UNIT 11.

VOCABULRY OF MAJOR NEWS THEMES:

VISITS, TALKS, AGREEMENTS

KEY CONCEPTS FOR UNIT 11

 Talks and talks about talks

 Visits and delegations
 Abbreviations for international organizations and groups
 Compromise and deadlock

CLASS ACTIVITY

I. TALKS AND TALKS ABOUT TALKS

1.1. Study the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

negotiations/ talks
hold talks
round of talks
talking shop
talks about talks
When governments or other bodies wish to reach agreements, they hold or have talks,
discussions or negotiations. A meeting or a series of related meetings of this kind is a round of
talks.
Where preparation is needed before the main talks, for example to decide on the meeting
place and the participants, they may first hold talks about talks.
An official organisation where representatives meet regularly to give speeches and exchange
opinions, but which has no real power, is a talking shop.

1.2. Translate into Russian.

1. Agriculture ministers of the European Community are to hold a new round of talks on
Friday aimed at reaching agreement on proposals to reduce subsidies to farmers.
2. He said they had held what he termed very interesting discussions on arms control.
3. Guatemalan guerrillas and leaders of the country's nine largest parties are holding
negotiations near Madrid to try to end Guatemala's long-running civil war.
4. Japanese diplomats described today's meeting as talks about talks, Japan is seeking no
more than to agree the date, venue and level for formal talks on opening diplomatic relations
with North Korea.
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 5. Governments, especially in the West, which used to dismiss the United Nations as a mere
talking shop, now see the possibilities for the body to act more as a world policeman.

1.3. Talks combinations. Use the verbs in the box to complete the extracts.

conclude resume
attend Talks break off
walk out of convene suspend

1. A Brazilian delegation flies to Washington today, Wednesday, to _________talks with

the International Monetary Fund which broke down without agreement last week.
2. It wants to cut interest rates as soon as it has successfully ___________ talks on cutting
the budget deficit.
3. Mr. Alatas has made it clear that he would not __________talks unless he was
convinced of the commitment of all the parties concerned.
4. Mr. Hameed is to travel to the northern Jaffna peninsula in an attempt to meet the Tigers,
who refused to _________ talks arranged on Thursday in the east of the island.
5. The latest attempt at negotiation broke down on Friday after one of the Mohawk factions
__________ talks with the Quebec government.
6. Two of the world's largest tire makers, Germany's Continental and Italy's Pirelli, have
decided not to merge. The two companies say they have ___________ talks after 15 months.
7. Yesterday Nelson Mandela said the ANC would __________talks with the government
about a new constitution if a set of demands were not met by May 9th.

II. VISITS AND DELEGATIONS

2.1. Make sure that you remember the following words and expressions.

An official visit, a friendly visit, a working visit, a forthcoming visit, to go on a visit, to pay a
visit, to be on a visit, to arrive at the invitation, to see sb. off at the airport, a distinguished
(eminent) guest, a government delegation, a trade delegation, a delegation headed by sb, to lead
(head) a delegation, to give a warm reception to sb., at the farewell reception, to exchange
speeches, to declare.

2.2. Study the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

delegate
delegation
counterpart / opposite number
sherpa
summit
communiqué / declaration
A government, party or other entity may be represented by one or more delegates. A group
of delegates representing one side is a delegation.
When the representative of A has the same job or rank as the representative of B, they are
counterparts or opposite numbers.
Talks between heads of government or other very important representatives are summits,
and officials who prepare for them may be referred to as sherpas.
The final statement made to journalists and others at the end of talks is a communique or
declaration.
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 2.3. Translate into Russian.

1. The Palestinians will give him a list of proposed delegates for a joint Jordanian-
Palestinian delegation to the conference.
2. At lunch, the Premier toasted his Russian counterpart, telling him, 'You are turning a
new page of history by being here.'
3. A team of veterinary experts are meeting their British opposite numbers at the Ministry
of Agriculture's offices today to discuss the French ban on imports of British beef.
4. As is the way with these international gatherings, the declarations were largely drafted
before the delegations arrived. Each country nominates one official who does much of the
groundwork – sherpas, the traditional term for Himalayan mountain guides, who assist their
charges to a rather different kind of summit.
5. The discussions finally collapsed because of disagreement over the wording of the final
communiqué.

2.4. Study the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

atmosphere
cordial atmosphere
broad agreement
exchange of views
frank exchange of views
differences
deep differences
narrowing differences
widening differences
stumbling block
The atmosphere at talks is often described in communiqués as cordial, and in other ways
mentioned in the exercise below.
Communiqués may talk of a frank exchange of views and broad agreement on a number
of issues.
Where there is still disagreement, communiqués may talk of deep differences that remain.
Differences may be described in other ways, again mentioned in the exercise below.
Commentators may talk of differences narrowing (getting smaller) or widening (getting
bigger).
An obstacle to agreement is often described as a stumbling block.

2.5. Translate into Russian.

1. They say although the two sides have reached broad agreement on a number of issues,
deep differences remain over the timetable for peace and political change.
2. Mr. Davidow said his two days of talks with the Angolan government had taken place in
an exceedingly cordial and open atmosphere. There'd been a very frank exchange of views about
the peace talks under way between the MPLA government and Unita rebels.
3. There's been no narrowing of differences on one of the main stumbling blocks, aircraft.

2.6. Some of the adjectives below relate to the atmosphere at talks and others to differences
between sides at talks. Complete them and say which describe 1) the atmosphere and 2) the
differences.
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 a) fr_ _ ndly a) m_j_r d) b_s_n_ss-l_k_
b) c_nstr_ct_v_ b) s_gn_f_c_nt e) s_bst_nt_ _l
c) _pt_m_st_c c) f_nd_m_nt_l f) s_ _rp

2.7. Dizzy heights of diplomacy. Read this article from The Times and answer the questions.

DIPLOMATIC SHERPAS FEEL THE STRAIN

IN SURFEIT OF SUMMITS

Despite the bright Finnish sun and invigorating northern air, many of the delegates in
Helsinki have a weary look. "This is my third summit in six days" said one British official,
arriving direct from the G7 meeting in Munich and the European Community-Japan summit in
London last weekend. Only a week earlier he and many others had just finished another grueling
round in Lisbon and Douglas Hurd even managed to squeeze in a few hours in Strasbourg,
addressing the European parliament before arriving in Helsinki. Today he has two more summits
as well: the Western European Union and NATO, which decided that since everyone else was
having a summit, it had better have one as well.
The main burden of this extended talk falls on the sherpas, the men who toil up to the peaks
of diplomacy, hacking their way through jungles of verbiage that stands in the way of agreed
communiqués. They work in shifts, and larger countries can put different teams onto different
events for the summer summitry season. Foreign Office European specialists for Lisbon,
Treasury men for G7, security specialists for CSCE. These latter have had three days to organize
this two-day ceremonial speechifying.
But no burden falls as heavily as it does on the political directors, the men who have to agree
the communiqués line by line. "I had a pretty good night yesterday", said one, "We were finished
by 1 am".
1. If you are weary, do you feel tired?
2. Are grueling talks tiring?
3. If you toil up a mountain, do you climb it easily?
4. Is verbiage easy to read or listen to?
5. Does 'speechifying' imply that the speeches were useful?

III. ABBREVIATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND GROUPS

3.1. Make sure you know the following abbreviations for international organizations and groups
by matching the abbreviations with their explanations.

A B
1. AL a) World Health Organization
2. ANZUS b) Group of 7
3. ASEAN c) Council of Europe
4. CBSS
5. CCC
d) Nuclear Energy Agency
6. CE e) International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
7. CIS f) European Union
8. CSCE g) developed country
9. CIA h) Arab League
10. DC i) International Olympic Committee
11. EBRD j) Economic Cooperation Organization
12. EC
 13. ECO k) Commonwealth of Independent States
14. EU l) less developed country
15. FBI m) Australia-New Zealand-United States Security Treaty
16. FAO
17. G-7
n) European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
18. GATT o) Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
19. IBEC p) Association of Southeast Asian Nations
20. IBRD q) Customs Cooperation Council
21. ICJ r) World Trade Organization
22. ICRM s) International Organization for Migration
23. INTERPOL t) Food and Agriculture Organization
24. IOC
u) Central Intelligence Agency
25. IOM
26. LDC v) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
27. LLDC w) United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
28. NATO Organization
29. NEA x) United Nations
30. OPEC y) Federal Burro of Investigation
31. OSCE z) Council of the Baltic Sea States
32. UN aa) European Community
33. UNESCO
bb) General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
34 WHO
35. WTRO cc) International Criminal Police Organization
dd) International Bank for Economic Cooperation
ee) Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe
ff) least developed country
gg) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
hh) International Court of Justice
ii) Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

IV. COMPROMISE AND DEADLOCK

4.1. Study the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

stance
tough / aggressive stance
concession
compromise
veto / use your veto
at loggerheads
deadlock / impasse
deadlocked

A negotiating position, particularly one unlikely to change, is a stance. A stance is often

described as tough or aggressive.
Negotiators try to reach agreement by making concessions, demanding less than they
demanded earlier, hoping to get concessions from the other side, thus reaching agreement
through compromise.
If one side refuses a proposal during talks, it vetoes it, or uses its veto.
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 Where there is disagreement, the two sides are at loggerheads, and where there is no
prospect of a change in negotiating positions, commentators talk about deadlock, or an impasse.
Talks in this state are deadlocked.

4.2. Translate into Russian.

1. Yet while some club chairmen are taking a tough stance, others are now more wary of
confrontation – worried about the financial implications to the clubs themselves if suddenly
there were no games.
2. She is either so confident of her strength that she feels she can get away with such an
aggressive stance, or so committed to her underlying beliefs about Europe that she feels
compelled to speak her mind regardless of the consequences.
3. Prince Sihanouk has put forward a compromise proposal to break the deadlock in peace
talks being held by the Supreme National Council in Bangkok.
4. The conference is still deadlocked over the Americans' refusal to agree to provide extra
money.
5. Whenever the Democrats have compromised, the White House negotiating team have said,
"Thank you very much. Now let's compromise what's left".
6. Featherstone rejected two offers from Halifax, and refused to concede any significant price
concessions to Leeds.
7. The Latvians are confident that these talks will continue, thus avoiding the 'no
concessions, no talks' impasse that exists between Moscow and Vilnius.
8. America's decision to re-establish a dialogue with Vietnam might in the long run help
resolve the issue, but meanwhile ASEAN and the United States remain at loggerheads with no
compromise in sight.

4.3. Compromise or deadlock? Match the two parts of these extracts.

1. After Lucas described the character to his collaborator, Steven Spielberg,

2. But after five hours of talks, the British government's political initiative for Northern
Ireland
3. If Clintonism were ever to exist, it would describe the art of picking a la carte from his
favorite policy menus.
4. Officially there has been no change in Taiwan's standing policy of 'three noes':
5. Talks between El Salvador's leftist rebels and government representatives remain
6. The 55-day budget deadlock in New York State has 'been broken.
7. The Dalai Lama evidently has little hope of

a) remained deadlocked and neither side appears hopeful of a breakthrough.

b) compromise with China's current rulers.
c) deadlocked over the thorny problem of reforming El Salvador's US-backed military.
d) In Arkansas he has compromised so much that even at 45 he is the longest-serving
governor in the country.
e) no contact, no compromise, and no negotiation.
f) The government and state lawmakers reached a tentative agreement last night.
g) the two men compromised on 'someone like Harrison Ford'.

4.4. Brinkmanship. Study the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:
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 falter
founder / break down / collapse
brinkmanship
scupper talks / torpedo talks

Where there are obstacles to agreement, and discussions continue with difficulty, they
falter. When discussions end because of disagreement, talks break down, founder or collapse.
When negotiators behave in a way that may cause talks to collapse, but hope to gain
advantage if they continue, they may be accused of brinkmanship.
If someone is accused of torpedoing or scuppering talks, they are accused of intentionally
causing them to collapse.

4.5. Translate into Russian.

1. The Jakarta talks, faltering from the outset, would in all likelihood have collapsed had it
not been for Washington's announcement on 5 September.
2. The talks foundered because most ministers were unable to accept a package of
compensatory measures for farmers likely to be hit by proposed cuts.
3. A great number of speakers at the meeting made it clear that it was pointless to go on
with this sort of farce. In spite of what appeared to be total breakdown, talks will continue later
today.
4. The American delegation is speaking of imminent collapse; there is a very real danger of
the talks breaking down with serious consequences for the world economy.
5. The Malaysian Minister of International Trade Rafeta Aziz criticized Europe for toying
dangerously with the world economy. 'I'm not sure whether some people are playing the
brinkmanship game so that they will try to create some crisis situation, and that makes people
get stirred up'.
6. That move has led left-wing legislators to say Shamir does not intend to negotiate but
rather torpedo the talks. It has also caused his foreign minister to withdraw from the delegation.
7. Jacques Delors was last night accused of sabotaging thousands of British jobs for the
sake of personal ambition. He was accused of scuppering crucial trade talks to avert a world
trade war by EC negotiator Ray MacSharry.

4.6. Breakthroughs and Agreements. Study the meaning of the following words and word-
combinations:
breakthrough
outcome
agreement / accord / deal
reach agreement
reach an agreement
strike an agreement
ratify
Sudden progress in talks is a breakthrough. Breakthroughs are often described as major,
important, significant or dramatic and may lead to a successful outcome of the talks.
When talks are successful, the sides reach agreement or reach or strike an agreement.
An agreement may also be referred to as an accord or a deal.
Before it comes into effect, an agreement may have to be approved or ratified by an
elected body such as a parliament, which may refuse ratification by vetoing the agreement.
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4.7. Translate into Russian.

1. The vital breakthrough in GATT talks eventually came with concessions on both sides.
2. The high-volume propaganda exchange between the United States and the European
Community has not only made a successful outcome to the talks much more difficult to achieve,
but has also soured relations generally.
3. Vietnam and Britain have reached agreement on the return of at least 300 Vietnamese
boat people to their communist homeland.
4. Dresdner Bank and Banque Nationale de Paris have just struck an agreement to
collaborate in international markets.
5. That's how he came to meet Lenin in 1921 and broke a trade impasse. Hammer struck a
deal in which Soviet furs were exchanged for American wheat.
6. He still carries weight in White House, especially on Middle East questions, where he
supervised the Camp David accord between Israel and Egypt.
7. In a follow up to the Earth summit, the declaration called on other nations to join the G7
partners in ratifying the climate change convention.

4.8 Trade talks scenario. Read this article from Today and answer the questions.

WE GATT A DEAL

The world pulled back from the brink of an economic war last night as Europe and the US
finally reached a deal in the crucial GATT talks. Officials from the two sides reached agreement
after six years of haggling over GATT: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The
Americans had threatened to impose savage sanctions against EC goods, including a 200 per cent
import duty on French wine.
They were due to come into force on December 5. But the deal was sealed by transatlantic
telephone after President George Bush gave the US team the go-ahead. After two final days of
talks in America, EC Agriculture Commissioner Ray MacSharry in Brussels and US Agriculture
Secretary Edward Madigan in Washington spoke the historic words: "That's a deal".
In Downing Street, a jubilant John Major hailed the accord as 'the single most important
trade deal the world has seen'.
"A trade battle would have been catastrophic", he said. Mr. Major was mainly responsible
for getting negotiations re-started after a breakdown that followed an outburst from EC
Commission President Jacques Delors. Mr. Delors was accused of trying to scupper the talks
because the US was demanding cuts in farming subsidies. Last night France was still opposing
the deal, which means less cash for its farmers.
"The conditions defined by the French government are not fulfilled", said agriculture
minister Jean-Pierre Soisson. "At first sight of this accord, I cannot accept it". But he refused to
be drawn on whether his government would veto the deal which will cut subsidized EG farm
exports by 21 %.
A French farmers' union said it was a 'knife in the back' and called for immediate
nationwide protests....

1. What's the play on words in the title?

2. If you pull back from the brink of something, does it become less likely?
3. Are savage sanctions punitive?
4. Does 'the deal was sealed' mean that it was a) rejected, or b) agreed?
5. If you hail something, do you welcome it?

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HOME ACTIVITY UNIT 11

GROUP PRESENTATION: NEWS BULLETIN

1. Pick a well-known international news network (CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Fox, etc.). You
are supposed to imitate the network’s image, so study your network carefully.
2. Decide who does what (anchor, guest, correspondent, meteorologist, reporter etc.).
Make sure the workload is evenly divided.
3. Solve and prepare for technical issues (props, logos, banners, captions, teleprompters,
editing) and find a good place for "the studio".
4. Choose news! Stick to current events in the English speaking world (national, regional
or local) and/or major international events ("current" refers to events that have taken place during
the last 3 months). Also, try to choose news that goes well with your network.
5. Begin writing the script (do a storyboard if necessary).
6. Start filming! Or be ready "to run a show" in class!

Obligatory content:

 hard news
 economy
 cultural (soft) news
 sports/ weather
 correspondents
 guests/experts

 fake news items are allowed

 add commercials if possible

Useful information

Школа журналистики Би-би-си (http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy) выложила в

общественный доступ большое количество видео и учебных материалов, которые
изначально предназначались для обучения собственных журналистов. Теперь этими
материалами могут бесплатно пользоваться журналисты всего мира.
Вы можете просматривать видео и пользоваться онлайн-пособиями по работе в
социальных медиа, техникам создания мультимедиа, а также руководствами по разным
темам и стилям письма, созданными журналистами Би-би-си.
Ресурсы доступны на 11 языках – арабском, бирманском, китайском, хауса, пушту,
персидском, русском (http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/russian) и др. Они посвящены
«основным редакционным навыкам, которые журналисты из языковых отделов
Всемирной службы Би-би-си используют в своей ежедневной работе».

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