2008年ESL之商务英语 18 Dealing in the Black Market

18 Dealing 1 in the Black Market

GLOSSARY 2

line of work – type of work; field or area of work; kind of job; industry* Sajid can’t decide which line of work he wants to get into, but it will probably becomputer programming or banking 3.

import/export – the process of buying/selling products internationally,bringing/sending them from one country to another* Cars are a very large part of the import/export market.

shifty – not straightforward 4; hiding something; not completely open or telling thewhole truth* When we asked where she had been last night, she became shifty and wouldn’ttell us.

on the up and up – legal; legitimate 5; straightforward and honest* We never buy medicine from a pharmacy 6 unless we’re sure that it’s on the upand up.

black market – the economic system of buying and selling things illegally,usually because they are not available legally* All marijuana is sold on the black market because it is illegal to sell it in theUnited States.

free market – an economy where prices are set by the people who sell things,not by the government* The United States has a free market economy, so if there is a lot of something,it is cheaper than if there is very little of something.

gray market – an economic system between the black market and the freemarket, where buying and selling things is technically 7 legal, but it seems wrong* Have you ever bought anything on the gray market?

stolen goods – things that have been taken from other people without theirpermission or knowledge and are then resold * That man is selling a lot of beautiful necklaces on the street, but I think they arestolen goods.

naive 8 – not sophisticated 9; not knowledgeable 10 about how the world really is, soone is easily tricked or confused by other people* Frannie has never been kissed, so she feels very naive around her marriedfriends.

underground economy – black market; the economic system of buying andselling things illegally and not paying taxes or reporting on the business to thegovernment* When countries have a lot of economic problems, sometimes the only way tobuy food is through the underground economy.

smuggler 11 – someone who takes things from one place to sell them in anotherplace, usually between countries, illegally and without paying to do so* The police caught the smuggler trying to bring endangered animals into thecountry on a ship.

counterfeit 12 – fake 13; false; not real; a copy of something that is made to trick otherpeople into thinking that it is real* This $10 bill is a counterfeit, but it is very hard to see the difference between itand a real $10 bill.

pirated – copied illegally, usually music or a video, without permission from theoriginal creator* Pirated CDs are much cheaper than the originals, but the musicians don’t getany money when you buy them.

to go into business with (someone) – to begin to work with someone, usually as a partner; to open a new business with someone* Are you going to start the restaurant by yourself, or will go into business withJames?

set in stone – firmly decided 14; definite; not going to change* They want to get married in June, but the date isn’t set in stone yet.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1.  Which of these is not part of the underground economy?

a)  The black market.

b)  The free market.

c)  The gray market.

2.  What does Thomas mean by saying, “Nothing is set in stone”?

a)  The new business will be in a stone building.

b)  They’re going to buy and sell stones.

c)  Everything can still change because nothing has been decided.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

importThe word “import,” in this podcast, means the process of buying products internationally, bringing them from one country to another: “Which countries getrice imports from the United States?”  The verb “to import” has the samemeaning: “Where do we import most of our clothing from?”  The word “import” is also related to the word “importance,” meaning something that has a lot ofmeaning, especially in the phrase “of great import”: “I didn’t think it was adecision of great import, so I made it without asking your opinion.”  When talkingabout computers, “to import” means to bring information from one program intoanother program: “We had a hard time importing contact information into the newaddress book when we started using a different computer program.”

piratedIn this podcast, the word “pirated” means copied illegally without permission fromthe original creator: “Would you ever consider buying pirated software to savemoney, even though you know it is wrong?”  Or, “The music company is trying tofight against pirated music by creating a technology that will make it impossible tocopy its CDs.”  The word can also be used as a verb, “to pirate”: “Someonepirated that movie even before it was being shown in movie theaters!”  Finally, a“pirate” is a person, usually a man, who works on a large ship, attacking otherboats to steal things from them and always looking for gold: “Captain Hook 15 in thebook Peter Pan is probably one of the most famous pirates 16.”

CULTURE NOTEPirated products are surprisingly “prevalent” (common) in the United States.

Many Americans do not want to pay the “full price” (100% of the cost of buyingsomething), so they “turn to” (go to and begin using) pirated goods.

The most common pirated goods in the United States are probably software andDVDs.  Original software programs can be “quite” (very) expensive, so people try to copy the programs that their friends and family members have bought.  Peoplewho are able to do this can sell the pirated software programs on the black market.  Software companies spend a lot of time and money trying to stop peoplefrom doing this.  They have written “code” (instructions for a computer program)that makes it difficult to copy programs, but people still “find a way around this”

(are able to do it anyway).

Pirated DVDs are also very common, even though all movies begin with a“warning” (a statement letting people know that something bad will happen) thatpeople can be “fined” (charged an amount of money) or “imprisoned” (put in jail)for copying movies without permission.

Large U.S. cities like New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles alsohave many “designer” (expensive brand name) “knockoffs,” which is another termfor pirated or counterfeit goods.  Expensive purses and “wallets” (folded pieces ofleather with many pockets for holding one’s money, identification 17, and creditcards), such as those of Gucci, are often knocked off and sold on the street. Sometimes these knockoffs look very similar to the originals, but they cost muchless.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers:  1 – b; 2 – c

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 396: Dealing in theBlack Market.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 18 396.  I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is eslpod.com.  Go there and you can find a Learning Guide for this episode, an 8 to 10 page PDF file that you can download, and use to improveyour English even faster.

This episode is called “Dealing in the Black Market.”  This is something thathappens in most countries, I think, where people buy and sell things that they aren’t paying taxes on, or perhaps might even be illegal.  Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Jasinda:  Was that your friend Mitch?

Thomas:  Yeah, he and I had lunch today to talk about some business opportunities.

Jasinda:  What line of work is he in?

Thomas:  Well, I guess you could say he’s in the import/export business.

Jasinda:  Hmm…Why are you being so shifty?  Isn’t his business on the up andup?  He doesn’t deal in the black market, does he?

Thomas:  Let’s just say that he takes full advantage of a free market and there’s nothing wrong with the gray market.

Jasinda:  You’re not telling me he deals in stolen goods, are you?

Thomas:  No, no, nothing like that.  Don’t be so naive.  There is an entireunderground economy in this country, which serves an important purpose.  Itgets people what they want.

Jasinda:  Is he a smuggler?  Does he deal in counterfeit or pirated goods?  Is that it?  

Thomas:  I’m not saying another word.

Jasinda:  You did say that you were having lunch to talk about business opportunities.  You’re not thinking of going into business with him, are you? Thomas:  It was just talk.  Nothing is set in stone – yet. [end of dialogue]

Our dialogue between Jasinda and Thomas begins by Jasinda asking, “Was thatyour friend Mitch?” and Thomas says, “Yeah, he and I had lunch today to talk about some business opportunities.”  Jasinda says, “What line of work is he in?” “Line of work” means type of work – what field, what area, what kind of job does he have.  If someone asks me what is my line of work, I would say teaching oreducation – or sleeping!

Thomas says, “Well, I guess you could say he’s in the import/export business.” To “import” means to bring something into a country.  The United States importsa lot of oil from other countries.  To “export” means to sell something to anothercountry, to go from one country to another.  So, the Middle East countries exportoil to the United States; the United States imports oil from those countries. “Import” has a couple of different meanings; take a look at our Learning Guide forsome additional explanations.

Thomas is saying that his friend, Mitch, is in the import/export business.  Jasindasays, “Hmm…Why are you being so shifty?”  To be “shifty” (shifty) means thatyou are hiding something, you are not being completely honest, you’re not tellingthe whole truth.  Someone may say, “He looks shifty,” meaning I don’t think wecan trust him.  People say this about me all the time! Jasinda says, “Isn’t his business on the up and up?”  To be “on the up and up” is an idiom which means to be legal, to be legitimate, to be honest.  “He’s on the upand up” means he’s honest; what he is doing is legal; it is legitimate.  “He doesn’tdeal in the black market, does he?” Jasinda asks.  The “black market,” as weexplained, is the economic system for buying and selling things.  Often becausethey are illegal they are thing you cannot buy in a regular store.  Sometimes theblack market refers to when people buy things so that they don’t have to pay taxes on them – sales tax.

Thomas says, “Let’s just say that he takes full advantage of a free market.” “Let’s just say” is an expression that means here is how I will express it; here is how I will explain it.  Usually, it’s an expression we use when we are about togive another description of something that makes it sound better than it is.  In this case, Thomas is saying that Mitch “takes full advantage,” meaning he makes useof the “free market.”  The “free market” is an economy where the prices aredetermined by the people who sell things, not by the government.  Many peoplethink the U.S. has a free market, although there are some things that thegovernment does control.

Thomas says, “there’s nothing wrong with the gray market.”  The “gray market” is in between the free market and the black market, where buying and selling things is legal but it somehow seems wrong.  Perhaps there is some doubt aboutwhether it is completely legal or not.  It’s not a term we use a lot; normally you’llhear about the black market or the free market.

Jasinda says, “You’re not telling me he deals in stolen goods, are you?”  “Stolen”

means taken from someone else.  “Goods” just means something that you wouldbuy or sell.  So, “stolen goods” would be things that were taken – stolen – fromsomeone else.  Of course, if you are selling stolen goods, you are doingsomething that is illegal, mainly because they were stolen.

Thomas says, “No, no, nothing like that.”  So, he’s not selling stolen goods. Thomas says, “Don’t be so naive.”  “Naive” (naive) means not sophisticated,someone who doesn’t understand the world – how the world works.  Someonewho is easily confused or tricked by other people – that would be someone who’s naive.  It’s sort of like not very intelligent, but it refers specifically to notunderstanding the way society works – the sophisticated level of society.

Thomas says, “There is an entire underground economy in this country, whichserves an important purpose.”  “Underground economy” is just another term forthe black market, buying and selling things illegally and/or not paying taxes to thegovernment on what you buy and sell.  In most states in the United States youhave to pay a tax, sometimes to the city, usually to the state.  Here in Los Angeles, I think our sales tax is 8! percent.  So most of the thing you buy, forexample if you go to a restaurant and buy a meal, you will have to pay 8!

percent tax on that meal. Thomas says that the underground economy gets people what they want.  Ishould say that “underground” means below the ground.  But it isn’t actually below the ground; it’s just an expression to mean things that are not public. There was, during the Civil War in the United States, an underground movementto help free slaves, to take them from the southern states and bring them to thenorthern states.  There was something called the “Underground Railroad,” where they would try to move these slaves from their owners to the northern states.  Itwas called “underground” because it wasn’t public.

Jasinda then asks, “Is Mitch a smuggler?”  A “smuggler” (smuggler) comes fromthe verb “to smuggle,” which means to bring something into a country illegally.  Asmuggler is a person who smuggles 19.  Jasinda asks, “Does he deal in counterfeitor pirated goods?”  “Counterfeit” is fake, false, not real goods.  For example, youhave a watch and it says “Gucci” on it – a very expensive watch.  But it isn’tactually a Gucci watch; it’s a watch that somebody made to look like a Gucciwatch and put that name on there.  This is a counterfeit good.  The word “pirated”

refers to movies or music that were copied illegally that were sold or given tosomeone else without permission.  If you download a movie from the Internet thatyou didn’t pay for, that’s an example of a pirated good.  Movies, videos are oftenpirated and sold in the black market. So, Jasinda is asking if Mitch sells counterfeit or pirated goods.  Thomasanswers by saying, “I’m not saying another word,” meaning I’m not going to talk about this anymore.  Jasinda says, “You did say that you were having lunch totalk about business opportunities.  You’re not thinking of going into business withhim, are you?”  To “go into business with someone” means to begin to work for orwith someone, usually as a partner – usually as someone who has half of thebusiness or part of the business: to go into business with.  “You’re not thinking ofgoing into business with him, are you?”  Notice that sentence is a common way of asking questions in English; it’s what we call a “tag question.”  Thomas says,“It was just talk.  Nothing is set in stone – yet.”  To be “set in stone” means that ithas been decided, it is definite, it is not going to change. Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Jasinda:  Was that your friend Mitch?

Thomas:  Yeah, he and I had lunch today to talk about some business opportunities.

Jasinda:  What line of work is he in?

Thomas:  Well, I guess you could say he’s in the import/export business.

Jasinda:  Hmm…Why are you being so shifty?  Isn’t his business on the up andup?  He doesn’t deal in the black market, does he?

Thomas:  Let’s just say that he takes full advantage of a free market and there’s nothing wrong with the gray market.

Jasinda:  You’re not telling me he deals in stolen goods, are you?

Thomas:  No, no, nothing like that.  Don’t be so naive.  There is an entireunderground economy in this country, which serves an important purpose.  Itgets people what they want.

Jasinda:  Is he a smuggler?  Does he deal in counterfeit or pirated goods?  Is that it? Thomas:  I’m not saying another word.

Jasinda:  You did say that you were having lunch to talk about business opportunities.  You’re not thinking of going into business with him, are you? Thomas:  It was just talk.  Nothing is set in stone – yet. [end of dialogue]

Our script was written by someone who’s always on the up and up, Dr. Lucy Tse. From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan.  Thanks for listening.  We’ll seeyou next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.  This podcast is copyright 2008.