Stocks & Shares （ continuous ）

1. Stocks & Shares（continuous） English Department, Huzhou Teachers College

2. Objectives • 1) To enable students to talk about financial trends. • 2) Learn to describe the rise and fall of a share. • 3) To review the language of similarity and difference. • 4) To enable students to discuss trends in writing.

3. Tasks and schemes • 1)Check 8’ • 2)Oral practice. 47’ • 3) Share price description. 35’

4. Oral practice on p.17 • Where can you find out about a company’s share price? • Financial pages of newspapers, internet • Page除了指书页外，还可以经常用来表示报纸的版面、专页。该词还可以用来表示图文电视广播中的不同版快。 • Financial pages of Teletext. • Tele-（combination form）over a distance / by television • Teletext图文广播电视，即通过电视屏幕向公众播送图象、文字新闻，如股市行情、走势图。 • Financial press • According to your own experience and the experience of the people around you, can you tell us how common investing in shares is in China?

5. Two forms of investments: individual investment and company or group investment. • Individual investment:（individuals might invest in shares） • To make a quick profit from privatizations. • To get a better return on long-term investment than in a traditional savings scheme • As part of a benefits package（share options） • Benefits package福利套餐，指员工工资以外的福利，如健康保险、住房和股票等。 • Because it was necessary to drive long distances to see customers, the benefits package we offered to sales people at our company included a new car.

6. share options: 优先认股权、股票期权，指在规定的日期按规定的优惠价格认购一定股票数额的权利。优先认股权通常作为一种公司福利提供给本公司员工。 • A share/stock option plan gives him shares in the company which he can sell at a profit if the price goes up. • To become eligible(Qualified or entitled to be chosen: 合格的：有资格或有权力被选中的) for shareholder perks(n.Informal （名词）【非正式用语】 Aperquisite:额外补贴; money or goods that one gets regularly and lawfully form one’s work apart from pay津贴、额外收入、外快). • To support a company they like. • Company or group investment:（companies might invest in shares）

7. To avoid paying tax • To reinvest profits（利润再投资） • To increase company pension funds. • To have a participating interest in other companies（in stock swaps with other companies, in hostile takeover bids etc.） • Stock swap（exchange）: 股票调换交易，指不同上市公司的股票进行的调换交易 • Hostile takeover bid进行恶意收购投标；恶意收购指出价公司在收购目标公司股权时，虽然面对强烈抗拒，却依然强行收购；或出价公司事先不与目标公司接触和协商，而突然提出公开出价收购。 • To consolidate strategic alliances(A close association of nations or other groups, formed to advance common interests or causes:联盟，同盟).

8. Oral practice on p.19 • If you have a million dollars to invest in shares, would you be prepared to invest to internet shares? Why or why not? • Yes • to pursue for trendy and fashionable. • Some of them enjoy high brand awareness. • The promise of a quick and good profit. • The promise of a quick and good profit. • Offer potential for rapid growth. • Have good prospects, with on-line transaction, e-banking, cyber-community, teleworking on the increase

9. No • Risky and very easily go away like bubbles(泡沫, 幻想的计划). • Volatile(Tending to vary often or widely, as in price:易波动的，不稳定的：易于经常或大幅度变化的，如价格). • Anything but a safe investment. • Anything but(adv. Never) • Lack of a reliable security system. • Not familiar with web-based technology.

10. share prices description on p.19 • Describing graphs: the graph below shows the price for Amazon.com shares over a twelve month period. • As you can see, there was a general upward trend in the first six months, with shares going from just $14 to over $100 a share by December last year. But then in January this year, they really took off, soaring to almost $200. Predictably enough, I suppose, investors took advantage of these sharp gains and we saw a sell-off, which meant that by February, Amazon shares had fallen back to their December level again. We’ve seen one sell-off this year but there’s any real need to panic about current losses, there was a very strong recovery and by May, they’d more than doubled in value again, peaking at nearly $220. So I think the recent losses were fairly predictable. But having said that, the price has collapsed by nearly 50 per cent in the last four weeks. And finally, there we have today’s price, down almost $6 at just over $111.

11. Look at the share prices of IBM Corporation and America Online, Inc. over a twelve month period on page 20. Comparing the performance of the tow shares. • The share prices of both IBM and AOL showed a general upward trend from June until the end of 1998. However, while AOL shares then continued to rise steadily over the next three months, the price of IBM shares fell lightly. By March 1999 both shares were worth about $100. • AOL shares then shot up, almost doubling in value within four weeks. They reached a high of $180 in mid-April before collapsing to just over $100 per share at the beginning of May. There was a slight recovery during that month however, despite this, by June 1999 the price of AOL shares was once again about $100. In contrast, despite minor fluctuations, IBM shares made a steady recovery over the three month period, finishing at just over $100, almost equal to AOL.