Episode 136

EPISODE 136
LEVEL A2

READING COMPREHENSION

 

Xiaomi becomes third-largest smartphone maker

 

A four-year-old Chinese tech company has become the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung and Apple. The company is called Xiaomi Inc. It has also become the world’s most valuable tech start-up and is more valuable than Uber, Dropbox, Pinterest and Snapchat. The Beijing-based company has just raised $1.1 billion in funding and is now worth $45 billion. That makes it worth more than tech giants LG, Motorola and Sony put together. Xiaomi is also the world’s fastest-growing smartphone maker. Its sales increased by 211 per cent in 2014. Its market share has also increased from 2 per cent to 5 per cent over the past year and it looks like that will increase further.

Xiaomi has a unique business model. It sells its phones for around what they cost to make. Profits come from apps and software. It also makes its customers follow the company. Many Xiaomi users in China are very loyal fans of the company. The company uses marketing campaigns that give fans the chance to win prizes. This makes the company very popular. Bin Lin, Xiaomi co-founder and president, said: „We will strive to continue bringing innovation to everyone, with a goal of producing high-quality, high-performance devices with great user experience.” However, not everyone is a fan of Xiaomi. Apple’s chief designer Jonathan Ive said Xiaomi stole the design of its phone and many ideas from Apple.

 

Exercise 1

Find in the text the English equivalents of these words:

1. finansowanie
2. sprzedaż
3. oprogramowanie
4. użytkownik
5. kampania
6. nagroda
7. prezes
8. projektant

 

Exercise 2

How would you translate these compound phrases:

1. third-largest
2. start-up
3. Beijing-based
4. fastest-growing
5. co-founder
6. high-performance

 

Exercise 3

Use the words from the two boxes to make collocations:

1. business
2. chief
3. high-quality
4. market
5. marketing
6. smartphone
7. tech

a) campaign
b) company
c) designer
d) device
e) maker
f) model
g) share
h) start-up

 

 

Phrasals, phrasals…

 

This lesson’s reading text has such a sentence: That makes it worth more than tech giants LG, Motorola and Sony put together. The underlined phrase is another phrasal verb, which in this context can mean “razem wzięci”.

Here are two more examples of how to use the verb:

She earns more than all the rest of us put together.
The population of the US is bigger than that of Britain, France, and Germany put together.

 

 

Grammar corner…

This time we propose a revision of tenses on the basis of the reading text.
Complete the text with the correct forms of the verbs in brackets:

 

A four-year-old Chinese tech company (become) _________________ the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung and Apple. (…) The Beijing-based company (just/raise) _________________ $1.1 billion in funding and is now worth $45 billion. That (make) _________________ it worth more than tech giants LG, Motorola and Sony put together. Xiaomi is also the world’s fastest-growing smartphone maker. Its sales (increase) _________________ by 211 per cent in 2014. Its market share (also/increase) _________________ from 2 per cent to 5 per cent over the past year and it (look) _________________ like that will increase further.
Xiaomi (have) _________________ a unique business model. It (sell) _________________ its phones for around what they (cost) _________________ to make. Profits (come) _________________ from apps and software. It also (make) _________________ its customers follow the company. Many Xiaomi users in China are very loyal fans of the company. The company (use) _________________ marketing campaigns that give fans the chance to win prizes. This (make) _________________ the company very popular. (…) However, not everyone is a fan of Xiaomi. Apple’s chief designer Jonathan Ive (say) _________________ Xiaomi (steal) _________________ the design of its phone and many ideas from Apple.

 

 

GLOSSARY

tech(nological) – technologiczny
valuable – cenny, wartościowy
start-up – nowo założona firma
based – z siedzibą w
to raise – zebrać (peniądze)
funding – finansowanie
to be worth – być wartym
giant – gigant
put together – tu: razem wzięci
to grow – rozwijać się
sales – sprzedaż
to increase – zwiększyć się
market share – udział w rynku
further – dalej
unique – wyjątkowy, niepowtarzalny
around – około, mniej więcej
app(lication) – aplikacja
software – oprogramowanie
to follow – podążać za
user – użytownik
loyal – lojalny
campaign – kampania
to win – wygr(yw)ać
prize – nagroda
to depreciate – stracić na wartości
co-funder – współzałożyciel
president – prezes
strive – bardzo się starać
with a goal of – w celu
high-performance – o dużej wydajności / wysokich parametrach
device – urządzenie
experience – doświadczenie
chief designer – główny projektant
to steal – skraść
design – projekt

 

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