Ten Attributes of a Good Employee
Here are 10 of the qualities Bill Gates finds in the best and brightest employees the companies should attract and retain.
First, it is important to have a fundamental curiosity1 about the product of your company or group. You have to use the product yourself.
Second, you need a genuine (, ) interest in discussion with customers about how they use your product,
what they like or don't like in order to know where your company's product could be better.
Third, once you understand your customer's needs, you have to enjoy thinking through how this product can make work more interesting.
These first three points are related. Success comes from understanding and caring deeply about your products, your technology and your customers' needs.
Fourth, you as an individual employee should develop your own skills and those of the people you work with. If maximizing your next bonus2 or salary increase is all that motivates you, you are likely to lose an opportunity to benefit from teamwork3 that creates success in the long term.
Fifth, you need to have specialized knowledge or skills while maintaining a broad perspective. Big companies, in particular, need employees who can learn specialties4 quickly, so a willingness to learn is critical.
Sixth, you have to be flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities that can give you perspective. At Microsoft Co., they try to offer a person lots of different jobs in the course of a career. Anyone interested in joining management is encouraged () to work in different customer units, even if it means moving within the organization or relocating to a different part of the world. Microsoft Co. has many employees working for their US subsidiaries in other countries. This helps them better understand world markets.
Seventh, a good employee will want to learn the economics of the business. Why does the company do what it does? What are its business models? How does it make money? And a company, in turn, should educate its employees in the fundamental financial realities of its industry.
Eighth, you must focus on competitors, i.e., you must think about what is going on in the marketplace. What are your company's competitors doing that is smart5? What can we learn from them? How can we avoid their mistakes?
Ninth, you've got to use your head. Analyze problems to understand the implications ( , ) of potential tradeoffs6 of all kinds, including the tradeoff between acting sooner with less information and later with more. Use your head in practical ways. Prioritize your time effectively.
Finally, don't fail to see the obvious essentials, such as being honest, ethical7 and hard working. These attributes are critical and go without saying.
Notes to the Text
1. strong desire to learn / know about smth.
Addition to usual payment
Combined effort
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Special activities, operations, products, etc.
5. skillful, clever (=quick in learning and understanding things)
Compromise, compromising decision, choice
Of moral principles
annum - per annum [per'aenem]
asset t'aeset] n ;
balance ['baelens] n account ~
belief [bi'lhf] n ; ,
bid [bid] n ( )
bidding ['bidirj n
bill [bil] n ,
bonus ['beunes] n ,
buyer ['baie] n
card [ka:d] n ; identity ; credit ; smart ,
cash [kaej]
challenge ['tfaelmdj] ; ; v , challenging , ,
charge [tfa:cfe] v , ;
cheque Itfek] coin [] coinage ['koinidj] ;
commerce ['komes] (); competitor [kem'petite] ;
compile [kem'pail] v (); ,
consumer [ken'sju.me]
contract ['kontraekt] v , ,
corporate [':pent] ,
curiosity ^kjueri'ositi] ,
currency ['kArensi] customer ['kASteme] , ,
D
demand [di'ma:nd] n
distribution ^distn'bjuijen] n ,
diverse [dai've:s] ,
division [di'v^en] n
E
earn [:] v
emergency [I'meicfcensi] n
employee [,emploi'i] n ; ;
empower [im'paue] v ,
encourage [in'kAridj] v
enterprising ['entepraizirj
ethical ['eGikel] ,
expenditure [iks'penditfe] n ,
expense [iks'pens] n , ; at the ~ of
extraordinary [iks'tro:dnri] ,
F
fee [fj:] n , ; ,
forecast ['fo:ka:st] n ,
funds [fAndz] n , ()
G
gain [gein] v , ,
H
handle ['haendl] v ;
holder ['heulde] ; credit card
I
income [']
insurance [m'Juerens]
interest ['intrist]
intranet [m'traenet]
inventory ['inventri] ; ()
investment [investment] , , invest v ,
issue ['ifu:]['isju] v
key [kl:] v ; ~in
L
limit [limit] credit
loan [leun] ,
logistics [leu'djistiks]
maintain [mein'tem] v ,
manage ['maenicfc] v,
; money
,
market ['ma:kit] , ,
marketing ['ma:kitiri] ; ; ,
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memo ['miimeu] ; ,
N
network ['netwe.k] n number ['] n personal identification
order [':!] n ;
overheads [,9uve'hedz] n
P
pace [peis] n ,
package ['paekidj] n ; of services
payment ['peiment] n , ,
personnel [,pe:s9'nel] n ,
price [prais] n ; retail ; wholesale
productivity [^procUk'tiviti] n
proficient [pre'fifent] ,
profit ['profit] n ,
promotion ['/] n ; ,
prosper ['prospe] v
purchase ['pe:tjes] n ; v
R
raise [reiz] v ; n
relief [ri'li.f] n ; ; ( )
respond [ris'pond] v ,
retrieve [ri'trhv] v (); ,
return [ri'te:n] , ; tax
S
salary ['saeleri] ()
sales [seilz] , , ; representative ; target ; ; salesman save [seiv] v , saving savings seller ['sele] share [Jse] , ; ; ; market
specialty ['spejelti] ,
,
()
staff [sta:f] ();
,
state [steit] v ,
storage ['stoincfc] ;
streamline ['strkmlain] v ,
subsidiary [seb'sidjen] ;
supply [se'plai] , ; and demand supplier [se'plaia]
teller ['tele] , ; ~ machine tense [tens] thrive [Graiv] (throve, thriven) v ,
totality [teu'taeliti] n ,
tradeoff ['treidef] n ;
transaction [traen'zaekjen] , , {, )
turnover ['te:n,euve] ,
U
unit ['ju:nit] ; of account
V
value f'vaelju:] , vital [Vaitl] ,
W
wages ['weicfeaz] ()
warehouse ['weehaus] ; v ,
warehousing ,
withdraw [wiU'dro:] v ;
Y yield [ji:ld]
2
Text 1
? .
What Is Law?
The word law refers to limits upon various forms of behaviour. In all societies, relations between people are regulated by prescriptive laws, laws which prescribe how people ought to behave. For example, the speed limits are laws that prescribe how fast drivers should drive. Some of such laws are customs, that is, informal rules of social and moral behaviour. And some of them are precise laws made by individual nations, governments and enforced against all citizens within their power.
The purpose of government-made laws is social control (without laws there would be anarchy in society) and the implementation of justice. Sometimes laws are simply an attempt to implement common sense. It is obvious to most people that dangerous driving should be punished. But in order to be enforced, common sense needs to be defined in law.
The laws made by the government of one country are often very different from the laws of another country. But the law today is, to a large extent, a complex of different and relatively independent national systems. Despite major revisions over the centuries, the legal system of England and Wales is one of the oldest still operating in the modern world. English law has directly influenced the law of former British colonies such as Australia, India, Canada and the nation where law plays a bigger part in everyday life than anywhere else, the United States. In addition, although the legal systems of Western Europe and Japan come from rather different traditions, there are enough similarities in principle and institution.
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Each country in the world, even each state of the United States, has its own system of law. But it should be said that there are two main traditions of law in the world. One is based on English Common Law, and has been adopted by many Commonwealth countries and most of the United States. The other tradition, sometimes known as Continental, or Roman law, has developed in most of
continental Europe, Latin America and Africa which have been strongly influenced by Europe. Continental law has also influenced Japan's legal system. In these countries Continental systems have resulted from attempts by governments to produce a set of precise, detailed codes to govern every legal aspect of a citizen's life.
Text 2
? .
Law, Order, Crime
When somebody breaks the law and does something against the law the police must investigate who is responsible for a crime. If they find the person who committed the crime, they arrest him or her. At the police station the person is questioned and charged with the crime. He must then be sent to court for trial.
The person charged with the crime is now called the defendant or accused. In court, he must try to prove that he is innocent. The jury listens to all the evidence for and against the defendant and then makes their decision.
If the jury decides that the defendant is guilty, the judge will give the sentence. For example, if a person is convicted of murder, the sentence will be many years in prison. The person then becomes a prisoner and the place he lives in is called a cell. For minor offences (that is, crime that is not serious, e.g. illegal parking), the punishment is usually a fine. To fight crime the courts now give tougher punishments for crimes committed than in the past (e.g. bigger fines or longer prison sentences). There is capital punishment (death by electric chair or hanging) for some crimes. If a person convicted of a crime is put on probation, instead of punishment, he must behave well for a period of 1-3 years. If he is convicted of another crime while on probation, he will also be punished for the original crime. Suspended sentence1 is a prison sentence of less than two years which does not take effect unless the convicted person commits another crime during the period specified by the court. Corporal punishment consists of causing a person to physical pain, e.g. by whipping. A community service order2 is a court order to a person convicted of a crime to do a certain number of hours of work without pay in the local community instead of another form of punishment.
Common offences like theft, robbery, burglary, shoplifting; more serious offences such as murder, manslaughter and rape, crimes against public morals, pollution and traffic offences are aris-
ing every day in the courts. Thief, robber, burglar, shoplifter, murderer, rapist are criminals.
People who defend criminals and present evidence are called barristers (lawyers) or attorneys (in Am Eng).
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Notes to the Text
1. Suspended sentence
2. community service order
1. .
1. You are convicted of an offence.
2. You are sentenced to punishment for an offence.
3. You are tried for an offence.
4. You are suspected of an offence.
5. You plead guilty or not guilty to an offence at the trial.
6. You are arrested for an offence.
7. You are accused of an offence (You are charged with an offence).
2. .
1. The... must decide if the accused is innocent or... 2. The police were sure the man was a..., but it would be difficult to... it in court. 3. Two months later the defendant was sent to court for... 4. If the accused is convicted of rape, the... may be at least ten years in... 5.... defend people and present... 6. If you park your car illegally, you will have to pay a... 7. In Britain it is... the law to drive a motor vehicle without insurance. 8. Fortunately, it was only a minor... and we were not taken to the police station. 9. The... sentences people. 10. I have never... the law and... a crime. 11. Police are allowed to stop anyone in the street and... them.
3. .
1. wrong a. punishment
2. ask questions b. provide facts
3. commit a crime kill someone by intention
4. arrest d. question
5. evidence e. investigate
6. sentence f. kill someone by accident
7. theft g. break into a shop / house
8. rob h. take to the police station
9. burgle i. steal from a shop when open
10. steal j. steal from people or places
11. shoplift k. break the law
12. murder 1. illegal, against the law
13. manslaughter m. information about the crime
14. capital punishment n. stealing
15. try to find out what hap- o. take
pened p. death sentence
16. prove
4. .
1. We think the driver of a BMW will be charged with... because he did not mean to kill the boy. 2. Did he kill his partner? Yes, he has been charged with... 3. He took the money from women's bags. He has been charged with... 4. She stole things from a supermarket, so she will be charged with... 5. Two boys have been charged with... because they broke into a shop in the middle of the night and took money.
5. .
1. If someone commits a crime, the police must try to find out what happened. 2. When the police find the persons responsible for the crime they take them to the police station and ask them a lot of questions. 3. To reach their decision, the jury must listen carefully to the information about the crime for and against the accused. 4. It was only a minor offence and a driver had to pay money. 5. If you do something wrong, then you commit a crime. 6. Death sentence is a comparatively rare event now. 7. What can government do to stop crime?
. .
1. make a. the sentence
2. commit b. of the crime
3. break against the law
4. give d. the law
5. listen to e. decisions
6. be charged f. the evidence
7. be convicted g. with the crime
8. do smth. h. a crime
7. .
guilty... lawful...
illegal... usual, common
minor... right
8. .
| Verb | Noun | Verb | Noun |
| accuse | conviction question | punish sentence | commitment |
9. . 20-25 Law and order, crime.
. Speak about:
1. Individual actions necessary to prevent a crime from happening (to stop a crime).
2. Capital punishment for some crimes.
3. Do you think people should be allowed to use a gun or knife in self-defence?
Text 3
? .
The law is the whole body of laws considered collectively. There are many ways in which the law can be classified. It can be divided into common law, civil law, criminal law, constitutional law, substantive and procedural laws, etc.
By the words common law we mean law which is common to the whole country national law in contrast to local law. Common law (in England) is unwritten law based on judicial decisions made by judges in previous cases (case law) in contrast to the law made by Parliament or other law-making body (statute law). It distinguishes the common law legal systems based on precedents from the civil law jurisdictions based on civil codes. Law of equity is the application of principles of justice outside common law or statute
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law, used to correct laws when these would apply unfairly in special circumstances.
A simple distinction between the criminal law (the foundation of which is the common law), and the civil law is that the latter regulates the relationships between individuals or bodies and the former regulates the legal relationships between the state and individual people and bodies. Examples of the civil law include breaches of contract (the law of contract), tort (literally meaning wrong), property or claims for damages for negligent conduct. Consider the following situation. You decide to buy a cellphone from a local shop. You pay the correct price and take the cellphone away. You have entered into a contract with the owner of the shop. After three days the cellphone fails to work. This is a common situation and usually the shopkeeper will replace the cellphone or return your money. If not, you may wish to take legal action to recover your loss. As the law of contract is part of the civil law the parties to the action will be you (an individual) and the owner of the shop (an individual person or body). Hence, the civil law is more concerned with apportioning losses than determining blame. Given that the defendant has damaged the victim's property, the question in the civil law is who should pay for that damage. If the victim is wholly innocent and the defendant even only little to blame, then the defendant should shoulder the liability.
Now let us look at some examples of the criminal law. This is the law by which the state regulates the conduct of its citizens. Criminal offences range from the petty (e.g. parking offences) to the very serious (e.g. murder). Look at the following situation. You are driving your car at 70 m.p.h. (112 kilometers per hour) in an area, which has a speed limit of 40 m.p.h. You are stopped by a police officer and subsequently a case is brought against you for dangerous driving. This is a criminal offence. The parties to the action will therefore be the state (in the form of prosecuting authority) and you (an individual).
Although the division between the civil and criminal law is clear, there are many actions, which will constitute a criminal offence and a civil wrong. For example, you are driving your car too fast. Suppose that while you were doing this you knocked over and injured an elderly man. You will have committed a criminal offence (dangerous driving) and a civil wrong (negligence). The legal consequences under the criminal and civil law will be different. You would be prosecuted by the state in the criminal courts for dangerous driving and sued by the elderly man in the civil courts for negligence. The two actions will be totally separate.
The law of contract and the criminal law are two areas of substantive law. Substantive law lays down people's rights, duties, liberties and powers. By this is meant the actual content or substance of the law. These are the rules on which the courts base their decisions.
Procedural law is also a set of rules. Rules of procedure are the rules, which govern such matters as how the case is to be presented, in what court it shall lie, or when it is to be tried. Procedural rules are, in other words, the rules, which govern the machinery as opposed to the subject-matter. It is a striking fact that in the earlier stages of legal development these rules assume paramount importance: form is better understood than substance, and formal requirements, rather than abstract principles, usually determined legal rights. However, the rules of procedure are now more flexible than once they were.
1. . . .
1. The person charged with the criminal offence is the defendant. 2. A criminal case is brought by a prosecutor. 3. A successful criminal prosecution will result in a conviction. 4. The word guilty is used primarily of criminals. The corresponding word in civil cases is liable, but this word is also used in criminal contexts. 5. The party bringing a civil action is the plaintiff. 6. The party is one of the persons or sides in a legal agreement or dispute. 7. The defendant in a civil case is sued by the plaintiff. 8. If the plaintiff is successful, the defendant will be found liable. 9. The distinction between crimes and civil wrongs relates to the legal consequences. 10. A court order not to do something is an injunction. 11. Judgment is the decision of a judge or court. 12. Procedure is the regular order of doing legal things. 13. A proceeding is a course of action. 14. Damages are money given as legal compensation. 15. To sue is to take legal action against someone in a civil case.
2. :
judgment prosecutor conviction plaintiff sues prosecution punishment injunction punished
1. In criminal proceedings a (1)... prosecutes a defendant. 2. The result of the (2)... if successful is a (3)... 3. And the defendant may be (4)... by one of a variety of punishments ranging from
life imprisonment to a fine or else may be released or discharged without (5)... 4. In civil proceedings a plaintiff (6)... (e.g. brings an action against) a defendant. 5. The proceedings if successful result in judgment for the plaintiff, and the (7)... may order the defendant to pay the (8)... money, or transfer property to him, or to do or not to do something [(9)...], or to perform a contract.
3. , :
crime, life imprisonment, to convict, civil wrong, guilty, plaintiff, defendant, to prosecute, liable, to punish, prosecution, conviction, judgment for the plaintiff, prosecutor, offence, punishment
Civil
Criminal
4. .
Bring
Conduct
Investigate
4. commit/charge with
Punish
Determine
7. give/hear
8. take/start
A. the prosecution
b. a criminal
blame/right
D. the evidence
e. a case/an action/a prosecution
F. legal proceedings
g. a case/a crime
h. an offence
5. .
Liable
Damage
Tort
Code
Legal
Distinction
Neglect
Negligence
Breach
Paramount
Petty
a. most important/ greatest
b. take the responsibility for
allowed by law
D. behaviour (moral)
e. pay no attention to/ fail to do smth,
F. carelessness
G. for this reason
h. civil wrong/ not (generally) a crime i. money paid in compensation j. difference k. responsible for
| 12. crime 13. hence 14. conduct 15. shoulder 16. apportion | 1. m. n. 0. P. | a system of laws breaking (an agreement/ duty) offence divide/ distribute small |
| . . | ||
| petty | written | |
| unjust legal misconduct | injustice national unlawful | |
| case law... discharge carefulness... | based on precedent... release from prison fair |
7. .
| Verb | Noun | Adjective |
| neglect | ||
| prosecutive | ||
| separate | ||
| legalization | ♦ | |
| justify | ||
| punishable | ||
| constitute | ♦ | |
| blameless |
8. . 20-25 Branches of the law.
. Speak about:
