The reading passage focuses on a social phenomenon in business — bribery. The passage can be broadly divided into three main parts: bribery has become a common problem occurring in many countries, three main categories of bribery, the efforts to ban bribery and the result.
1. The first part consists of 4 paragraphs, from Paragraph 1 to Paragraph 4, concentrating on the point of view that bribery is a common problem occurring in many countries. The author presents his viewpoint in Paragraph 1 that bribery in various forms is on the increase in many countries and, in some countries, has been a way of life for centuries. The author continues to support his viewpoint from Paragraph 2 to 4. Paragraph 2 establishes a supposition with an example: What if during a negotiation the other side asks for a bribe? Do you pay up or stand by your principles? Paragraph 3 answers the question in Paragraph 2 with an example showing that sticking to high moral standards is easier said than done. In a very competitive business if we didn’t bribe to keep our buyers happy, someone else would. Then the author comes to a conclusion with an example: bribery is on the increase and has become a fact of commercial life. The last sentence of Paragraph 4 is a transitional sentence which tells that in the following part the author is to present us three categories of questionable payments or bribes.
2. The second part from Paragraph 5 to Paragraph 8, 4 paragraphs in all, focuses on the three categories of bribery. In this part there are a lot of examples to support the author’s points. In Paragraphs 5 and 6, the author presents the first category of bribery: substantial payments made for political purposes or to secure major contracts. Paragraph 7 deals with the second category of bribery: payments made to obtain quicker official approval of some projects, to speed up the wheels of government. Paragraph 8 is about the third category of bribery: payments made to people who help with the passage of a business deal.
3. The third part is made up of the last 3 paragraphs, from Paragraph 9 to 11, which are about the efforts to prohibit bribery. Paragraph 9 is about the efforts by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to set up a code of conduct that would ban the giving and seeking of bribes. It also concerns management of the code which has been proposed by the council. Paragraph 10 tells us that the council has met difficulties in carrying out the code as opinions differ among members of the ICC concerning how to enforce the code. Paragraph 11 quoted from a famous British newspaper that business is caught in a web of bribery. It is hard to square the business interests with moral conscience. The last paragraph also implies a conclusion for the whole reading passage: bribery seems inevitable.
