Английский для экономистов (учебник английского языка)

We are beginning our work. And I’d like to start with the text devoted to a WORD. Whatever you do in your life, wherever you work be careful about and sensitive to the WORD. It’s your main tool.

Your boss has a bigger vocabulary than you have.

That's one good reason why he's your boss.

This discovery has been made in the word laboratories of the world. Not by theoretical English professors, but by practical, hard-headed scientists who have been searching for the secret of success.

After a host of experiments and years of testing they have found out:

• That if your vocabulary is limited your chances of success are limited.

• That one of the easiest and quickest ways to get ahead is by consciously building up your knowledge of words.

• That the vocabulary of the average person almost stops growing by the middle twenties.

• That from then on it is necessary to have an intelligent plan if progress is to be made. No hit-or-miss methods will do.

It has long since been satisfactory established that a high executive does not have a large vocabulary merely because of those opportunities of his positions. That would be putting the cart before the horse. Quite the reverse is true. His skill in words was a tremendous help in getting him his job.

It has been discovered that the one and only common characteristic of outstandingly successful people is an extensive knowledge of the exact meaning of English words.

Vocabulary is one indication of intelligence. Learning power measurably sharpens when vocabulary increases. Here is the proof.

Two classes in a high school were selected for an experiment. The ages and background of the members of both groups were the same, and each group represented a similar cross section of community. One, the control class, took the normal courses. The other class had an additional, special, and rigorous vocabulary training. At the end of the period the grades of the students in the vocabulary class surpassed the grades of the members of the control group, not only in English, but in every other subject, including mathematical and sciences.

Words are the tools of thinking. It naturally follows, then, that the more words you have at your command, the clearer and accurate your thinking will be.

Words are medium of exchange, the coin with which you do business with all those around you. With words you relate people, communicate your feelings and thoughts to them, persuade them, control them. In short, through words you shape your own destiny, for your words are your personality; your vocabulary is you.

How do words treat you? Are you comfortable with them? Do they easily come to you? When you write and speak, do your words paint the sort of picture of you that will do you the most good in the highly competitive world? Does your language usually present a true reflection of your mind, your emotions, and your personality? Or does it sometimes betray and blur your thoughts? Do people occasionally misunderstand you? Or can you compel them to listen, react, obey?

From now on we want you to look at words intently, to be inordinately curious about them and to examine them syllable and syllable, letter by letter. They are your tools of understanding and self-expression. Collect them. Keep them in condition. Learn how to handle them. Develop a fastidious, but not a fussy, choice. Work always toward good taste in their use. Train your ear for their harmonies.

We urge you not to take words for granted just because they have been part of your daily speech since childhood. You must examine them.

Words are not dead things. They are fairly wriggling with life. They are exciting and mysterious tokens of our thoughts, and like human beings, they are born, come to maturity, grow old and die, and sometimes they are even reborn in a new age. A word, from its birth to its death, is a process, not a static thing.

Words, like living trees, have roots, branches, and leaves. If the roots are the origin of words and the branches are the word families that stem out of them, the leaves of this language tree would be the words themselves and their meaning.