When could the risk of asbestos disappeared according to the passage？A) When we adopt

Key Points Concerning A Sales Contract

A sales contract embodies a set of different terms such as quality, quantity, payments, delivery, and insurance, etc. When the exporter and customer are negotiating, they should consider and agree upon these terms. Apparently, each party hopes to stipulate terms favorable for himself. But arrangements which are advantageous to one party are often disadvantageous to the other party. Therefore, some practical suggestions and tactics should be given adequate importance in negotiation of a contract. In this sector, you will have a look on the problems international trade negotiators may face and suggestions in solving them.

Name of goods

It is recommended that the names of goods to be exported correspond to the names used in the customs lists of the importing country, in order to minimize problems at customs, and to facilitate calculation of import duties.

The exporter should be consistent in the names he uses for his products, referring to them precisely as he does in the catalogs he gives to the importers, for the purpose of avoiding any trouble of breach of an agreement for nonconforming goods.

Quantity

In indicating length, weight, volume and so on, the metric system should be used unless the sale is between countries which use another system.

For goods whose quantity could easily decrease during transportation, the biggest issue will be where and when to establish the quantity as a basis of payment and so on. The buyer wants the quantity to be determined upon receipt of the goods at his warehouse, while the seller wants to establish the quantity at the time of shipment at his plant. This issue can be solved only in connection with the closely related issues of risk of loss and insurance.

Quality

An order specifying goods "as per sample" is apt to lead to trouble, because often it is not made clear that a sample is first requested as a basis for future orders, and because it is not always clear just how much deviation from the sample will be tolerated. It is therefore recommended that the quality of goods be specified by specifications or detailed description of samples and that these specifications or descriptions be made a part of the agreement.

Price

The contract price will be closely related to the conditions of delivery, such as FOB, CFR, or CIF. One of these delivery terms will be chosen after consideration of the economic and political factors involved. The problem here is that these terms are not always understood to mean the same thing. For example, in common practice, delivery is deemed completed, and title to the product and the risk of loss pass to the importer, upon shipment. This definition of delivery is called FOB. However, the definition of FOB under Incoterms differs from the definition used in the USA. Therefore, to avoid the problems arising from the different possible meanings of these terms, it is highly recommended that each of these terms, whenever used in an agreement, be defined in it.

A drastic change in the foreign exchange rate could absorb all the profit expected from a transaction or could even cause a deficit. Both parties, therefore, may wish to establish their right to request a price change or to cancel the agreement in such a case. An importer can avoid this risk of foreign exchange rate by insisting on a price in his own country.

Destination

In the event that the destination port is too crowded , and the exporter's ship must wait for many days to enter the port, transportation expense will necessarily be increased. These will be borne by either the exporter or the importer depending upon the agreements made between the two. Even in CIF or CFR contracts, it is possible to provide that the importer will bear any additional port charge. If a port cannot be safely used because of war, the doctrine of force majeure usually excuses a ship from delivering products at the port. In such a case, the exporter should be allowed to deliver the goods at the nearest port possible, especially when the disabling disturbances continue for some time. In general, it is wise for the exporter to set forth in his contract a list of several ports at which the goods may be delivered.

Insurance

The exporter will want insurance to be taken out to cover war risks, strikes, riots, civil commotion, spontaneous combustion, and other risks of this type which are usually exempted from insurance. The exporter will want this coverage to be at the importer's expense, by means of including the insurance premiums in CIF or CFR prices. Both parties should keep in mind that taking out of insurance will be closely related to the contract clause that allocates the risk of loss. A conlract should make clear when and where the risk of loss or damage passes from the exporter to the importer. The exporter then need not worry about loss or damage after the risk has passed to the importer; and the importer need not worry about insurance covering damages that occur before the risk passes to him.

Customs duty

There will be no dispute over the common practice that customs duties are to be paid by the importer. However, the importer will argue that the exporter must pay any additional duties imposed as a result of the exporter's errors as to quantity or price indication, and that the exporter should pay any additional expense due to the exporter's mistake or mishandling.

The exporter will have to accept such an argument by the importer if the importer has provided clear instructions with regard to labeling, documentation, or other specifications affecting customs procedures with which the exporter has not complied.

Questions for reading :

2 The risk committee at Southern Continents Company (SCC) met to discuss a report by its risk manager, Stephanie

Field. The report focused on a number of risks that applied to a chemicals factory recently acquired by SCC in another

country, Southland. She explained that the new risks related to the security of the factory in Southland in respect of

burglary, to the supply of one of the key raw materials that experienced fluctuations in world supply and also an

environmental risk. The environmental risk, Stephanie explained, was to do with the possibility of poisonous

emissions from the Southland factory.

The SCC chief executive, Choo Wang, who chaired the risk committee, said that the Southland factory was important

to him for two reasons. First, he said it was strategically important to the company. Second, it was important because

his own bonuses depended upon it. He said that because he had personally negotiated the purchase of the Southland

factory, the remunerations committee had included a performance bonus on his salary based on the success of the

Southland investment. He told Stephanie that a performance-related bonus was payable when and if the factory

achieved a certain level of output that Choo considered to be ambitious. ‘I don’t get any bonus at all until we reach

a high level of output from the factory,’ he said. ‘So I don’t care what the risks are, we will have to manage them.’

Stephanie explained that one of her main concerns arose because the employees at the factory in Southland were not

aware of the importance of risk management to SCC. She said that the former owner of the factory paid less attention

to risk issues and so the staff were not as aware of risk as Stephanie would like them to be. ‘I would like to get risk

awareness embedded in the culture at the Southland factory,’ she said.

Choo Wang said that he knew from Stephanie’s report what the risks were, but that he wanted somebody to explain

to him what strategies SCC could use to manage the risks.

Required:

(a) Describe four strategies that can be used to manage risk and identify, with reasons, an appropriate strategy

for each of the three risks mentioned in the case. (12 marks)

Can ballet change Lives？

21.____Last night I was worried,very worried. I had the job of going to watch amateur ballet dancers performing on stage with one of the UK's top professional ballet companies. A performance like this seemed very risky and! asked myself, 'Are they mad？'Before I tell you the answer,I'll tell you why I had such big doubts.

22.____The idea of mixing amateur and professional dancers started a couple of years ago when two friends with very different jobs found a way of working together. One of the men had created an award-winning TV series. Musicality ,in which amateurs trained to perform. in the musical Chicago. The other man runs a charity called Youth at Risk which works with young people who have serious problems with aggression and antisocial behaviour. Although it was a risk, the two men thought they could make a TV programme in which ballet changed the lives of young people with problems.

23.____Their idea was this: if the young people could accept the strict discipline and challenge of ballet training,it would build their self-esteem and give them new confidence in themselves. The first step was to find suitable teenagers to take part and they asked teachers and youth workers already working professionally with young people at risk, to find candidates for the project. Through them 300 young people joined the programme and although about half dropped out,in the end sixty teenagers appeared on stage in the public performance.

24.____The ballet they chose was Sergei Prokofie's Romeo and Juliet ,choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan. The story of Romeo and Juliet includes family conflict, the generation gap ,gangs, murder ,young love and teenage suicide so it is the perfect mirror for the lives of troubled young people in today's society.

25.____Going back to my original question: 'Are they mad？' The answer is definitely ‘no’. As soon as the ballet started, my worries disappeared. It was amazing how these unlikely dancers were magically transformed into their characters. At the end of the evening I was left with this thought: 'ballet can change lives'. It is a dancing cure, not a talking cure; it is silent so it stops arguments.

A. Why I love going to the ballet

B. Where the idea came from

C. Why I was worried

D. Romeo and Juliet is the perfect choice

E. A new star is born in Chicago

F. How they found the young people

G. My final thoughts

H. A dancer's life

ted its 40th birthday, Facebook has produced something that it hopes will make certain of the devices even more useful. On April 4th the giant social network 36 Home, new software that is designed to give it more prominence on mobile phones powered by Android, an operating system developed by Google. This matters because more and more folk are now accessing social networks from mobile devices rather than from desktop computers and because mobile advertising 37 are growing fast, albeit from a low base. Without a robust mobile 38 , Facebook could see some of its users siphoned off by rivals born in the mobile era. And it could miss out on a 39 massive source of new revenue. There had been 40 that Facebook was working on a phone of its own, or at least on a mobile operating system to rival Android or Apples IOS. But dabbling in hardware at this stage of its development would be a huge risk for Facebook and developing a rival operating system would risk 41 Apple and Google, whose mobile platforms have helped power its advertising growth, eMarketer, a research firm, 42 Facebook is on track to win 11% of the $13.6 billion likely to be spent around the world on mobile ads this year. Home, which is a group of Facebook apps, avoids both pitfalls. Among other things, it 43 a phones home screen (and lock screen) to Facebooks Newsfeed, allowing people to get updates on what their friends are doing without having to launch a 44 app each time they want news. A phone using Home will also notify you when your friends are doing something new, as well as alerting you to new data from other apps. Another feature is a tool called "Chat Heads" that 45 Facebooks message system to a phones regular SMS message offering. This means messages pop up on the home screen along with the senders profile picture, which is enclosed in a small circle.请回答（36）题__________.

Council. It has been known for some time that the amount of sleep people get has,【C1】______declined over the years. But【C2】______the average amount of sleep we are getting has fallen, rates of obesity and diabetes have soared. Could the two be connected？ We wanted to see what the【C3】______would be of increasing average sleep by just one hour. So we asked seven volunteers, who【C4】______sleep anywhere between six and nine hours, to be【C5】______at the University of Surreys Sleep Research Centre. The volunteers were randomly【C6】______to two groups. One group was asked to sleep for six-and-a-half hours a night, the other got seven-and-a-half hours. After a week the researchers took blood tests and the volunteers were asked to switch sleep【C7】______. The group that had been sleeping six-and-a-half hours got an【C8】______hour, the other group slept an hour less. Computer tests designed to measure brain wave activity【C9】______that most of them struggled with mental agility tasks when they had less sleep, but the most interesting results came from the blood tests that were【C10】______. Dr Simon Archer and his team at Surrey University were【C11】______interested in looking at the genes that were switched on or off in our volunteers【C12】______changes in the amount that we had made them sleep. "We found that【C13】______there were around 500 genes that were affected," Archer【C14】______. "Some which were going up, and some which were going down." What they discovered is that when the volunteers【C15】______back from seven-and-a-half to six-and-a-half hours sleep a night, genes that are【C16】______with processes like immune response and response to stress became more【C17】______The team also saw increase in the activity of genes related to diabetes and risk of cancer. The【C18】______happened when the volunteers added an hour of sleep. So the clear【C19】______from this experiment was that if you are getting less than seven hours sleep a night and can alter your sleep habits, even one hour more, it could make you【C20】______.

【C1】

A．by chance

B．on average

C．at length

D．for good

le, who was a consultant for the FBI, and had a major motion picture about his life called Catch Me If You Can, said "Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States". People use skimmers and other electronic devices to steal credit card numbers, and your personal information. With new advancements in technology, like the internet, it has become even easier to steal someone's personal information. The internet has underground websites that sell thousands of credit card numbers and their pin numbers for very little money. Linda Foley, of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, says "You cannot protect a person from identity theft. It is impossible. All we can do is minimize our risk." There are many things that we can do to minimize the risk of identity theft. You should shred all documents with any personal, credit card, or banking information on them. Also people should be very careful how they use social media, like Facebook or Twitter. Whatever you put out there might be used against you somehow later. We need to set up a better way to catch these criminals who are destroying innocent lives. There needs to be some kind of global agency working together to stop these people before they can do too much damage. What we do not want to do is outsource the job of catching these people, because there is a lot of money involved. These identity thieves can make huge amounts of money with very little effort, so corruption could be a major concern. We would also need a huge amount of accountants who understand how these fraudsters operate. Identity theft is no longer a small problem. It has gone global, and affects all the major economies of the world. People cannot spend their hard earned money when these identity thieves are stealing it. This fraud could end up becoming one of the major factors that could collapse a country's economy. Identity theft could turn a rich man poor, and a poor man rich within a very short period.

(1)Identity theft is a huge social problem only in the U.S.

(2)Progress in technology has made identity theft easier.

(3)Personal information security and privacy are utterly important.

(4)In Linda Foley's eyes, it is impossible to minimize the risk of identity theft.

(5)Good habits in people's daily life, global cooperation and an anti-corruption campaign are all helpful in the fighting against identity theft.

YOUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT IS KILLING YOU!

Many of us spend plenty of our time at work, but rarely give much thought to how our environment might be affecting us.

Open offices could be making you unproductive and unhappy. A 2011 review of studies examined the effects of various types of office environments. It found that open offices can have a negative impact on workers when it comes to focus, efficiency, creativity and job satisfaction12. However, a 2013 study found that employees with private offices were more satisfied at work.

A noisy workspace could be killing your concentration because of phones ringing and colleagues chatting, typing and moving around. These noises are the “enemy of focus” and meaningful time is lost.

Your working environment could be upping your stress levels. A recent Monster.com poll found that 42 percent of U.S. workers have left a job due to stressful environment. It also found that 61 percent of American workers believe that work stress has been a cause of illness.

A sedentary lifestyle. increases your risk of disease. We’ve all heard that “sitting is the new smoking”. Your desk job could almost be killing you. Sitting at a desk all day can also contribute to aches and pains, while staring at a computer screen for hours can cause vision problems and headaches.

It’s no exaggeration that your working environment is killing you. Be alert!

1. Many of us __________ pay much attention to our working environment. {A; B; C}

A. seldom

B. often

C. always

2. Open offices could make you __________.{A; B; C}

A. efficient and unhappy

B. inefficient and upset

C. relaxed and happy

3. It was found that employees with _________ were more satisfied at work. {A; B; C}

A. private offices

B. open offices

C. new offices

4. According to the passage, _________ are the “enemy of focus”. {A; B; C}

A. colleagues chatting

B. phone ringing

C. noises

5. Staring at a computer screen for hours increases your chances of _________. {A; B; C}

A. vision problems

B. headaches

C. Both A and B

4 Total Project Risk:

A. should not be calculated for small projects

B. is the probability of each project risk event times the sum of the consequences of individual project risk events which could occur during the project.

C. Is the cumulative sum of the probability of each individual project risk event times the consequences of occurrence of that risk event.

D. A and B

E. A and C

only if that risk occurred as the proximate cause of the loss suffered.()

About half of the infant and maternal deaths in developing countries could be avoided if women had used family planning methods to prevent high risk pregnancies。