Business English

....... accountants, many of whom are CPAs, generally have their own companies or work for major accounting
firms.
(a) Graduate
(b) Professional
(c) Public
(d) Senior
Q7
Some accountants specialize in ....... accounting — investigating white-collar crimes such as securities fraud
and embezzlement.
(a) criminal
(b) forensic
(c) police
(d) undercover
Q8
Many work closely with law enforcement officers and lawyers during investigations and often appear as .......
witnesses during trials.
(a) expected
(b) expert
(c) known
(d) respected
Q9
....... accountants record and analyze the financial information of the firms in which they are employed.
(a) Business
(b) Internal
(c) Licensed
(d) Management
Q10 Government accountants work in the public ......., maintaining and monitoring the recordkeeping of
government departments and agencies.
(a) arena
(b) domain
(c) quarter
(d) sector

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128. advanced-77
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 77
Retirement and Pensions
 
Q1
The relationship between worker pensions and retirement is of ....... interest to management and economists.
(a) considerable
(b) enough
(c) plentiful
(d) sufficient
Q2
The reduction in retirement age since World War II is usually ....... to greater pension benefits, both
governmental and private.
(a) aligned
(b) alleged
(c) assigned
(d) attributed
Q3
The anticipated difficulties in financing current public pensions could be ....... by changes that delayed worker
retirement.
(a) instigated
(b) investigated
(c) mitigated
(d) relegated
Q4
Private pensions ....... a large percentage of individual wealth in most of the developed nations.
(a) compare
(b) compile
(c) compost
(d) comprise
Q5
As a worker ages, both his productivity and the ....... of working another wage period will change.
(a) difficulty
(b) disability
(c) disinterest
(d) disutility
Q6
In a perfect labor market, employers, who always pay workers the value of their ....... at any one time, will be
indifferent to the age of retirement.
(a) contract
(b) output
(c) pension
(d) salary
Q7
The most obvious reason for the existence of pensions is the tax advantage, since pension ....... are permitted
to accumulate untaxed until retirement.
(a) benefits
(b) calculations
(c) contributions
(d) payouts
Q8
Both employers and employees benefit from a payment ....... where workers receive less than the actual value
of their work when they are young and more than the actual value of their work when old.
(a) avenue
(b) envelope
(c) gap
(d) stream
Q9
This system reduces worker incentives for ....... and cheating and thereby raises their lifetime wealth.
(a) kiting
(b) lurking
(c) lying
(d) shirking
Q10 General economic conditions also help determine actual retirement age: higher inflation and greater
unemployment at the end of his career causes the worker to ....... his retirement.
(a) defray
(b) delay
(c) deny
(d) detract

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129. advanced-78
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 78
Start Your Own Bank
 
Q1
The goal of the state of California is to maintain a sound banking system without ....... limiting the entry of new
banks.
(a) unduly
(b) unreally
(c) unruly
(d) unusually
Q2
A competitive financial environment provides ....... choice to the public and stimulates economic development
and efficiency.
(a) critical
(b) optimal
(c) maximal
(d) radical
Q3
The state chartering agency makes sure that a new bank possesses the needed capital and management
....... to serve the public's needs.
(a) expertise
(b) labour
(c) practices
(d) recruitment
Q4
This agency is the bank's primary ......., with the duty to protect the public from questionable banking practices.
(a) administrator
(b) moderator
(c) originator
(d) regulator
Q5
The term "dual banking system" means that both the California and the US governments ....... bank charters.
(a) certify
(b) issue
(c) license
(d) publish
Q6
The word "State" or "National" as part of a bank's name has nothing ....... where it operates; this refers to the
type of charter it has.
(a) in common with
(b) in comparison to
(c) to do with
(d) to understand by
Q7
Joining the Federal Reserve System is required for national banks, but ....... for state banks.
(a) obligated
(b) obvious
(c) optimal
(d) optional
Q8
The FRS lends money to banks at a discount rate to help meet their short-term cash requirements, and is
known as the "lender of last ......." for banks suffering liquidity crises.
(a) chance
(b) legs
(c) request
(d) resort
Q9
The minimum amount of ....... capital for a newly chartered bank should total at least $2,500,000 in capital
stock.
(a) collected
(b) direct
(c) fixed
(d) startup
Q10 California wishes to encourage a broad and ....... shareholder base for new banks, although the organizers
may desire to limit this number due to tax or other considerations.
(a) based
(b) diversified
(c) lengthy
(d) shallow

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130. advanced-79
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 79
Internet Investing
 
Q1
The Internet ....... an excellent tool for both investors and fraudsters.
(a) becomes
(b) equals
(c) has
(d) makes
Q2
....... online newsletters can certainly help investors gather valuable information.
(a) Legal
(b) Legible
(c) Legitimate
(d) Literary
Q3
However, some companies pay online newsletters to ....... their stocks.
(a) tally
(b) tongue
(c) tout
(d) treat
Q4
These newsletters will profit ....... if they convince investors to buy specific stocks.
(a) attractively
(b) beautifully
(c) handsomely
(d) prettily
Q5
The most egregious scalp the stocks they hype, ....... the price with recommendations and then selling their
own holdings at an inordinate profit.
(a) clinging to
(b) driving up
(c) nailing down
(d) standing by
Q6
Internet bulletin boards ....... threads made up of numerous messages on investment opportunities.
(a) capture
(b) censure
(c) feature
(d) stature
Q7
A single individual can mimic widespread interest in an unknown stock with a series of posts under various
........
(a) actors
(b) addresses
(c) aliases
(d) antonyms
Q8
Because spam is so easy and cheap to produce, fraudsters frequently use it to find investors for .......
investment deals.
(a) bogus
(b) bonus
(c) sub rosa
(d) surplus
Q9
Many investment programs are just an internet version of the classic ....... scheme in which participants
attempt to make money simply by recruiting new participants.
(a) escalation
(b) hierarchy
(c) level up
(d) pyramid
Q10 Never make an investment based ....... on what you read in emails or on the internet.
(a) lightly
(b) lonely
(c) singly
(d) solely

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131. advanced-80
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 80
Evolution of the Stock Exchange
 
Q1
Paul Arlman, Secretary General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges, warned in the following
excerpted speech that he would not be able to answer this question ....... him: "What is an Exchange?"
(a) asked to
(b) put to
(c) said to
(d) set to
Q2
The New York Stock Exchange was originally formed to ....... exchange rooms for the convenient transaction
of their business by its members.
(a) furnish
(b) reform
(c) refurbish
(d) renovate
Q3
The oldest Stock Exchange in the world, the Amsterdam Exchange, started in a Post Office in 1598 where
incoming and ....... letters from ships were registered.
(a) backdated
(b) outgoing
(c) outstanding
(d) overseas
Q4
But is was only in 1611, nine years after they started trading the first tradable share of the Vereenigde Oost-
indische Compagnie (VOC) that they really got their own Exchange in the ....... of a building.
(a) facade
(b) nature
(c) sense
(d) stead
Q5
"Confusion de Confusiones", by Joseph de la Vega, published in 1688, shows us quite precisely what an
Exchange is: a den of ....... unless moderated by regulation.
(a) lions
(b) scouts
(c) thieves
(d) wolves
Q6
Through most of its history an Exchange was a meeting place in a physical sense, and only in the last century
did we introduce electricity and telephones, which on many floors of the Exchanges were restricted or
........
(a) forbidden
(b) foregone
(c) forestalled
(d) forgotten
Q7
In order to define what a Stock Exchange is today, you have to understand the unstoppable progress, or .......,
of technology.
(a) barrage
(b) bombardment
(c) juggernaut
(d) ramrod
Q8
When the computer did away with the physical limitation of the Exchange within one single city or region, the
technology lost its uniqueness, and it gave rise to ........
(a) competition
(b) correlation
(c) jurisdiction
(d) justification
Q9
Another factor for change has been international equity investors, who have shown a ferocious appetite for
both domestic and foreign equity investment, even ....... the dot com bubble.
(a) aboveboard
(b) nevertheless
(c) notwithstanding
(d) thereabouts
Q10 The fourth factor is the information availability explosion that gave all investors nearly ....... access to nearly
free data.
(a) uncontrolled
(b) unlimited
(c) unmanageable
(d) untenable

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132. advanced-81
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 81
Corporate Taxation
 
Q1
Rob Norton, of eCompany Now and Fortune magazines, notes in the article quoted below that corporate taxes
are among the least efficient and least ....... of taxes.
(a) avoidable
(b) defeatable
(c) defensible
(d) reprehensible
Q2
The tax is popular with the man ......., who believes, incorrectly, that it is paid by corporations.
(a) in the shop
(b) in the street
(c) on the block
(d) on the job
Q3
The federal corporate income tax applies only to some businesses — those chartered as corporations — and
not to partnerships or ....... proprietorships.
(a) simple
(b) single
(c) sole
(d) strict
Q4
The federal tax is levied at three different rates on different ....... of income: 15 percent on taxable income
under $50,000; 25 percent on income between $50,000 and $75,000; and 34 percent on income above that.
(a) brackets
(b) components
(c) portions
(d) segments
Q5
A good reason that state and local corporate income taxes remain low is that corporations could easily .......
out of states that imposed unusually high taxes.
(a) reinstate
(b) relegate
(c) relocate
(d) replace
Q6
Except for emergency taxes in wartime, corporate profits were first taxed in 1909, when Congress ....... a 1
percent tax on corporation income.
(a) decided
(b) enacted
(c) proscribed
(d) retracted
Q7
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was designed to increase the share of federal revenues collected via the
corporate income tax and to decrease the share from the ....... income tax.
(a) individual
(b) personnel
(c) private
(d) single
Q8
While the top corporate tax rate was cut, deductions for capital expenditures were severely ......., and as a
result the effective tax rate for many corporations rose.
(a) amended
(b) curtailed
(c) examined
(d) extended
Q9
The central problem with the corporate income tax from an economic point of view is that, ultimately, only .......
 can pay taxes.
(a) entities
(b) companies
(c) people
(d) some
Q10 As early as the 17th century, Sir William Petty, one of the ....... of modern economics, argued that a tax on the
production and sale of commodities would eventually be shifted by producers to consumers, who would pay it
in the form of higher prices.
(a) planners
(b) precursors
(c) predecessors
(d) progenitors

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133. advanced-82
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 82
Commercial Property
 
Q1
According to NAREIT (Yungmann and Taube, 2001), property insurance coverage should be based on fair
value, i.e., valuing assets at their current market values — actual, if available, or ......., if not.
(a) comparative
(b) previous
(c) projected
(d) theoretical
Q2
Much of the fair value debate has had a technical focus on how to place fair values on assets for which no
market values ........
(a) apply
(b) compare
(c) exist
(d) obtain
Q3
While the technical issues are important, the real driver should be improving ....... for users of financial
statements.
(a) opacity
(b) redundancy
(c) translucency
(d) transparency
Q4
A single global standard will increase the ....... of financial presentations, which currently vary considerably.
(a) completeness
(b) comprehension
(c) consistency
(d) control
Q5
A comprehensive standard ....... comparability across all types of financial institutions.
(a) correlates
(b) facilitates
(c) initiates
(d) legislates
Q6
When accounting values for assets ....... from their underlying market values, some managements take
uneconomic actions to protect accounting performance measures.
(a) detract
(b) distract
(c) diverge
(d) divide
Q7
For example, during the U.S. savings and loan crisis in the 1980s, many institutions ....... assets with market
values above book and continued to hold assets with book values above market.
(a) sold off
(b) sold out
(c) underwrote
(d) wrote off
Q8
In hindsight, users of their financial statements were not well served by the accounting system ....... at the
time.
(a) at hand
(b) in place
(c) on hold
(d) underway
Q9
Fair value ....... argue that measuring financial assets as close as possible to their true underlying economic
values removes these perverse incentives.
(a) presentations
(b) proponents
(c) propositions
(d) protocols
Q10 Users would also benefit from a clearer picture of the economic ....... of the enterprise.
(a) breath
(b) health
(c) heart
(d) scene

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134. advanced-83
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 83
Quality Control at Ford
 
Q1
Writing of Ford's quality control problems, Tom Murphy of Ward's Auto World magazine mentions internal data
suggesting suppliers were more culpable than the auto maker as recalls and warranty claims seemed to be
....... out of control.
(a) exploding
(b) rising
(c) rolling
(d) spinning
Q2
The Firestone tire ....... got the most attention, but in many respects it was merely a symptom of a much
broader ailment afflicting the No. 2 auto maker.
(a) debacle
(b) debut
(c) detachment
(d) deterrent
Q3
A Ford executive contended that suppliers deserved a trip to the ....... for a number of costly, boneheaded
mistakes.
(a) dentist
(b) market
(c) outhouse
(d) woodshed
Q4
By last fall, however, the tone had softened; instead of berating parts makers, Ford was openly ........
(a) conciliatory
(b) congratulatory
(c) consolatory
(d) convivial
Q5
Caught up in the industry-wide trend toward ......., Ford may have relied too heavily on suppliers for
engineering.
(a) outsiders
(b) outsourcing
(c) overhead
(d) oversight
Q6
This demonstrates that OEMs run the risk of becoming ....... to the technical capabilities — or liabilities — of
their suppliers if they merely purchase, rather than engineer.
(a) subcontracted
(b) subjected
(c) subordinate
(d) subservient
Q7
To ....... the problem, Ford reclaimed some engineering responsibility.
(a) ramify
(b) realign
(c) rectify
(d) register
Q8
The ....... effect of the new philosophy will be felt for years to come by many of the 2,000 production suppliers
Ford taps for parts every day.
(a) rapid
(b) ripple
(c) side
(d) special
Q9
Many suppliers are reserving judgment until the strategy is fully implemented over the next two years, but
most are cautiously ........
(a) optical
(b) optimal
(c) optimistic
(d) optional
Q10 It is humbling for the company that pioneered mass production of the automobile to admit nearly 100 years
later that it took its eye ......., that it sacrificed engineering prowess in what ironically was an attempt to make
itself more efficient.
(a) for an eye
(b) off the ball
(c) out of the socket
(d) to the grindstone

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135. advanced-84
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 84
Product Development (1)
 
Q1
This white paper by the American Productivity & Quality Center explains that the most successful new product
development teams are ......., with representation from a core group of areas such as finance, marketing,
manufacturing, design, engineering, and research.
(a) bilateral
(b) cosmopolitan
(c) metropolitan
(d) multifunctional
Q2
An open communication environment enables team members to ....... ideas around the group, receive
feedback more quickly, and facilitate brainstorming sessions.
(a) balance
(b) better
(c) bounce
(d) bring
Q3
Team membership is vital to the success of the group; ....... program managers to select those individuals they
determine to be of the greatest value is a critical step.
(a) demanding
(b) empowering
(c) inducting
(d) suggesting
Q4
In addition, teams are being given greater authority and held more ....... for the success or failure of the
project.
(a) accessible
(b) accountable
(c) actionable
(d) advisable
Q5
The use of various team reward and recognition structures is mixed, with a trend toward more recognition as
opposed to monetary ........
(a) conceptions
(b) considerations
(c) incentives
(d) incitements
Q6
Several best-practice companies have specific companywide awards for work "....... the call of duty".
(a) above and beyond
(b) inside and outside
(c) through and through
(d) up to and including
Q7
In addition, the NPD process needs a "champion", who is ....... with monitoring and adjusting the process as
new experiences, good or bad, present themselves.
(a) assigned
(b) chored
(c) lumbered
(d) tasked
Q8
The NPD process can be ....... into four general categories: idea generation, concept development, product
and process design, and production and delivery.
(a) broken down
(b) cut up
(c) gathered up
(d) sorted out
Q9
One organization stores all ideas in a database and revisits them until they are ....... useless.
(a) deemed
(b) deleted
(c) determined
(d) discarded
Q10 Once viable ideas are chosen, they must be further developed, examined, and ....... before the select few
concepts proceed to full design.
(a) itemized
(b) prioritized
(c) realized
(d) scrutinized

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136. advanced-85
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 85
Product Development (2)
 
Q1
The American Productivity & Quality Center study identified specific sources that tend to be good idea ....... for
new product development, including market research, focus groups, third-party/inventor input, and
brainstorming.
(a) constructors
(b) containers
(c) generators
(d) guarantors
Q2
The concept development phase requires a more formal review and planning process that ensures the
concepts are technically feasible, will make a ....... product, and will allow the organization to make a profit.
(a) fashionable
(b) reasonable
(c) seasonable
(d) sustainable
Q3
At this point, an executive review generally approves the product for design and additional resource ........
(a) acquisition
(b) advisement
(c) allocation
(d) attachment
Q4
The product and process design stage involves turning the concept into a tangible product design and
transforming that design into ....... prototype or pilot.
(a) an active
(b) an actual
(c) a working
(d) a solid
Q5
Prototypes or pilots allow the designers to test and ....... the ability of the product or service to perform as
originally expected.
(a) approve
(b) guarantee
(c) satisfy
(d) verify
Q6
At this stage, to change the original product ......., some form of approval is required.
(a) classification
(b) generation
(c) identification
(d) specification
Q7
This approval can range from upper management review to individual functional area review to team ........
(a) ballot
(b) consensus
(c) hindsight
(d) poll
Q8
Once the final design is finalized and approved, the product is ....... into production.
(a) admitted
(b) advanced
(c) launched
(d) projected
Q9
A .......-up period normally is required before full production can begin.
(a) level
(b) round
(c) scale
(d) speed
Q10 A quality assurance group within each business unit is responsible for verifying that the product and each
manufacturing site meets the required ........
(a) addenda
(b) agenda
(c) criteria
(d) quota

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137. advanced-86
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 86
Auto Leasing
 
Q1
LeaseGuide.com author Al Hearn explains that automobile leasing is based entirely on the ....... that you pay
for the amount by which a vehicle's value depreciates during the time you're driving it.
(a) concept
(b) design
(c) image
(d) observation
Q2
Depreciation is the difference between a vehicle's original value and its value at lease-end (....... value), and is
the primary factor that determines the cost of leasing.
(a) remnant
(b) reserve
(c) residual
(d) retained
Q3
Generally, European and Japanese automobile ....... have lower depreciation than American brands.
(a) cars
(b) logos
(c) makes
(d) trademarks
Q4
Manufacturer's ....... Retail Price (MSRP) is the full price for a vehicle as displayed on its window sticker,
including optional packages and destination charges.
(a) Sales
(b) Standard
(c) Stated
(d) Suggested
Q5
When you and your dealer sit down and agree on a lease price for a car, this becomes the ....... cost, or "cap
cost".
(a) capitalized
(b) car and package
(c) cash projected
(d) contract approved
Q6
Cap cost can be reduced by rebates, factory-to-dealer incentives, trade-in credit, or a cash ....... payment;
these are known as cap cost reductions.
(a) down
(b) first
(c) key
(d) prior
Q7
When you lease, you're ....... the leasing company's money while you're driving their car and they rightfully
expect you to pay interest on that money, the same as with a loan.
(a) binding over
(b) nailing down
(c) running through
(d) tying up
Q8
This interest is expressed as a money factor, sometimes called lease factor, and is specified as a small .......
number such as.00297.
(a) decimal
(b) denominator
(c) percentile
(d) unrounded
Q9
A good rule of .......: Lease money factors, converted to an annual interest rate, should be comparable to, if not
lower than local new-car loan interest rates.
(a) calculation
(b) law
(c) measure
(d) thumb
Q10 However, you may not qualify for great money factors unless if you have ....... credit rating.
(a) a guaranteed
(b) a relevant
(c) a spotless
(d) an unremarkable

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138. advanced-87
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 87
Essential Advertising
 
Q1
Stephen Whyte, CEO of Leo Burnett, observes that Marshall McLuhan may have had his ....... when uttering
his much-quoted statement, "Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th Century".
(a) foot in his mouth
(c) nose to the grindstone
(b) hat on backwards
(d) tongue in his cheek
Q2
You can dispute whether or not advertising is art, but there is no ....... that advertising is big business.
(a) betting
(b) denying
(c) discussing
(d) speculating
Q3
Advertising's global landscape is changing constantly, as agencies and holding companies consolidate to
achieve international clout and economies of ........
(a) scale
(b) size
(c) state
(d) success
Q4
Media, telecommunications and electronics are converging to become one giant industry, illustrated by
powerful ......., such as the merger between AOL and Time Warner.
(a) alliances
(b) antagonists
(c) competitors
(d) cooperatives
Q5
Media expansion causes problems for advertisers, but it also presents new opportunities by increasing the
possibilities for effectively targeting individuals, rather than taking a ....... approach.
(a) broadside
(b) bulletproof
(c) scattergun
(d) sharpshooter
Q6
Of the three central roles — account manager, planner and creative — only the account handlers manage the
relationship with the client on a ....... basis.
(a) day-in-and-day-out
(b) day-to-day
(c) from-time-to-time
(d) time-after-time
Q7
The account manager is the ....... of the wheel — someone who organises the agency team of account
managers, planners and creatives.
(a) axle
(b) hub
(c) rim
(d) spoke
Q8
The planner's role is to find the most ....... communication strategy and develop a real insight into the
relationship between the brand and the consumer.
(a) compelling
(b) complementary
(c) convenient
(d) convivial
Q9
The creatives are the brilliant executional thinkers, working in teams made up of a copywriter and an art
director to develop the planners' ideas and think up ads which will give brands a strong competitive ........
(a) ability
(b) advantage
(c) ambience
(d) assonance
Q10 We develop relationships with possible future clients, even though sometimes it is years down the line before
something ....... it.
(a) banks on
(b) comes of
(c) happens to
(d) reacts from

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139. advanced-88
Business English / Incomplete Sentences / Advanced level # 88
Asset Classes
 
Q1
Cathy Smart and the investment analysts at 401k Forum help you get down to the ....... with this article about
the different asset classes.
(a) baseline
(b) basement
(c) basics
(d) basis
Q2
Asset classes are the categories that your different investments ....... into — such as cash, bonds, large-cap
stocks, small-cap stocks, and international stocks.
(a) fall
(b) fan
(c) sift
(d) sort
Q3
Studies have shown that the key to successful investing is to ....... your wealth among different asset classes.
(a) diverge
(b) expand
(c) range
(d) spread
Q4
Market capitalization (market cap) is a measure of the size and value of a company; to determine this, you
simply multiply the number of the company's ....... shares of stock by the market price of one share.
(a) corporate
(b) individual
(c) open market
(d) outstanding
Q5
Market capitalization is important because history has shown us that the stocks of companies with different
market caps ....... differently in terms of return and risk.
(a) behave
(b) comply
(c) gain
(d) operate
Q6
Cap-size shift: mid-cap stocks may have once been defined as large cap, but fell out of ....... with investors.
(a) concern
(b) favor
(c) line
(d) satisfaction
Q7
Mid-cap stock performance usually falls somewhere in between the returns of their large- and small-cap