Vocabulary
Describing products
E Match the verbs on the left to their meanings. Then put the words into a logical order to show the lifecycles of a new product.
attractive reliable
fashionable popular
Vocabulary
Describing products B Write adjectives with the opposite meanings to those in Exercise A.
ununeconomical unfashionable
inInexpensive
imImpractical
unreliable
uncomfortable unpopular
Vocabulary
Describing products
C Complete these sentences with the words from the box.
well high best long hard high
The strength of your products or services forms the foundation for your entire business. The stronger your products or services are, the greater your business empire can be built upon them.
Starting up
A Describing some of your favourite products. Why do you like them? What do they say about you? B What product would you most like to own? Why? Do you agree or disagree with these statements? Give reasons for your answers. 1. Using animals to test new products is wrong. 2. Multinational companies which manufacture products in developing countries help the world economy. 3. Companies spend far too much on launching and promoting new products.
6 2 5 4 1. launch 2. test 3. promote a) to stop making b) to build or make c) to introduce to the market
4. manufacture
d) to change in order to
improve
3
Reading
Reading
Launching a new product
Gooseberry
Kiwi
This fruit had a long history before it was commercialized as kiwifruit. When introduced to New Zealand by Isabel Fraser it was called yá ng tá o in China. People in New Zealand thought it had a gooseberry flavor and began to call it the Chinese gooseberry. New Zealand exported the fruit to the US in the 1950s. Among the exporters was the prominent produce company Turners and Growers, who were calling the berries melonettes, because the name Chinese gooseberry had political connotations due to the Cold War. An American importer, Norman Sondag of San Francisco, complained that melonettes was as bad as Chinese gooseberry because melons and berries were both subject to high import tariffs. In June 1959, during a meeting of Turners and Growers management in Auckland, Jack Turner suggested the name kiwifruit which was adopted and later became the industrywide name. Most New Zealand kiwifruit is now marketed under the brandname label Zespri which is trademarked by a marketing company in New Zealand, ZESPRI International. The brand also served to distinguish New Zealand kiwifruit from fruit produced by other countries.
5. modify
e) to try something in order to see how it works
8 1
6. discontinue 7. design
f) to make a plan or drawing g) to increase sales by advertising etc.
1. IBM manufactures ______-tech computer products. 2. Timberland makes a range of ______-wearing footwear. 3. Ferrari produces ______-quality sports cars. 4. Coca-Cola and Pepsico both develop ______ selling soft drinks.
7
8. distribute
h) to supply to shops, companies, customers.
The kiwifruit (or kiwi) is the edible berry of a Launching a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia new product deliciosa. The Actinidia is native to Shaanxi, China. The most common cultivars of kiwifruit are oval, about the size of a large hen's egg. It has a Gooseberry fibrous, dull brown-green skin and bright green or golden flesh with rows of small, black, edible seeds. The fruit has a soft texture and a unique flavor, and today is a commercial crop in several countries. Originally known as the Chinese Gooseberry, Kiwi the fruit was renamed for export marketing reasons in the 1950s; briefly to melonette, and then to kiwifruit. This latter name comes from the kiwi — a flightless bird and New Zealand's national symbol.
5. Duracell sells _____-lasting alkaline batteries.
6. Levi jeans are a _____-made clothing products.
Vocabulary
Describing products
D Use the adjectives in Exercise C to describing other companies and products. For example, Nestle makes many of the world’s best-selling food products. 1. Siemens makes high-tech healthcare equipment among many other products. 2. Gore-Tex produces hard-wearing materials for outdoor clothes. 3. Habitat sells high-quality furniture. 4.Dell assembles the world’s best-selling PCs. 5. Cummins makes long-lasting diesel engines. 6. Gucci shoes are fashionable and well-made.