Exercise 1

Approximately how many surplus bottles of "Bordello Breeze" are there according to Kevin?

5,000

This is incorrect. 5,000 bottles was the amount which was requested, but 15,000 bottles were actually produced which creates a surplus of 10,000 bottles.

20,000

This is incorrect. 15,000 bottles were produced instead of 5,000, creating a surplus of 10,000 bottles.

10,000

Because the invoice called for 5,000 bottles to be manufactured, and 15,000 bottles were actually produced, 10,000 bottles are in surplus, which means that there are 10,000 extra bottles of perfume.

15,000

This is incorrect. Although 15,000 bottles were produced, Delavigne actually needed 5,000 of them, creating a surplus of 10,000 bottles.

Exercise 2

Choose the financial terms from the text which correspond to these definitions.

The cost of running a business, excluding taxes and interest -->
Available resources or assets needed for a company's daily operations. -->
An excess of available money, NOT needed for a company's daily operation -->

Choose the financial terms from the text which correspond to these definitions.

The cost of running a business, excluding taxes and interest --> Operating expenses 1
Available resources or assets needed for a company's daily operations. --> Working capital 2
An excess of available money, NOT needed for a company's daily operation --> Cash surplus 3

1 Operating expenses: This is the best choice here. "Operating expenses" (also called "OPEX" and operating costs) refer to the cost, price or expense of running or operating a business, generally calculated on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. Note that operating expenses do NOT take into account taxes and interest, but do include costs such as salaries, rent, utilities, etc.

1 Working capital: This is not the best choice. "Working capital" refers to the available cash a business has for its daily operations. It is unrelated to the cost of its operations.

1 Cash surplus: This is not the best choice. "A surplus" refers to an "excess" of something, in this case, money. A cash surplus is unrelated to the operating expenses of a company, which describes its costs, excluding tax and interest.

2 Working capital: This is the best choice here. "Working capital" refers to the available cash a business has for its daily operations. "Working capital" is commonly in the form of cash and current (short-term) assets, available to a company for use in the production of further assets. "Available" means "ready to use" or "spend" in this context.

2 Cash surplus: This is not the best choice. "A surplus" refers to an "excess" of something, in this case, money. A cash surplus is unrelated to the working capital of a company.

2 Operating expenses: This is not the best choice. "Operating expenses", refer to the cost, price or expense of running or operating a business, not to the working capital of a company, which describes its available cash for daily operation.

3 Cash surplus: This is the correct choice. "A surplus" refers to an "excess" of something, in this case, money. A cash surplus describes an amount of available (ready to use) cash or assets which are unneeded for the daily operating costs of a company. Icarus has found 1.2 million dollars of available cash and is now explaining to Bruno how he wants to use this money.

3 Operating expenses: This is not the best choice. "Operating expenses" refer to the cost, price or expense of running or operating a business, however the term is unrelated to a "cash surplus", which describes an "excess" amount of cash.

3 Working capital: This is not the best choice. "Working capital" refers to the available cash a business has for its daily operations, however the term is unrelated to a "cash surplus", which describes an "excess" amount of cash.

Exercise 3

Time to find some interesting vocabulary! Fill in the blanks below with words used in the dialogue.

This is a "timetable" or a "diary". We use these to plan events:
I add meetings and appointments to the manager's every day, but he's only interested in lunch.

This means "more than is necessary or needed". Synonyms for this word include "extra" and "excess".
We expected 120 people for the conference, but only 50 came. I don't know what to do with all the champagne.

This is a voyage, trip, or journey, usually across water.
The from England to France was very rough. I was sick at least four times.

I don't know

Time to find some interesting vocabulary! Fill in the blanks below with words used in the dialogue.

This is a "timetable" or a "diary". We use these to plan events:
I add meetings and appointments to the manager's schedule 1 every day, but he's only interested in lunch.

This means "more than is necessary or needed". Synonyms for this word include "extra" and "excess".
We expected 120 people for the conference, but only 50 came. I don't know what to do with all the surplus 2 champagne.

This is a voyage, trip, or journey, usually across water.
The crossing 3 from England to France was very rough. I was sick at least four times.

1 schedule: This is the right answer. A "schedule" is a plan of events which will happen in the future. Another example: "My schedule is very busy this week, so I won't have time to meet you". We can also use the verb "to schedule", which means to organise or fix a date for an event.

2 surplus: This is the right answer. "Surplus" means "additional" and is often used in the context of sales and stocks. Another example: "We have some surplus bottles of perfume. What shall we do with them?".

3 crossing: This is the right answer. A "crossing" in this context means a journey or a trip across the sea. It's the same as a "flight" on a plane or a "hike" on foot. Another example: "Our crossing from one side of the Atlantic to the other took several weeks".

Exercise 4