IELTS Preparation Series 1, Episode 22: Finance
(Bấm vào đây để xem/nghe bài kế tiếp)
Xem lời thoại bên dưới:
0:14
Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to another episode of Study English, IELTS preparation.
0:20
Today we're going to listen to a finance report. It's filled with numbers and amounts, expressed
0:26
in a variety of ways.
0:27
It's important to be able to understand and describe numerical data using decimals, fractions
0:34
and currencies.
0:35
Listen to the day's finance report.
0:38
The Australian dollar, today Tuesday the 11th of November, continues to rise against the
0:44
US dollar, buying just over 70 cents, a 15 year high.
0:49
Against other currencies, however, the trend is a little different, falling against the
0:53
pound, closing at 0.425, a slight drop on yesterday, and 0.61 euros. The yen is also
1:02
strengthening at 71.95, and considerably higher against the greenback at 111.03 yen.
1:11
The Dow Jones Index closed today at 9809.79, a fall of 47.18 on yesterday's trading.
1:20
The Sydney Stock Market doubled its trading yesterday with BHP Billiton trading heavily.
1:26
The latest retail figures showed that turnover grew by 3.2% in the June quarter, the fastest
1:32
quarterly growth rate for five and a half years. At the same time, unemployment fell
1:37
to its lowest level in twelve and a half years.
1:40
OK, first we're going to look at decimals, and how you express them. Listen carefully
1:46
again.
1:47
Against other currencies, however, the trend is a little different, falling against the
1:52
pound, closing at 0.425, a slight drop on yesterday, and 0.61 euros. The yen is also
2:00
strengthening at 71.95, and considerably higher against the greenback at 111.03 yen.
2:10
The Dow Jones Index closed today at 9809.79, a fall of 47.18 on yesterday's trading.
2:19
In English, decimals are written with a point, not a comma.
2:23
So we write 4.25, 6.1.
2:28
When you say the numbers after the decimal point, you say them all separately, as individual
2:35
numbers.
2:36
So we have:
2:37
seventy one point nine five
2:41
forty seven point one eight
2:45
nine thousand eight hundred and nine point seven nine
2:50
Notice that a zero is often spoken as 'oh'.
2:54
Practice saying these numbers:
2:59
three hundred and twenty six point oh one
3:04
four point eight nine seven
3:11
nine hundred and two point three oh eight
3:15
Listen again:
3:17
Against other currencies, however, the trend is a little different, falling against the
3:21
pound, closing at 0.425, a slight drop on yesterday, and 0.61 euros. The yen is also
3:30
strengthening at 71.95, and considerably higher against the greenback at 111.03 yen.
3:39
The Dow Jones Index closed today at 9809.79, a fall of 47.18 on yesterday's trading.
3:48
The Sydney Stock Market doubled its trading yesterday with BHP Billiton trading heavily.
3:54
You can hear that when using numbers, there are often alternatives, and many choices you
3:59
can make.
3:59
So conversationally, we would usually say one hundred and eleven point oh three, but
4:08
will also often hear one hundred and eleven point zero three.
4:13
Here, we could say: zero point four two five
4:17
nought point four two five or even just point four two five
4:23
Notice that in North America, people usually say zero, not nought or 'oh'.
4:29
OK, now the other way of expressing numbers less than one is using fractions.
4:35
Listen to the fractions here.
4:37
The latest retail figures showed that turnover grew by 3.2% in the June quarter, the fastest
4:43
quarterly growth rate for five and a half years. At the same time, unemployment fell
4:48
to its lowest level in twelve and a half years.
4:52
She uses the most common fraction - a half.
4:57
Listen to how we say common fractions:
4:59
a half
5:00
a third
5:01
a quarter
5:02
two thirds
5:05
five eights
5:06
three quarters
5:08
Notice that once you understand the pattern, you can express any fraction you want.
5:13
Try these:
5:15
seven eighteenths
5:17
16 thirtieths
5:19
14 fortieths
5:20
OK, now listen again to some of the report. Listen for different currencies:
5:28
Against other currencies, however, the trend is a little different, falling against the
5:33
pound, closing at 0.425, a slight drop on yesterday, and 0.61 euros. The yen is also
5:41
strengthening at 71.95, and considerably higher against the greenback at 111.03 yen.
5:50
There were a number of different currencies mentioned in that clip:
5:55
the pound; the euro; the yen; the greenback.
6:00
Let's have a look at them.
6:02
Lots of countries use a dollar.
6:05
In Australia, the Australian dollar is usually expressed with the dollar sign.
6:10
But internationally, it's written like this AUD. We read this the Australian dollar.
6:18
In United States, they use the dollar as well. It's the USD, the United States dollar. But
6:27
often called the greenback, because it's green.
6:31
In Great Britain they use the pound. It is written GBP, but it's often called the pound
6:38
sterling.
6:39
In the European Union, they use the euro dollar, written like this - EUR.
6:46
In Japan, it's the yen, written JPY.
6:51
In China, it's the yuan, written CNY, and the renminbi, RMB.
6:59
Notice that we write the currency before the number, but we say it after the number.
7:05
So we read:
7:06
two dollars.
7:08
or four pounds fifteen.
7:11
Notice also how we read longer numbers:
7:14
three thousand, four hundred and seventy Japanese yen
7:19
one hundred and ninety two Australian dollars
7:22
Notice that when spoken naturally the one often becomes 'a' and the 'and' becomes squashed.
7:30
We don't say one hundred and ninety two but a hundred n ninety two.
7:36
Try this one:
7:40
a hundred and twenty seven thousand, three hundred and twenty two Hong Kong dollars
7:46
OK, now let's listen to the report again, and then we'll look at another important use
7:51
of numbers.
7:52
The Australian dollar, today Tuesday the 11th of November, continues to rise against the
7:57
US dollar, buying just over 70 cents, a 15 year high.
8:03
Notice that she says Tuesday the 11th of November.
8:07
Saying simple things like the date can be confusing in English, as the way they're said
8:14
varies.
8:15
In Australia, we say the 11th of November, or November the 11th. Notice that it's written
8:22
without the words 'the', or 'of'.
8:27
For the 13th of February 2005, Australians would write this: 13.05.2005.
8:36
But in North America, they'd write it: 02.13.2005.
8:41
You'll need to learn these to make sure you don't turn up somewhere on the wrong day!
8:50
So remember that in Australia they write the date: day dot month dot year,
9:00
but in North America, they write: month dot day dot year.
9:07
And there is an international standard that says the format should be: year dot month
9:14
dot day.
9:16
With numbers, dates, times, there are all sorts of variations. Just make sure you understand
9:22
the currency, the time and the date, or you could find yourself in all sorts of trouble!
9:27
And I'll see you soon for more Study English!
9:30
Bye bye.
