Episode 146

EPISODE 146
LEVEL A2

READING COMPREHENSION

 

Volkswagen to recall 11 million cars

 

The troubled German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) has announced it will recall around 11 million cars after the emissions tests scandal that has put the company in controversy. Some industry analysts predict the recall could cost the auto manufacturer more than $6.5 billion. Last week, VW admitted cheating in diesel emissions tests in the United States and Europe. It manipulated data to falsely show that VW cars were a lot more fuel-efficient than they really were. The company is Europe’s largest carmaker and employs over 750,000 people. It has lost more than a third of its market value on stock markets and has badly damaged its reputation as being a leader in clean energy.

Chief executives at VW could face criminal charges over the scandal. Olaf Lies, a Volkswagen board member, told the BBC TV programme Newsnight that some staff acted criminally over emission tests. He said: „Those people who allowed this to happen, or who made the decision to install this software, acted criminally. They must take personal responsibility.” He added: „We only found out about the problems in the last board meeting, shortly before the media did. I want to be quite open, so we need to find out why the board wasn’t informed earlier about the problems when they were known about over a year ago in the United States.”

 

Exercise 1

Match these Polish expressions to their English equivalents:

1. producent samochodów
2. branża
3. analityk
4. dane
5. załoga
6. oprogramowanie
7. odpowiedzialność
8. zarząd

• analyst
• carmaker
• data
• industry
• responsibility
• the board
• staff
• software

 

Exercise 2

Combine the words from the two boxes to form English equivalents of the collocations given:
board / chief / clean / criminal / emissions / market / personal / stock
+
charges / energy / executive / market / member / responsibility / test / value

 

1. członek zarządu ____________________________________
2. dyrektor generalny ____________________________________
3. czysta energia ____________________________________
4. zarzuty karne ____________________________________
5. test emisji ____________________________________
6. wartość rynkowa ____________________________________
7. osobista odpowiedzialność ____________________________________
8. giełda ____________________________________

 

I know English idioms!

This lesson’s topic is a scandal. A huge scandal involving one of the biggest, global carmakers. And one of our text’s sentences reads: “Chief executives at VW could face criminal charges over the scandal.” The sentence uses the word “face” in a rather unusual meaning, as a verb! The same verb is use in a very popular English idiom:

• to face the music = to receive punishment for something wrong or illegal that you have done (ponieść konsekwencje swojego postępowania, wypić nawarzonego piwa)
  e.g. The young man was forced to face the music for the crimes that he had committed.

 

 

Phrasals, phrasals…

Staying in the topic of our lesson, which is illegal behaviour and facing its consequences, let’s learn a phrasal verb which has a totally opposite meaning:

• to get away with (a crime) = to avoid punishment for whatever wrong you did (gdy coś się komus upiecze)
  e.g. The unscrupulous accountant stole a lot of company money and got away with it because nobody could catch him later.

 And what do you think will be the final of VW scandal story: will it have to face the music or will it get away with their crime?

 

 

Grammar corner

A sentence in this lesson’s text reads: “Those people who allowed this to happen, or who made the decision to install this software, acted criminally.” The underlined word is an adverb (przysłówek) and its function is to complement the meaning of the verb. As we remember, most adverbs are formed by adding the ending “–ly” to an adjective.

 

 

Exercise.

Decide if these sentences need an adverb and write it where necessary:

1. He was a very quick worker. He worked very quick.
2. She bought the house cheap and sold it at a higher price.
3. Who told you that everything in life comes easy?
4. Why did he answer my question so rude?

 

 

GLOSSARY

to recall – wycofać
troubled – przeżywający trudności
carmaker – producent samochodów
to announce – ogłosić, oświadczyć
emission – emisja
controversy – kontrowersje
industry – branża
analyst – analityk
to predict – przewidywać
manufacturer – wytwórca
to admit – przyznać
to cheat – oszukiwać
data – dane
falsety – fałszywie
fuel-efficient – ekonomiczny (energooszczędny)
to employ – zatrudniać
market value – wartość rynkowa
stock market – giełda
to damage – zniszczyć
clean energy – czysta energia
chief executive – dyrektor generalny
to face – stawiać czoła
criminal charges – zarzuty karne
board member – członek zarządu
staff – załoga
to allow – pozwolić
to happen – dziać się, wydarzyć
to install – zainstalować
software – oprogramowanie
to take responsibility – wziąć odpowiedzialność
personal – osobisty
to add – dodać
to find out – dowiedzieć się
board meeting – posiedzenie zarządu
shortly – niedługo

 

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