ENGLISH FOR THE STUDENTS OF ECONOMICS

увеличиваться, расти, усиливаться TEXT Economics is a social science studying economy.. The central economic problem is to reconcile the conflict betweenpeople's unlimited demands with s

2005ББК 81.2 Англ – 9 я 7

А 64

ENGLISH FOR THE STUDENTS OF ECONOMICS: Методические

указания по развитию навыков устной речи на английском языке / Сост.

М В Мищенко; Волгоград гос техн ун-т – Волгоград, 2005 – 31 с.Предназначены для студентов экономических направлений вуза.Включают систему текстов и упражнений, направленных на закрепление

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университет, 2005

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Данные методические указания предназначено для студентовэкономических направлений вуза Цель работы – активизация навыковчтения, перевода текстов и ведения беседы на иностранном языке по дан-ному направлению

Методические указания включают систему текстов и упражнений,направленных на закрепление в речи активной лексики и развитие навы-ков чтения и говорения Тематика текстов охватывает широкий спектрэкономических вопросов

UNIT 1 From the history of economics Economics as a science today

33 a new way of looking - новый взгляд

34 to be unfamiliar to smb – быть неизвестным, незнакомым для либо

кого-35 to stay up late doing smth – долго засиживаться, делая что-либо

36 increase – (n.) увеличение, прибавление, рост, прирост

37 increase – (v.) увеличивать(ся), расти, усиливаться

TEXT

Economics is a social science studying economy Why study economics?

In fact, people do it for countless reasons For many people concern for theeconomy goes no further than the price of tuition or the fear of losing a job.Many others, however, are becoming aware that their job prospects and theprices they pay are somehow related to national trends in prices, unemploy-ment, and economic growth Although few people think in terms of price in-dexes and graphs, most of us now recognize the importance of major economicevents And that's why so many people worry about such abstractions as unem-ployment rates, inflation, economic growth, etc

Economics has deep routs in, and close ties to, social philosophy An sue of great importance to philosophers, for example, is distributional justice.Why are some people rich and others are poor? And, whatsoever the answer, is

is-it fair? A number of nineteenth century social philosophers wrestled wis-ith thesequestions and out of their musings economics as a separate discipline wasborn

As a scholarly discipline, economics is two centuries old The first tist who made extraordinary contributions in economics was Adam Smith Almost a century later, as capitalist enterprises began to spread, there ap-peared the massive critique of capitalism: Karl Marx's "Capital"

scien-In 1936 John Maynard Keynes published 'The General Theory of ployment, Interest and Money" Economics was supposed to help government

Em-monetary and fiscal policies to tame the worst ravages of business cycles

What exactly is the subject that the economists from Smith to Marx to thepresent generation have analyzed?

Economics is the study of how societies use scarce resources to produce

valuable commodities and distribute them among different people

As you begin your study of economics, keep in mind that economics willteach you a new way of looking at the world In some cases, you will find thatthe topics we discuss are completely unfamiliar to you But most of the timeyou will be looking at things that you already know about from a different per-spective You will discover, for example, that the complex decisions of hugemultinational corporations are based on some of the same principals that guideeveryday choices like whether to take a day off or to stay up late studying

1 Put the right word in the blanks.

economy, economics, economic, economical, economically, economist, to economize

1 Marx and Keynes are two famous .

2 Those people are studying the science of

3 We sometimes call a person's work his activity

4 People should be very with the money they earn

5 The system of a country is usually called the national

6 The people in that town live very

7 Oka is the most _ car in Europe

8 Many people think that situation in Russia is improving

9 housewives use lots of ways of saving about the house

10 Do you want to major in _?

11 The study shows that Russian people don’t like on food

12 The first Nobel prize in was awarded in 1969

2 Translate the sentences from English into Russian paying attention to the words from the Active Vocabulary.

1 I’d rather economize on holidays (развлечения) than food

2 He became aware of danger

3 My hobby is to collect scarce books

4 Many scientists tried to solve the problem of distribution of scarce re sources

5 The economy of the country was completely destroyed after the revolution ary upheaval

6 The money that has been collected will be distributed among all the dren’s hospitals in the area

chil-7 What is the value of these things?

8 He valued my work greatly

9 The rate of unemployment in this country is rather high; the government is doing its best to reduce it

10 I found this job through the employment agency

11 Our scientific society takes part in the conference this week

12 Monetary and fiscal policies of the government slowed the inflation down

3 Translate the sentences from Russian into English.

1 После школы я буду изучать экономику

2 Наука экономика возникла два века назад

3 Адам Смит был выдающимся экономистом

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4 В нашем городе много частных предприятий.

5 Правительство обеспокоено ростом безработицы в стране

6 Этот график показывает распределение цен на различные виды ров

това-7 Эти факты мне не знакомы

8 Я часто засиживаюсь допоздна, делая домашние задания

9 Экономика имеет глубокие корни с социальной философией и тесно связана с ней

10 Экономика имеет дело с такими проблемами как инфляция и тица

безрабо-4 Answer the questions.

a)

1 What is economics? What does it study?

2 What is the difference between "economy" and "economics"?

3 Why do people study economics? Give your personal opinion

4 Does economics have deep roots, and close ties to, social philosophy? Why?

5 What problems does economics deal with?

6 When did economics appear?

7 Who made extraordinary contributions in economics? Do you know the

names of other scientists studying economics?

8 What is John Keynes famous for?

9 Can people say that most decisions they make are economic decisions?

b)

When did you make the first economic discoveries? (to want, to buy, to have,

to sell; children, adults, young people)

5 Summaries the text

NOTE: To summarize means to make a short general statement of the

main points of the text or other peaces of information To find the main pointstry to identify the key words and the topic sentences of the text They are themost important words and sentences that help us understand or explain it

6 Read about scientists who contributed much into the developing the ence of economics If necessary, consult the dictionary.

At the age of 28 Adam Smith became a professor of logics at the sity of Glasgow It was his first academic appointment Some time latter he be-came a tutor to a wealthy Scottish duke Then he received a grant of £300 ayear It was a big sum, 10 times bigger the average income at that time.With the financial security of this grant, Smith devoted ten years to writ-

Univer-ing his work which founded economic science Its full title was An Inquiry

into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations It was published with

great success in 1776

Adam Smith made economics a science This Scottish economist is oftenregarded as a founder of political economy too

John Maynard Keynes

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) is an English economist, whose The

General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) proposed the

pre-vention of financial crisis and unemployment by adjusting demand throughgovernment control of credit and currency He is responsible for that part ofeconomics now known as macroeconomics

John Maynard Keynes saw the cause of a depression in reduced demand

He suggested that governments stimulate consumption by putting money intoconsumers’ pockets through tax cuts or directly increase governments’ ownexpenditure to stimulate demand

8 Say, whether these statements are true or false, and if they are false, say why.

In my opinion it is true that…

I’m afraid it is false that… because….

1 People all over the world are interested in economics

2 Economics is an old discipline

3 It was Karl Marx who founded economic science

4 Knowledge of economics is important to everyone now

5 People make important economic discoveries only when they are old

6 Adam Smith is regarded to be the father of political economics

7 John M Keynes is the founder of macroeconomics

8 Economics deals with such problems as unemployment, inflation, economicgrowth, etc

Speaking and writing practice

With your fellow student choose an economist to write an essay about.Making use of the vocabulary of the lesson discuss his or her life and work.Outline the main points to be covered in the essay Write an essay (15-20 sen-

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tences), read it out and discuss it.

UNIT 2 Economic systems

Economics is a science that analyzes what, how, and for whom societyproduces The central economic problem is to reconcile the conflict betweenpeople's unlimited demands with society's ability to produce goods and ser-vices.

In industrial Western countries markets are to allocate resources The ket is the process by which production and consumption are coordinatedthrough prices

mar-In a command economy, a central planning office makes decisions onwhat, how, and for whom to produce Economy cannot rely entirely on com-mand, but there was extensive planning in many Soviet bloc countries

A free market economy has no government intervention Resources areallocated entirely through markets

Modern economies in the West are mixed and rely mainly on the marketbut with a large dose of government intervention The optimal level of govern-ment intervention remains a problem which is of interest to economists.The degree of government restrictions differs greatly between countriesthat have command economies and countries that have free market economies

In the former, resources are allocated by central government planning In thelatter, there is not any government regulation of the consumption, production,and exchange of goods Between the two main types lies the mixed economywhere market and government are both of importance

(существительное)

decision, recommend, regulation, consumer, produce, allocation, decide,consume, allocate, production, recommendation, consumption, regulate, pro-ducer

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2 Chose the suitable variant:

1 (A command economy / a free market economy) is a society where the

ernment makes all decisions about production and consumption

2 (Economics/ Economy) studies how markets and prices allow society to

solve the problems of what, how, and for whom to produce

3 Every economist sees (the restriction / the importance) of the question of

what, how, and for whom to produce

4 Nations have different (consumption / levels) of farm production.

5 When (the price / the importance) of some goods grows, people will try to

use less of them but producers will want to produce more of them

6 In (mixed/both) countries, Canada and the USA, structural changes in the

agricultural sector of economy have become of interest to economists and general public in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century

7 After years of competition between command and market economies, (the

former /the latter) gave way in many countries of the world to (the former/ the latter).

3 Put the following words into the sentences and translate them into sian.

Rus-both, government, restrictions, the former, the latter, economics, through,

to produce, services (2), goods (2), regulations, mixed economy

1 Every group of people must solve three main problems: what … and … to produce, how … them and for whom to produce them

2 … is placed among the social sciences

3 Markets in which there is no … intervention are called free markets

4 Society allocates resources into production … the piece system

5 There are no government … and … in a free market economy

6 … is an economy in which the government and private sector cooperate in solving economic problems

7 Government regulations and restrictions must … work in the interest of ciety

so-8 People produce … and … …are produced in factories or on farms, … - at schools, hospitals, shops, banks

4 Translate into Russian paying attention to the words and word tions from the Active Vocabulary

combina-1 Economics is the study of how society decides what, how, and for whom toproduce

2 The central economic problem for society is how to reconcile the conflict

between people's limitless demand for goods and services and the resourceswhich can be allocated for the production of these goods and services.

3 The market is the process by which individuals' decisions about tion of goods, firms' decisions about what and how to produce, the workers'decisions about how much and for whom to work are reconciled by prices

consump-4 When resources are limited, they are allocated through the political process

In a country like Sweden with a strong government the level of production ofsocial services may be higher than the level of production of goods for individ-ual consumption

5 The world economy produces mostly for the people living in the industrialcountries

6 In many countries there was a large dose of central regulation and planning

7 Even the countries with free market economy still have high levels of ernment activity in the production of public goods and services and the regula-tion of markets

gov-8 All-round planning is not an easy task, and there is not any command omy that relies entirely on planning for all resources allocation decisions

econ-5 Translate into English.

1 Развитые страны достигают экономического успеха через цию

специализа-2 В годы войны в стране всегда имеет место регулирование экономикиправительством

3 В экономиках смешанного типа имеются правительственные ния того, что производить и как производить

ограниче-4 Каждый менеджер принимает решения, как распределить ные ресурсы наилучшим образом

ограничен-5 Мы не можем положиться на эти данные при планировании ства на следующий год

производ-6 При рыночной экономике регулирование производства и потребленияосуществляется через цены

6 а) Answer the questions to the text Market and Command Economies.

1 What is the central economic problem of a society?

2 What is the market?

3 What is the function of the market in an industrial country?

4 How are decisions made in a command economy?

5 In what way does a free market economy differ from a command economy?

6 To which type do most economies in the West belong?

б) Discuss the following:

1 To which type does the economy of present-day Russia belong?

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2 Is the level of government regulation growing or falling in Russian omy now?

econ-7 Retell the text.

8 Read the text without consulting a dictionary Give title to it Guess the meaning of the underlined words Answer the question after the text.

The free market allows individuals to produce goods and services withoutany government restrictions The command economy allows little individualeconomic freedom since (так как) most decisions are made by the govern-ment Between these two extremes lies the mixed economy

In a mixed economy the government and private sector co-operate in ing the economic problem The government controls production through taxa-tion (налогообложение) and orders for goods and services for the army, thepolice force, administration and other needs

solv-In a mixed economy the government may also be a producer of goods Anexample of it is the United Kingdom where there are nationalized industriessuch as railways and coal

9.What is the role of government in a mixed economy?

а) Раскройте скобки и употребите глаголы в соответствующей форме.

There (to be) various forms of government restrictions and regulations in economies For example, Turkey and Norway both (to limit) profits of firms, the latter also (to control) prices and wages; in Bolivia the tin mines (to na-

tionalize); in China communes (to establish); in Cuba the government (to own) many industries and firms; and in Britain eight basic industries (to na- tionalize).

A free market economy (to be) rare in the world.

The level of economy regulation (to be) different in different countries In some countries it (to grow) in recent years, in others more freedom (to grant)

to firms and individuals But the general tendency (to be) to keep government

regulation at quite a high level

б) Напишите к тексту четыре вопроса: общий, специальный, нативный и разделительный.

альтер-Speaking and writing practice.

Write an essay (or prepare a speech) on the type of economy of yourcountry Make use of the information and vocabulary of the Unit as well as ad-ditional sources

NOTE: Mind the structure of the essay which should include the title, the

introductory paragraph (the main point, thesis), your original thoughts andideas on the problem, development of the theses, supported by facts ( the body

of the essay) an the conclusion which is the mirror of the introduction, reviewyour most important points, suggest some solutions to the problem

UNIT 3 The scope of economics

Most students taking economics for the first time are surprised by thebreadth of what they study Some think that economics will teach them aboutthe stock market and what to do with their money Others think that economicsdeals exclusively with problems like inflation and unemployment In fact, itdeals with all these subjects But they are peaces of a much larger puzzle The easiest way to get a feel for the breadth and depth of what you will bestudying is to explore briefly the way economics is organized First of all, hereare two major divisions of economics: microeconomics and macroeconomics.Microeconomics deals with the functioning of individual industries andthe behavior of individual economic decision-making units1: single businessfirms2 and households Microeconomics explores the decisions that individualbusiness and consumers make The choices of firm about what to produce andhow much to charge and the choices of households about what to buy and howmuch of it to buy help to explain why the economy produces the things it does.Another big question that microeconomics addresses is who get the things thatare produced Wealthy households get more output than do poor households,and the forces that determine this distribution of output are the province ofmicroeconomics Why do we have poverty? Who is poor? Why do some jobspay more than others? Why do teachers or plumbers or baseball players getpaid what they do? Think again about all things you consume in day and thanthink back to that view out over a big city Somebody decided to build thosefactories Somebody decided to construct those roads, build the housing, pro-duce the cars, knit the shirts, and smoke the beckon Why? What is going on inall those buildings? It is easy to sea that understanding individual micro deci-sions is very important to any understanding of your society

Macroeconomics, in its turn, deals with the functioning of national nomic complex and behavior of the main classes and social groups

1 Match the words with their definitions.

1 microeconomics a) one’s regular work or occupation

2 consumer b) the branch of economics that studies

indi-vidual producers, consumers or markets

3 welfare c) condition of having comfortable living

and working conditions, good health, etc

4 macroeconomics d) the branch of economics, that studies

eco-nomics as a whole

5 employment e) a person, who uses, buys goods

2 Fill in the blanks with the following words related to the verb “to duce”: product, productive, productivity, production.

pro-1 The company … a new commodity every year

2 The company’s newest … is a special blue soap powder

3 The … of soap powders met last year to discuss prices

4 The factory is not as … now as it was five years ago

5 The … of that factory has gone down over the last six years

6 The manager of the factory has decided that they must increase their … of packets of soap powder

3 Translate the sentences, paying attention to the words and word nations from the Active Vocabulary.

combi-1 Our factory is an undertaking (предприятие) of wide scope

2 I am surprised at the scope of your thought

3 We are taught to operate on the stock market

4 You should learn to deal with business matters

5 I’m exploring the questions of production and consumption in our region

6 A manager should get a feel for many economic questions to direct a ness successfully

busi-7 Usually I make decisions about me expenditures (расходы) myself

8 Whatever the economic system is, there is always the poor and the rich

9 This issue (вопрос) is the province of my interest

10 Many people leave on the poverty line

4 Translate into English.