pass on phrasal verb
1 pass something ↔ on
to give someone a piece of information that someone else has given to you 转告消息
pass something ↔ on to
She said she’d pass the message on to the other students.
2 pass something ↔ on
a) to give something, especially a disease, to your children through your genes 遗传某种疾病
b) to give a slight illness to someone else 传染
pass something ↔ on to
One catches the virus and they pass it on to the rest.
3 pass something ↔ on
to make someone else pay the cost of something 转嫁
pass something ↔ on to
Any increase in our costs will have to be passed on to the consumer. 我们价格的上升会转嫁到消费者头上。
V. Oral Practice.
请根据下面提出的模拟场景与自己的另一学习伙伴讨论3分钟。
Scenario
Staff turnover
As several members of staff have recently left the company you work for, management is investigating the situation. You have been asked to make suggestions. Discuss and decide together:
What kinds of reasons there mightl be for staff leaving their jobs
What steps could be taken to reduce staffl turnover
思路提示：
Setting up a context
A manufacturing factory
A travel agency
A hotel group
reasonsl
For more reasons, see unit 5a.
Less challenging jobs
No adequate communication
Feel undervalued
No recognition of achievements
stepsl
to schedule regular meetings, ensuring the flow of information in both directions
to increase teamwork
to create heroes and recognize their achievements on our intranet
to investigate the salary level in the industry and make adjustments
VI. Business Reading Passage
Passage from India
It used to be the darling of foreign companies seeking to outsource operations, but now other developing economies, led by China and the Philippines, are snapping at India’s heels, reports Peter Kammerer
When it comes to jobs, the developed world’s loss is increasingly East Asia’s gain. From computer programming to call centres to accounting, thousands of positions are being created in the region each week, alleviating unemployment and poverty and creating new consumer markets.
In the US, where more than two million people have lost their jobs since President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, the trend, known variously as outsourcing or offshoring, is rapidly becoming a central issue of November’s presidential election.
But that is not a concern of the recruits in China, the Philippines, Malaysia and other nations, most of whom have never had such good salaries and working conditions.
For companies in the US, Japan, Australia and Europe, pressure to generate profits has meant moving labour-intensive work to countries with cheaper workforces. For the past few years, India has been the premier location because of its burgeoning computer sector and proficiency in English. But a desire by foreign companies to spread risk, have close outsourcing bases and combat costs has meant the rapid rise of competitors in southern Africa, eastern Europe and East Asia.
High education standards and strong work ethics have made the latter a popular choice for American and Japanese companies. Analysts predict China will catch up to India in IT outsourcing in 2007, while the Philippines is rapidly increasing its share of the lucrative call-centre industry.
The trend is based on economics. Most governments in the developed world have minimum conditions and wages to protect workers’ rights, but such regulations rarely exist in developing nations. In the US where the minimum wage is US$5.15 an hour, call-centre workers are generally paid an hourly rate of US$6, while their counterparts in the Philippines take home US$5 a day.
For a company opting to move such operations offshore, the decision can mean salary savings of up to 90 per cent and cuts in operating costs of between 30 per cent and 60 per cent.
The lure of such savings has meant firms are increasingly looking at moving “backdoor” operations such as accounting, customer care and software development and programming to cheaper economies. American firms last year struck US$119 billion worth of outsourcing deals, up 44 per cent on 2002, according to US researcher Gartner. It predicted that 30 per cent more US companies would join them this year.
Outsourcing is not a new term of trend. Companies have always look towards increasing profits, often moving production operations across borders. With rising competitiveness through globalisation, they have looked increasingly further afield.
Hong Kong’s firms have been as much as a part of the phenomenon as their western counterparts, taking advantage of China’s growing economic liberalisation to move manufacturing bases to Shenzhen and Guangdong province from the late 1980s. They have similarly been at the forefront of newer trend of moving operations such as accounting, with the likes of HSBC and PCCW leading the way.
The IT boom of the 1990s has been the driving force of outsourcing. Capitalising on expertise in software production, India quickly become a magnet for foreign companies.
Competitiveness has meant wages are beginning to rise, prompting the search for ever-cheaper locations. Indian’s main IT competitors, according to Gartner, include China, the Philippines, Canada, South Africa, Hungary, Poland and Russia. Nepal and Vietnam are expected to make inroads in coming years.
(to be continued)
the darling of something
the most popular person or thing in a particular group or area of activity
She’s the darling of the fashion world.
