignment;
• with missing goods: reassure the customer that they will be
shipped immediately;
• with the wrong goods: arrange to pick them up if the customer
doesn't want to keep them (despite favourable terms you can offer as
an incentive).
b. When your customer is unhappy with the quality:
• if you agree with your customer, you should apologise and agree to
replace the goods, or, if the customer is willing to keep them,
accept (or politely reject) their conditions;
• you may disagree and insist you fulfilled the order correctly (but
bear in rnind the old saying that the customer is always right -
even if you are sure you are right, do you want to lose future
orders?).
c. When your customer complains that the goods are faulty, first
investigate the matter. If the complaint is justified, apologise and
accept any reasonable suggestion ths customer makes to put matters
right.
d. When the goods are damaged:
• if the goods get damaged in transit, your customers will deal with
the insurers who covered the shipment.
You only have to give them a reply about any replacements required;
• if, however, the goods were damaged when they left your premises,
you should apologise and replace them
4. Apologise again and refer optimistically to future business.
6. Payments problems
Making and responding to requests for payments. Letter of reminder.
Responding to letters of reminder. The customer….responds to the
suppliers’ reminder. The supplier…..reminds the customer about
overdue payment and follows up as necessary. Documents: letters,
emails, faxes. Keywords: bad debt: non-payment; overdue: late;
reminder: communication to solicit payment; repay: pay off the
debts.
Late-paying customers. European businesses and official bodies lose
around 25 billion euro every year because they have to finance
unnecessary credits. Late-paying customers put the companies they
buy from at risk of cash-flow problems and even bankruptcy, and late
and uncertain payment is a major barrier to free trade. Bad debt
(non-payment) is an even bigger problem. The European average
fluctuated between 1.7 and 1.9% of all invoices in the period
between spring 2004 and 2007, with the countries in the Baltic
region and Central Europe the riskiest places to do business (around
3%) and Scandinavia the least risky (around 1.1 %)
Letter of reminder. You must be very careful when writing a letter
of reminder. You cannot be sure your clients are deliberately
avoiding paying you: they may genuinely have forgotten, so you need
to maintain a delicate balance between stating your request clearly
and keeping your clients' goodwill. This is especially true for a
first reminder. If it is a first reminder:
a. simply remind your client that payment is late. Give all relevant
details like the invoice or account number, the due date and the sum
owed;
b. to maintain goodwill, presume this was an honest mistake and make
sure the client understands that this is a gentle reminder that
payment is due;
c. confirm your belief that this is the case and that you look
forward to receiving payment in the next few days.
If it is not a first reminder, you should write more firmly, also
mentioning your previous letters, phone calls or emails and giving
the dates. State the action you want your customer to take and
anything you intend to do (for example interrupt the supply of
products or a service, etc.). Reminders get progressively firmer and
may then threaten legal action.
7. Job hunting. Making an application. When you find a job you are
interested in, you need to convince your potential employer that you
are the right person to fill the position. You do this either by
sending a CV, or by filling in an application form, which many
employers prefer as it gives a standardised format and thus saves
the recruiter time. The CV or form will normally be sent with a
covering letter in which you draw attention to the reasons why you
would be right for the job, highlighting your key skills, experience
and education, and getting the attention of potential employers. The
letter should also demonstrate that you have done your homework:
including details specific to the job you seek shows that you have
taken the time to consider the position, the company, and their
needs. Lastly, it should demonstrate your writing and editing skills
and make potential employers want to know more about you. Online
forms, however, are often sent without a covering letter.
8. Business The occupation, work, or trade in which a person is
engaged. Commercial, industrial, or professional dealings. A
commercial enterprise or establishment. Volume or amount of
commercial trade. The business of America is business. The
organization of business. Sole traders. Partnerships. Limited
companies. Cooperatives (co-op) The growth of business. Mergers.
Takeovers. Acquisitions. Joint Ventures. Multinationals. The
structure of a company. Board of directors. Managing director. Sales
manager. Marketing manager. Human resources manager. Purchasing
manager. Production manager. Finance Manager. Information Systems
Manager. Business transaction. Speaking business. Writing business.
Business Communication. Enquiries and replies. Offers and replies.
Orders and replies, modification and cancellation of orders.
Complaints and replies. Reminders and replies. Methods of payments.
See also “factoring” and so on.
Synonyms: business, industry, commerce, trade, traffic. These nouns
apply to forms of activity that have the objective of supplying
commodities. Business pertains broadly to commercial, financial, and
industrial activity: decided to go into the oil business. Industry
entails the production and manufacture of goods or commodities,
especially on a large scale: the computer industry.
Commerce and trade refer to the exchange and distribution of goods
or commodities: laws regulating interstate commerce; involved in the
domestic fur trade. Traffic pertains in particular to businesses
engaged in the transportation of goods or passengers: renovated the
docks to attract shipping traffic. The word may also suggest illegal
trade: discovered a brisk traffic in stolen goods.
9. Entering Foreign Markets. Market factors
are the main reason companies decide to start doing business abroad.
As their domestic markets become saturated, they turn to vast
untapped markets in other countries, particularly in the developing
world, where in countries like China increasing affluence brings new
potential customers for all sorts of consumer goods that people in
the developed world already have. Obviously there are risks involved:
unfamiliar market conditions lead many companies into making basic
errors and failing, or there may be political risks like corruption,
War and civil unrest. How to enter foreign markets:
• risks can be limited by selling franchises to entrepreneurs who
are given the right to sell a product or service in return for a
share of the profits or a fee. This means it is the franchisee who
makes the investment and takes the risks; • selling products to an
import company which then resells them in their local market is also
a relatively risk-free method of entering foreign markets; • local
agents can be appointed to represent a company In return for
commission on sales. Choosing the right agents is important as they
should he familiar with the market and local regulations and also be
able to check the credit-worthiness of potential clients; • opening
a branches or setting up a subsidiary is far riskier, even with
local investors, as both options require heavy initial Investment;
• joint ventures with a local partner operating in a related field
are also expensive, but have the advantage that the local partner
knows the market, and expenses, risks and useful local contacts are
shared.
International Trade. Goods can be made or produced in one country
and sent to another to he sold: this is known as exporting. China,
for example, exports clothes to much of the EU.
Importing, on the other hand, is when goods are brought into a
country to be sold there, so we can say the EU imports clothes from
China. The balance of trade is the difference between how much a
country exports and how much it imports. If a country exports more
than it imports, it is said to have a trade surplus; if it imports
more, it has a trade deficit. The balance of trade includes goods -
visible exports and imports like food, machines, etc. - and services
like tourism and banking, called invisible exports (because you
cannot see what is sold) which bring in invisible earnings. A
country's balance of payments is the difference between the money
coming into a country and the amount going out. If more money comes
into a country than goes out, there is a balance of payments
surplus; if more money goes out, there is a balance of payments
deficit. The balance of trade and the balance of payments are the
methods used for talking about a country's volume of international
trade
international organizations for global trade. To counteract
protectionism and enforce a fair balance in global trading practices,
a number of supranational organizations have been established, of
which the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the most important. 'The
WTO aims to ensure that global trading respects agreements designed
to eliminate trade harriers and avoid trade distortion. The authors
of these agreements are the member governments themselves - the
agreements are the outcome of negotiations among members. This means
that when a member government feels another is violating an
agreement or a commitment that it has made in the WTO in any way, it
can appeal to the WTO. Ultimate responsibility for settling disputes
also lies with member governments, through the Dispute Settlement
Body. THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION • Location: Geneva, Switzerland
• Established: 1st January 1995 • memberships: 151 countries as of
August 2007 • Function: it is a permanent organization ruling on
international trade disputes.
Other important international organizations are the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).The two were set up in
1994 to provide loans and encourage growth and stability in
developing countries, but there is a lot of criticism about how the
two organizations try to achieve these very valid goals. The primary
mission of the IMF is to provide short-term financial assistance to
countries experiencing serious financial difficulties, but IMF loans
usually come with conditions, like decreased government spending and
privatisation of vital national resources, which in many cases have
left countries in worse states than those they were in before
implementing the IMF reforms.
The World Bank, which provides low-interest loans to poor countries
for development projects, has often been criticised for encouraging
major infrastructure-building programmes, regardless of the
sometimes enormous negative impact on the environment and local
ecosystems.
Trade Blocs. There are enormous economic interests at stake in the
world of trade and commerce. National producers want to protect
their home markets so governments are under pressure to pass
restrictive laws or subsidise, products, thus distorting trade.
Free-trade areas have been established to promote trade between
countries but behave much like national markets in that even as they
eliminate internal trade barriers, they maintain external ones. The
European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), the association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and
MERCOSUR in South America are all important trade blocs.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT BUSINESS, TRADE
AND MARKETING COLLEGES N. 2
HOW PEOPLE RELAX
Going to pubs is a very popular leisure-time activity. In a recent
survey seven out of ten adults said they went to pubs, one third of
them once a week or more often.
Types of pubs vary considerably from quiet rural establishments with
traditional games, such as skittles and dominoes, to city pubs where
different sorts of entertainment such as drama and live music can
often be found. The opening hours of pubs, which were previously
strictly controlled, have been relaxed and many pubs now serve food
as well as drink. Some pubs have become more welcoming to families
with younger children than in the past, although children under
fourteen are still not allowed in the bar.
British drinking habits have changed, with lager and continental
beers now more popular than traditional forms of British beer. In
cities, wine bars have appeared in competition with pubs. Although,
in general, people in Britain now drink more than they used to, new
types of drinks such as alcohol-free beer and wine have appeared and
there has been a general move to educate people more about the
dangers of drinking too much.
USING LEISURE TIME
Percentages Men Women
Out and about
Seaside 7 8
Country 3 3
Parks 3 4
Visiting historic buildings 8 8
Going to museums and art galleries 3 3
Going to fairs and amusement arcades 1 2
In the evenings
Going to the cinema 7 8
Going to the theatre, opera and ballet 4 5
Playing amateur music and drama 3 3
Going to evening classes 1 2
Going out for a meal 41 40
Going out for a drink 64 46
Dancing 10 12
At home
Listening to records and tapes 65 62
Gardening 50 39
Sewing and knitting 2 48
House repairs and DIY 51 24
Reading books 50 61
SPARE TIME
British people now have more free time and holidays than they did
twenty years ago. The average number of working hours has fallen,
and by the mid-1980s almost all full-time manual employees were
entitled to four weeks holidays including Christmas and Easter.
The increasing number of pensioners and the number of unemployed,
particularly the young, means that large sections of the population
have found themselves with more leisure time. Typical popular
pastimes in the UK include listening to pop music, going to pubs,
playing and watching sport, going on holidays, doing outdoor
activities and watching TV.
The number of people playing sports has risen, partly due to the
availability of more sporting facilites such as local leisure
centres. As more people become aware of the necessity
for exercise, it is estimated that one third of the adult population
regularly takes part in outdoor sport and about a quarter in indoor
sport.
Among the most popular sporting activities are walking, swimming,
snooker and darts; fishing is the most popular country sport.
Football, cricket, horse racing and motor sports are all popular
spectator sports. Many magazines are published which relate to
popular and minority sports and interests.
Multi-screen cinemas have become more common and the number of
people going to the cinema increased in the mid-1980s, having fallen
by more than a half between 1971 and 1984. This was despite a large
increase in the popularity of home videos: Britain has one of the
highest rates of home video owenership in the world.
Pubs are an important part of British social life (more than
restaurants) and more money is spent on drinking than on any other
form of leisure activity. Holidays are the next major leisure cost,
followed by television, radio, musical instruments, and eating out.
If they have enough money, people travel more (the increase in
private cars is an influence) and take more holidays. The numbers
going abroad increased from 7 million in the early 1970s to 17
million in the mid-80s, with Spain still the most popular foreign
destination.
Comprehension
Use the information of the texts to answer the questions.
1 What free time and holidays do people in Britain have?
2 Why has sport become more popular?
3 How has cinema-going changed in recent years? What has helped to
cause these
changes?
4 What are the most popular leisure activities in Britain?
5 Which are the most popular destinations for British people going
abroad on holiday?
Discussion Work in pairs.
1 Do people have more spare time than they used to in your country?
When are the major public holidays?
2 What leisure activities do you prefer? How much time and money do
you spend on them?
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT BUSINESS, TRADE
AND MARKETING COLLEGES
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT LIVING,
SURVEYORS AND ARCHITECTS COLLEGES
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT HOSPITALITY AND
CULINARY ARTS COLLEGES
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS ABOUT OPTICIANS AND
OPTICAL COLLEGES
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HOMEPAGE
Daimon Club
