Transcripts
a bad idea. And what will happen if she doesn’t find a job? She may end up wasting her time.
2
Here at Alba College we encourage students to take a gap year. It isn’t the right path for every student, but some students really benefit. It’s certainly a good way for young people to discover what really motivates them and what they want to do with their life. Going to university blindly straight after school can be a waste of money, so taking a year off can help students figure out what they really want to do. A student like Alice has very clear ideas about what she wants to do in her gap year so I think it will work for her. It’ll give her valuable real-life work experience, and she’ll also learn practical skills she can apply later on in her Economics course. Even if the job isn’t that interesting, she’ll learn a lot about herself and get another perspective on life. In our experience, students who do a gap year often get better results than students who come straight from school.
3 Father We’re a fairly traditional family, and, like many parents, we expect our children to study hard, do well at school, go to the best universities, get a good degree and a good job. A gap year isn’t something we’ve ever considered for Alice.
Friend So what do you think about Alice’s plan to work for a year?
Father We’re not keen. We worry that she’ll get out of the routine and discipline of studying, and, in the end, she may not want to go to university. It’s a real problem. In America, you need a degree for most jobs, and if Alice doesn’t have one, I think a lot of jobs will be closed to her.
Friend True. It’s a competitive world out there. Father And there’s one other thing. If Alice delays going to university by a year, she’ll always be a year behind. She’ll start her studies a year late, she’ll take a year longer to finish her course, and a year longer to find a job. I’d prefer her to start university straightaway so she’ll be earning a good salary sooner. It makes better sense.
9.3 Interviewer What can you tell us about rogue traders? Expert
Well, some people think rogue financial traders are dishonest, greedy people with a clever plan to defraud their banks. In reality, they’re often very smart individuals who make a small trading mistake and then get scared, panic and try to cover up the original loss by making more and more risky trades.
Interviewer In your experience, do all rogue traders have similar personalities?
Expert 202
No, not really, but generally they’re confident people who do well in a competitive situation, and enjoy working under pressure and taking
English for the 21st Century • Transcripts Expert
risks. Those are the qualities that the banks look for when they recruit traders, but they are also the qualities that can lead to risky trading, especially when controls are weak.
Interviewer Weak controls? What do you mean by that? Expert
Well, trading’s a profitable business for banks, but banks can also lose money when trading isn’t properly controlled. The lack of controls at the banks makes it too easy for traders like Iguchi and Adoboli to make unauthorized trades, and then hide mistakes and bad trades.
Interviewer So why do traders take risks? Expert
Most banks encourage their traders to take risks and senior management know it’s happening.
Interviewer OK. So are you saying the banks are as much to blame for rogue trading as the individual traders?
Expert
Yes, I am. In most cases of rogue trading, the individual trader gets all the blame and may even get sent to jail, but generally no action is taken against the top management, and that can’t be right.
Interviewer I have one final question. Would you say greed is a big factor in motivating rogue trading?
Expert
Well, most rogue traders like Iguchi say they weren’t motivated by money, but I’m not sure that’s exactly true. OK. They don’t make money directly from a trade, but they do receive very big bonuses for making big profits for the bank.
Interviewer So you feel the bonus culture in banks is another motive?
Yes, I think so. The bigger the risk a trader takes, the higher the bonus he receives, so I’d say the payment of big bonuses encourages traders to take unacceptable risks. Another big motive is reputation. When things start to go wrong, a trader like Adoboli has two options. First, he can admit he’s made a mistake, but if he does that, he risks losing his reputation as a trader. The second option is to go on trading and try to get back the losses. And that’s exactly what Iguchi did – he used more and more of the bank’s money for risky trades, with the aim of hiding the losses and, more importantly, protecting his reputation.
9.4 Abed
Hey, Wang Yong, why don’t you come along with Pablo, Djordje, Alex and me next week? We’re going to do a bungee jump and raise money for charity.
Wang Yong A bungee jump? Are you crazy? No way! Abed
Wang Yong No, honestly. I don’t want to try bungee jumping. I’m scared of heights.
Abed Really? I didn’t know that. But this could be
Go on, it’s fun. I’ve done it twice before, and it will be Alex’s second time.
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