What you need for a successful cover letter

1. Your return address, phone number, should appear on the top right hand corner of the letter.

2. Include the dale just above the beginning of the letter.

3. Begin with salutation: "Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs." followed by the individual's last name, then a colon(:). If you are applying to a blind ad and don't know the name of the person, it is acceptable to write "Dear Hiring Manager."

4. The first paragraph should state immediately which position you are applying for. Also, you may want to include that you are responding to an advertisement, with the date of its publication.

5. The second should provide information about why you would be beneficial for the company.

6. The third should mention your knowledge of the company or the industry in which it operates, and why it would be interesting for you to work there.

7. The final is your closing, and can specifically request an interview — but don't forget to include the time of day when you are most easily reached. Follow up with a phone call after a few days.

8. The closing should be simple — "Best regards," or "Sincerely" are always appropriate.

While these are simple guidelines, they cover only basics and can be varied. (You can also see many sites on the topic on the Internet.)

(из учебника А. Чужакина «Мир перевода-2»)

Текст 5

Упражнения перед переводом текста:

1) Обратите внимание на значение и способы перевода следующих единиц (рекомендуется прочитать соответствующие статьи в словаре А. Палажченко «Мой несистематический словарь»)

effective vs. efficient;

chief operating officer

encourage

challenge

facility

2) Запомните предлагаемые способы перевода следующих слов и словосочетаний:

ease fatigue – снимать усталость

revamp – модернизировать

to backfire – привести к обратному результату

put a cap on - ограничить

in an attempt to do smth – пытаясь сделать что-то (ср. in an effort to keep employees engaged)

take a hit – понести потери

Nap rooms gone bad

Last year, the technology start-up AskforTask.com set up a nap room to help ease fatigue among its web developers who were working long hours, sometimes as many as 70 per week. It sounded like the perfect solution for a company that needed to revamp its web platform fast and keep its developers sharp and focused. Unfortunately, the plan backfired.

It didn’t take us long to figure out that naps were counter-productive,” said Nabeel Mushtaq, chief operating officer and co-founder of the 15-person Toronto company.

Management put a 15-minute cap on power naps, but many employees accidentally overslept, Mushtaq said. Awaking groggy, a number of them then spent even more time refilling their coffee mugs or splashing water on their faces in an attempt to snap back to work form. “The whole process would waste anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half,” Mushtaq said.

Employee productivity took a hit, too. Six months into the nap programme, the once-efficient team was reaching only 55% of its weekly goals, down some 30 percentage points from before the sleep experiment, Mushtaq explained.

Studies and productivity experts show that power naps and relaxation breaks can restore energy and focus during the workday. A number of leading companies, in an effort to keep employees engaged and focused, now offer nap rooms or encourage an afternoon break away from the desk. Among them: Apple, Nike and Procter & Gamble in the US, and HootSuite and Intuit in Canada.

Managers eager to appeal to employees concerned with work-life balance sing the praises of such programmes. But lurking behind the lounge chairs and mood lighting are some surprising drawbacks that are only now coming to the forefront.

Not everyone wakes up from a snooze able to bounce back to their previous energy levels. And not all employees who leave their workstation for a “quick” walk or game of table football or table tennis return promptly.

The conundrum, said Nathan Schokker, whose company Talio Group Pty Ltd added a one-person nap room last year, is determining “the best way to make them available and effective without being excessive and complicated.”

For Schokker, director of Talio Group, striking the right balance between encouraging weary workers to rest and allowing too much time for “slacking off” has been the biggest challenge.

To simplify the process, the Brisbane, Australia facility management company eschews any formal rules about when its 45 employees and contractors can nap and for how long, Schokker said. However, managers suggest napping only when absolutely necessary to help keep abuses down.

(http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140409-nap-rooms-gone-bad)

Интервью для абзацно-фразового перевода

Интервью № 1

Interview with Mr Vdovin, Commercial Director of Terra Publishers, a major Russian printing house