Study Help for Business English 2 Midterm Exam

I. Topics included on the midterm:

 Explaining charts and graphs – week 1 – words to describe the movement of charts and graphs
 Forms of business organization in the U.S. – study the charts in the PPT – Slides 4, 6, 7 and 9
 Roles of executives and Board of Directors in a corporation
 Key terms – Corporate Governance, Transparency
 Traits of a Good CEO/Leader –
 Vocabulary – words on the document called “VOCABULARY” on www.scribd.com

2. Types of questions:
 Multiple-choice
 Matching
 Reading comprehension

3. Examples of these types of questions:

Multiple-choice questions:
 A multiple-choice question gives you 4 answers. You are to choose one. Only one of the four
answers is correct.
 Example: This question is about the article “A Bankruptcy of Trust, 1: Enron”
Which group of people is not mentioned as suffering from Enron’s collapse?
a) Employees with pension plans at Enron
b) Enron executives who had received bonuses
c) Investors in Enron
d) Employees who had bought Enron stock
The answer is “b)” – the executives who received bonuses did not suffer from Enron’s collapse.
All of the other groups of people are mentioned in paragraph 5 of the article as suffering from
Enron’s collapse.

Matching questions:
 Matching questions give you two lists of words and you must match the word with its meaning. This
means that you must know the meaning (definition) of the vocabulary words. There is one or two
extra answers.
 Example: Match the following words from the vocabulary list with their meaning:

_____ 1. Rubber stamp A. Payment or benefit received in addition to salary

_____ 2. Win-win B. A shocking event
_____ 3. Scandal C. Take some action to become better known to the public
_____ 4. Perks D. Guaranteeing a favorable outcome for everyone involved
E. Automatically giving the OK to something

You would answer as follows:

__E___ 1. Rubber stamp A. Payment or benefit received in addition to salary
__D___ 2. Win-win B. A shocking event
__B___ 3. Scandal C. Take some action to become better known to the public
__A___ 4. Perks D. Guaranteeing a favorable outcome for everyone
involved
E. Automatically giving the OK to something
C is an “extra” answer – it does not match any of the vocabulary words.
Reading Comprehension
 I will give you a short reading passage from one of the articles we read for class, and ask you to
answer one or two questions about what it says.
 You will have to write your answer.

Example: From the article “Governing China’s Boards – An Interview with John Thornton”

I can tell you, from the many conversations I've had, that officials at the highest levels recognize the
need to put in place what might be called a modern system of corporate governance. They know that
they'll be required to meet certain standards when they list their major companies in public markets in
Hong Kong, London, or New York. They're also increasingly convinced that better corporate governance
leads to better business results, greater efficiencies, wealth creation - all of those things that are good
for companies, people, and the country. They have seen that even nontraded corporations like Saudi
Arabia's Aramco have adopted leading corporate-governance practices.

Yet for nearly all senior Chinese officials and corporate leaders, up until now they have had no personal
experience with this, no frame of reference. They know they need to do it, but most don't know exactly
how to go about it.

Question - For what reasons (why) do China’s officials agree that Chinese companies need to put in place
a system of corporate governance?

Your answer should include the following:

1. They know that they'll be required to meet certain standards when they list their major companies
in public markets in Hong Kong, London, or New York.

2. They know that better corporate governance leads to better business results, greater efficiencies,
wealth creation - all of those things that are good for companies, people, and the country.

3. They have seen that even nontraded corporations like Saudi Arabia's Aramco have adopted
leading corporate-governance practices.

If you still have questions about the exam, you may email me – travelerpat@gmail.com