Financial English Vocabulary - Global Economic Meltdown

New Year's resolution

A promise you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.

It's a commitment to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change.

They go into effect on New Year's Day and could be fulfilled but most often they are abandoned.

A: "Have you made any New Year's resolutions?"
B: "Yes, I'm going to eat more healthily and give up smoking."

Most popular New Year's resolutions:

• Lose Weight
• Gain Weight
• Pay Off Debt/s
• Save Money
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Eat Right
• Get a Better Education
• Drink less Alcohol
• Quit Smoking
• Reduce Stress
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others
• Be Less Grumpy

trial period

Period of time during which someone or something is tested.

Most employers will employ a person with a trial period. If the trial period is for three months, at the end of this time (or during), the employer can ask the employee to leave without notice and without the employee being able to claim unfair dismissal.

The idea of a trial period is to test whether or not a person is suitable for the position.

sugar daddy

(noun) (slang) A rich and usually older man who buys presents for or gives money to a young person, especially a woman, usually in order to spend time with her or have a sexual relationship with her.

A wealthy, usually older man who gives expensive gifts to a young person in return for sexual favors or companionship.

The aspiring young actress and the sugar daddy are a classic combination in Hollywood.

New English File Listening 1C: Personality adjectives

03 1C.mp3

LISTENING EXERCISE

• Listen to a man talking about how position in the family has affected his and his family's personality. Which positions does he talk about?

1. oldest child 2. middle child 3. youngest child 4. only child

• Listen again. Which adjectives does he use describe each person?

himself: not spoilt, not s______, not i______, r_______, o______

his father: r______, b______

• Listen again reading the transcript. Try to guess the meaning of any words you don't know. Verify with dictionary.

Transcript

I'm an only child. I don't think I was spoilt, but maybe I was. I don't consider myself to be selfish, but I'm probably not very good at seeing things from other people's point of view. Maybe that's because I'm not very imaginative. I am quite responsible and organized though, so probably most of what the psychologist says is true for me.

Er- other people in my family- well my wife is a youngest child. I think she's quite affectionate, that's true, but she certainly isn't lazy -she's one of the most hardworking people I know, and I say she's charming but she's not manipulative.

My dad is and oldest child and I think it's true that he is much more responsible than his brother and sister, and I know they think he was always quite bossy. Actually they still think he is.

Halloween

In the United States, October 31st has become a major celebration for adults and children. Commercially, Halloween has become second after Christmas in the amount of revenue it generates. Originally, Halloween in the United States was almost exclusively a children's event. Trick-or-treating became a widespread activity after World War II. While treats could include apples and homemade sweets, the favored treat was commercially produced candy. In the United States, then, Halloween has always reflected the commercial culture of capitalism.

People host costume parties with representations of death, evil and chaos in general.

November 1st became, in the sixth century, the Feast of All Saints, or All Hallows. Many of the traditions surrounding this occasion continued, and the Eve of All Hallows, Hallow Evening, has become the word "Hallowe'en." In the ninth century, November 2nd was assigned the Feast of All Souls, a day set aside for prayers for all the departed who had died during the previous year.

Halloween pumpkin

The carved pumpkin , lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols.

The jack-o'-lantern comes from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack: a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer.

He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night. This story has been passed down through generations of Irish families.

The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America. Many families celebrate Halloween carving a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their home's doorstep after dark.

The tradition of carving vegetable lanterns may come from Scotland or England.

Carved pumpkins were originally associated with harvest time in America and did not become specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.

So what?

(INFORMAL) You use this expression when you want to say 'it's not important' or 'I don't care'.

So what if I'm 35 and I'm not married - I lead a perfectly fulfilling life!

"Andrew won't like it, you know." "So what? - I don't care what Andrew thinks!"

Perublogs Tags: so what?

DAILY ROUTINE

daily routine.mp3

I wake up at 6 o’clock
I get up and take a shower
I get dressed
After that I have breakfast at 6:30
I go to work at 6:45
I get to work at 7 o'clock
I have a coffee at 7:15
I work from 7:30 to 12:30
I have lunch at 1 o'clock
I work from 2 to 7
I go home at 7:15
I go to the gym at 8pm
I have dinner at 9:30
Then I watch TV from 10 to 11
Finally I go to bed at 11:30

disposable income

The amount of income after taxes have been paid, available for spending and saving.

SUGGESTION: Go to "Listening" and listen to Bill Vlasic's report on General Motors reporting a second-quarter loss of $15.5 billion.

***** DESCRIBING PEOPLE *****

Here you can find some adjectives which can help you to describe people. Also some examples on how to use them. To describe a person you can talk about the following seven items: height, weight, build, face & head, age, looks and personality.


1. HEIGHT: short, medium-height, tall.

Mary is a very tall woman.

Tom is quite short.

My father is medium-height.

2. WEIGHT: skinny, slim, thin, chubby (fat in a pleasant, atractive way), overweight, fat, obese (really big).

Cynthia is really slim.

I was very thin when I was in the hospital.

The doctor said I'm overweight.

My baby has chubby legs and chubby cheeks.

3. BUILD: well-built (a person who is large & strong)

My brother works out every day so he's well-built.

4. FACE & HEAD:

Skin color: dark, light.
Eyes color: brown, blue, green
Hair length: short, shoulder-length, long.
Hair color: blonde, brown, black, grey, red.
Hair shape: straight, wavy, curly.
Face hair: a beard/ a mustache.

She has dark hair and dark skin.
She has brown eyes.
Linda has blonde hair and light skin.
Fidel Castro has always had a beard and a mustache.
Rose has short black hair.
Sarah has lovely wavy blond hair.

5. AGE:

My grandmother is 97. She's very old.
My sister is 14. She's young.
My father is 50. He's middle-aged.
My cousin is in her twenties.
My uncle is in his late forties.

6. LOOKS:

Gorgeous (extremely beautiful)
Pretty/beautiful (for women only)
Handsome (for men only)
Atractive/good looking
Average-looking
Plain (not atractive)
Homely/ugly (not very atractive)

My sister is very pretty. She's a beautiful girl.
Johnny Depp is a handsome man.
Julia Roberts is gorgeous.
My next-door neighboor is not ugly or beautiful. She's average looking.
My secretary is quite plain.

7. PERSONALITY:

Friendly, unfriendly
Funny, serious
Generous, mean
Lazy, hard-working
Shy, extrovert or outgoing
Talkative, quiet

My boss is a very outgoing person. He makes friends very easily.
My daughter is talkative at home but very quite at school.
My company is full of hard-working people.
Linda is really shy. She's uncomfortable around people.

food, cooking

FRUITS & VEGETABLES: WATERMELON, PEACH, PARSLEY, CUCUMBER, CELERY

TABLE: UTENSILS, PLACEMAT, NAPKINS, FORK, SPOON, TEASPOON, STEAK KNIFE, TABLECLOTH

WAYS OF COOKING: ROASTED, BAKED, GRILLED, FRIED, BOILED

PARTS OF THE MENU: STARTERS, MAIN COURSE, DESSERTS

DISH: STEW