Текст книги "Английский язык для студентов экономических специальностей"

4. Общественные расходы – это, как известно, те расходы, которые финансируются из налогообложения и государственных заимствований.

5. Большой государственный сектор, как полагают, делает экономику неэффективной, снижая количество товаров и услуг, которое может быть произведено и в конечном итоге распределено потребителям.

6. В Великобритании взносы в фонды социального страхования составляют почти треть от общей суммы, которая направляется на социальные расходы.

22. Прочитайте следующий текст:

а) Измените подчеркнутые части предложений, используя конструкцию «сложное подлежащее».

Economists know the state to affect for whom goods are produced mainly through its taxes and transfers, which take income away from some people and give it to others.

Besides these direct effects, the state also affects the allocation of resources indirectly through taxes (and subsidies which economists think to be negative taxes).

When state levies a tax on a good, such as cigarettes, we believe it to reduce the quantity of that good produced; whereas when it subsidizes a good, such as milk, the quantity of that good produced increases as a result.

Economists consider the power to tax to be the power to affect the allocation of the economy's resources, or to distribute what is produced. Through taxing cigarettes the state can reduce the amount of cigarettes smoked so that health of the nation improved.

Taxing income earned from work, the state affects the amount of time people want to work.

б) Напишите семь вопросов к тексту.

Аудиторная работа № 3

23. Вставьте слово that и сочетания с ним или those.

1. Besides their importance to economic-policy-decision-makers in the European Union, economic statistics are of interest to other countries, especially… planning to join the EU.

2. Dividends are not expected to be paid in… years when the company has not made profit.

3. Man has to expend time and effort to produce things… he will eventually consume.

4. When the government taxes a good such as cigarettes, it reduces the quantity of… good produced.

5. Depreciation should be subtracted from the GNP….. a clearer picture of available output could be obtained.

6. "four standard of living is believed to include essential goods and services – food, housing, health, education – but also something besides…, for example, recreation (отдых).

7. Your income is always less than… of some of your neighbours but still it is more than… of some other people both in this country and abroad.

8. Education, health, housing….. public goods, are provided by the state for all or most of the population.

9. In a country like Japan the output of private goods is large and… of social services small.

10. The governments have to regulate the level of aggregate demand, to re-distribute income and wealth within the country, and to provide public goods taxes are raised.

24. Подберите словарные определения к следующим терминам:

direct tax, indirect tax, tax burden, tax revenue, income tax, corporation tax, value added tax, sales tax, excise duty (акцизный налог), tax rate, taxable income, public goods

1. A form of indirect tax which is included in the selling price of a product and which is eventually paid by the consumer.

2. An indirect tax which is based on the difference between the value of the output over the value of the input used to produce it.

3. The percentage rate at which a tax is levied on income or expenditure.

4. The money raised by government through imposing taxes.

5. A tax levied by the government on goods and services in order to raise revenue, such as value added tax and excise duty.

6. Goods and services provided by the state for all or most of the population such as education, health, housing, etc.

7. A tax levied by the government on the income or property of households or businesses.

8. A direct tax levied by the government on the income (wages, rent, dividends) received by households.

9. The amount of an individual's income on which a tax is levied.

10. The total amount of taxation paid by the population of a country in the form of income tax, corporation tax, value added tax, etc.

11. A direct tax levied by the government on the profits of businesses.

12. An indirect tax levied by the government on certain goods, typically tobacco, oil, and alcoholic drink.

25. а) Прочитайте текст и ответьте на следующие за ним вопросы.

Fiscal Policy

Fiscal policy is an instrument of demand management which is used to influence the level of economic activity in an economy through the control of taxation and government expenditure.

The government can use a number of taxation measures to control aggregate demand or spending: direct taxes on individuals (income tax) and companies (corporation tax) can be increased if spending has to be reduced, for example, to control inflation. Spending can also be reduced by increasing indirect taxes: an increase in the VAT on all products or excise duties on particular products such as petrol and cigarettes will result in lower purchasing power.

The government can change its own expenditure to affect spending levels as well: a cut in purchases of products or capital investment by the government can reduce total spending in the economy.

If the government is to increase spending, it creates a budget deficit, reducing taxation and increasing its expenditure.

A decrease in government spending and an increase in taxes (a withdrawal from the circular flow of national income) reduces aggregate demand to avoid (избегать) inflation. By contrast, an increase in government spending and/ or decrease in taxes – an injection (денежное вливание) into the circular flow of national income stimulates aggregate demand and creates additional jobs to avoid unemployment.

In practice, however, the effectiveness of fiscal policy can be reduced by a number of problems. Taxation rate changes, particularly changes in income tax, take time to make; considerable proportion of government expenditure on, for example, schools, roads, hospitals and defence cannot easily be changed without lengthy political lobbying.

1. What is the effect of reduced aggregate demand in an economy?

2. How can aggregate demand be reduced?

3. What is the effect of higher aggregate demand?

4. How can aggregate demand be increased?

5. What can decrease the effectiveness offiscal policy?

b) Подумайте и скажите:

Is the government of Russia now taking measures to increase or reduce government spending and taxes. What are these measures? Why are they being taken?

Revision II

TEXT 1

а) Прочитайте текст и ответьте на следующие за ним вопросы.

Inefficient Capital Use in Farming

Some of the inefficiency in the use of capital is believed to be due to more basic troubles.

Some farmers may not be capable of using additional capital profitably. Others may not be interested in having a more productive farm business. Their aims in life provide strong enough disincentives to farm expansion. In such cases additional capital is not necessary.

Still another reason for the inefficient use of capital has been found to be associated with the life cycle of the farm family. Traditionally, farms had to be financed every generation. The young man to start farming had to begin with a rather small operation. His business was supposed to grow as he was able to reinvest his returns and borrow additional funds. Often the demands of his family for living expenditures were too high to make any profitable investment in his business. After his children had grown up, it became possible for his farm to approach an optimum size. It continued to grow for a period but decline was inevitable due to increasing age of the operator.

Much attention has been given to the problem of transferring farms from one generation to the next. Often there existed several heirs, which resulted in fragmenting efficient farm businesses. Even if the land was passed to a son, he had to acquire the necessary capital in order to buy livestock and provide for the living of his family. As a result, no considerable investment in farm business was made, in other cases the young farmer spent several years buying out other heirs.

There is a great difference among farms in solving the transfer problem. The fact remains, however, that at any time, some farms are on their way up and some on the way down. Economists believe capital productivity in agriculture to depend on this fact.

1. Is a productive farm business always the most essential aim of a farmer?

2. What three reasons for inefficient capital use on farms were mentioned in the text?

3. At what age do farmers typically reach an optimum size of their business? Why?

4. What does the problem of transferring a business from one generation to the next consist in?

b) Кратко передайте содержание текста по-английски.

TEXT 2

а) Прочитайте текст и разделите его на абзацы. Выразите мысль каждого абзаца одним предложением.

The Economics of Energy: Basic Trends

Modern economy is known to require vast amounts of energy for farms, factories, homes, and transportation. Modern dependence on fossil fuels – especially coal, oil, and natural gas – is considered to be a brief episode in human history. Since they took 300 million years to form, these resources will not be replaced to any considerable degree. Even the vast reserves of coal are expected to be used up entirely in a few centuries. As to oil, economists expect all the oil-producing countries known to use up most of their reserves in about 50 years' time. The economic use of fuels begins with the easiest and cheapest sources and then moves to less accessible costlier ones. As the best coal is used up, shafts must be sunk deeper. Similarly, oil and gas must be sought in more inaccessible places, which adds to their production costs. The present variety of sources ranges from shallow Mideast oil wells to expensive capital-intensive solar equipment. The choice of a fuel to be produced amounts to the future opportunity costs of alternative fuel sources. Note that the rising scarcity of fuel is a matter of degree. There exists a great variety of choices from cheap fuels to very expensive ones. Rather than use up all of them at once, the world is expected to move to increasing scarcity, which will take the form of rising energy prices. Moreover, investors will realize the coming scarcity and try to buy the reserves now, which in itself will send up prices. In short, the market anticipates the physical shortages, and the expected future price increases raise the current price of fuel. Since most fuels can be replaced by others in, at least, some uses, the rise in oil prices, for example, naturally, results in a parallel rise in prices for other fuels, including coal, gas, nuclear fuel, and even firewood. And indeed, there occurred a steep rise of oil prices, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. It stimulated the search for more oil deposits. Much of the effort has been focused on the ocean floors, especially in remote regions. The search for gas has also been stimulated as a result of the removal of some controls on the price of US gas. These added efforts have brought some results. However, the marginal revenue of exploration continues to decrease. One should expect this since the cheapest, most accessible sources were exploited decades ago. Moreover, it is costlier to transport the more remote oil and gas reserves to the market. For example, oil and gas pipelines from Alaska and large-investment projects. But eventually, no discovery, however fast, can increase the amount of fuel in the ground. This only makes it possible for us to turn the available reserves to human uses more rapidly. A rapid discovery and use of fossil fuels may, though, destroy the balance of reserves used and those conserved for future use. How much this is desirable depends on the prospects for alternative fuel sources, such as solar energy, nuclear power, fusion processes using water, and ocean tides, the profitability of those future sources is mostly unknown now. Only if other sources are going to be cheap and to meet the demands of growing population, the rapid discovery and use of oil deposits can be considered to be desirable, whereas uncertain prospects for new technology will raise oil prices rapidly now, which will be a disincentive rather than an incentive for speeding up the use of new oil.

б) Используя текст, закончите следующие предложения:

1. Economists believe oil-producing countries to use up most of their oil reserves…

2. The choice of a fuel to be produced in future depends…

3. At present, the price of oil rises because…

4. A rise in oil prices results in…

5. The search for new oil deposits is mainly done in…

6. The marginal revenue of exploration decreases since…

7. The rapid discovery and use of new oil deposits is desirable provided…

TEXT 3

а) Прочитайте текст, найдите интернациональные однокоренные слова и переведите их на русский язык.

Stabilization Policy

Stabilization policy, or demand management, is the control of the level of aggregate demand in an economy using fiscal policy in order to eliminate (уничтожать) fluctuation in the level of economic activity. The general aim of stabilization policy is to regulate aggregate demand so as to make it as big as the gross national product in order to maintain the existing level of output and employment. It is also essential to keep the aggregate demand low enough to avoid (избегать) inflation.

An unregulated economy will tend to go through periods of depression and boom. Governments try to avoid such fluctuations by stimulating aggregate demand when the economy is depressed and reducing aggregate demand when the economy is over-heating. Ideally, aggregate demand should be managed in such a way as to grow as much as the GNP.

There exist two main problems: (a) correct timing (выбор времени) of a government injection (вливание) or withdrawal; (b) correct magnitude (величина, размер) of an injection into or withdrawal from the economy to eliminate depressions and booms.

If the government can get the timing and magnitude correct, it will be able to eliminate the effects of depression. For the government to be able to reduce the intensity of the depression to follow, it is necessary to forecast (предсказывать) accurately its beginning, perhaps while the economy is still growing actively.

Much government action is inaccurate in timing and magnitude. Where the government has not been successful in avoiding strong fluctuations in business activity, it can make injections into a growing economy which then overheats and withdraw too much at the wrong time, braking too hard.

b) Расположите вопросы в таком порядке, чтобы они могли служить планом текста, и ответьте на них.

What may the effect of too high aggregate demand be in an economy? What growth of aggregate demand is known as ideal? What can happen to an economy if its government's intervention is wrong in timing and magnitude?

How do governments act at time of boom or depression?

Which two main problems of demand management are named in the text?

What are the two names for government control of the level of aggregate demand?

в) Внимательно прочитайте текст и скажите, какие в нем встречаются термины, не относящиеся к экономике. С чем сравнивается экономика?

TEXT 4

а) Прочитайте текст и озаглавьте его.

Does one characterize a country in economics by the location of economic activity of its population or by the activities of its population wherever (где бы ни) such activities may take place? The GNP follows the second method. For example, if a French company owns a factory in Germany, it contributes to the French GNP.

While the GNP depends on who owns property, the GDP depends on location. It is produced by all factors of production within the country, both domestic– and foreign-owned.

To draw a line between GNP and GDP is not an easy matter as the difference between them is small but there exist interesting exceptions. Switzerland earns a considerable share of its income abroad, which is due to the large number of Swiss-owned multinational companies.

Its GNP has been reported to be more than its GDP by 5 percent. It is known that Pakistan, too, has a GNP bigger than its GDP since its large population living abroad regularly transfers labour income to the home country.

Most interesting is Kuwait which has used its oil income over the years to acquire (приобретать) property abroad. As a result of its high investment income, its GNP is known to be bigger than its GDP by 35 percent.

б) Ответьте на вопросы:

111 what countries is there large difference between GDP and GNP? Why?

в) Напишите 10 вопросов к тексту и задайте их другим студентам.

TEXT 5

а) Прочитайте текст без словаря. Найдите слова, имеющие одинаковый корень с глаголом to assess (оценивать).

б) Догадайтесь, что означает глагол to make.

в) Найдите в тексте синоним к to result in.

г) Ответьте на вопросы, следующие за текстом.

UK Local Government Reforms

Until the late 1980s, local government in the United Kingdom was financed from three sources. First, households paid domestic rates, that is a property tax assessed on hypothetical house prices. Second, local firms paid business rates on their property The third, the largest source was from central government.

The Thatcher government believed this system resulted in overspending by local governments. Many poor households did not pay rates but still had a vote (право голоса) and voted for high-spending programmes. Firms paid rates but had no vote at all. Only about 20 percent of local government revenue came from households paying rates. Most firms were against raising property assessment, the basis of the property tax, as market prices were rising.

The reform of local government in 1990 made three changes. First, education in state schools was moved from local to central government. Second, instead of local business rates a national business rate was imposed. Business property re-assessment corresponding to market prices led to great increases in the taxed property. Whereas before the reform each local government could use its own business rate revenue, now the central government collected all this revenue and distributed it to local governments in proportion to the local population. Money from the rich south, where property prices were high, moved to the poorer north. Third, domestic rates gave way to poll tax, that is, a tax per head with some relief (налоговая льгота) for the poorest households.

1. What were the three sources of financing British local governments before 1990?

2. What did this system result in?

3. Why was there a protest against raising property assessment?

4. Was all taxed property re-assessed during the reform?

5. How did financial position of different regions of the UK change?

д) Подумайте и скажите:

1. Did those households that paid rates vote for high-spending programmes? Why?

2. Why was school education moved from local to central government?

3. How did the British population take the reform?

4. Which of the problems shown in the text are characteristic of Russia?

Unit 9
Money and Its Functions

Грамматика и лексика :

1. Сложные формы инфинитива

2. Неполные предложения

3. Сравнительная конструкция the… the…

4. Значения слова for

Задание на дом № 1

1. В разделе «Грамматика и словообразование» проработайте § 23 и 25.

2. Переведите на русский язык предложения, где употребляются сложные формы инфинитива.

а) Пассивный инфинитив в конструкциях «сложное дополнение» и «сложное подлежащее»:

1. All product prices are expected to be raised due to the new tax.

2. Lead (свинец) and zink are known to be found in the same ore.

3. Economists consider an alternative to finding a job to be provided by unemployment benefits.

4. In many less developed countries, most food has been found to be produced within the family

б) Перфектный инфинитив в конструкциях «сложное дополнение» и «сложное подлежащее»:

1. Microeconomics is said to have offered a thorough analysis of individual decisions about particular commodities.

2. Every firm is known to have tried to reduce the use of oil-based products in the 1970s when the price of oil increased six times.

3. Nationalized industries are said to have become the most important source of national income.

4. They believe the firm to have leased all its capital equipment.

в) Перфектно-пассивный инфинитив в конструкциях «сложное дополнение» и «сложное подлежащее»:

1. Advertising is assumed to have been made the most important tool of selling commodities.

2. Economists believe the US grain market to have been strongly affected by government agricultural policies and by competition inside and outside the country.

3. All the capital equipment of the firm is believed to have been leased.

4. Most decisions in Soviet bloc countries are known to have been made centrally by the government.

г) Продолженный инфинитив в конструкциях «сложное дополнение» и «сложное подлежащее»:

1. We know the government to be considering the necessity of cutting taxes in industry.

2. Economic conditions are assumed to be changing all the time.

3. The population of Russia has been found to be decreasing at a rapid rate.

4. The GDP was reported to be constantly falling in Russia

5. Chemical firms are known to be working at substitutes for oil inputs.

д) Сложные формы инфинитива с модальными глаголами:

1. The work of a farm worker and a nurse are very different, but each can be measured in terms of payment.

2. Tax revenue could have grown with lower tax rates.

3. This financial capital could have been used elsewhere.

4. The government must be working at a scheme to stimulate domestic investment.

3. Переведите предложения на русский язык, обращая внимание на неполные предложения.

1. A public good is a good that, even if consumed by one person, can still be consumed by other people.

2. Although different, all markets perform the same economic function.

3. If provided with the necessary resources, an enterprise can increase its output.

4. When used, money makes an economy more efficient.

5. Although of high quality, the product is not in great demand due to its high price.

6. This enterprise may earn high profit, if managed well.

4. Переведите текст Money and Its Functions и отработайте его чтение.

5. Найдите в тексте:

1) неполные предложения (первый, шестой и седьмой абзацы);

2) предложения со сравнительной конструкцией the… the… (третий и пятый абзацы);

3) союз for, который переводится союзом так как.

TEXT

Money and Its Functions

Money has four functions: a medium of exchange or means of payment, a store of value, a unit of account and a standard of deferred payment. When used as a medium of exchange, money is considered to be distinguished from other assets.

Money as the medium of exchange is believed to be used in one half of almost all exchange. Workers exchange labour for money, people buy or sell goods in exchange for money as well.

People do not accept money to consume it directly but because it can subsequently be used to buy things they wish to consume. To see the advantages of a medium of exchange, imagine a barter economy, that is, an economy having no medium of exchange. Goods are traded directly or swapped for other goods. The seller and the buyer each must want something the other has to offer. Trading is very expensive. People spend a lot of time and effort finding others with whom they can make swaps. Nowadays, there exist actually no purely barter economies, but economies nearer to or farther from the barter type. The closer is the economy to the barter type, the more wasteful it is.

Serving as a medium of exchange is believed to have for centuries been an essential function of money.

The unit of account is the unit in which prices are quoted[27]27
  to quote – регистрировать, называть.


[Закрыть] and accounts are kept. In the USA for instance, prices are quoted in US dollars, in Japan, in yen. It is usually convenient to use the same unit to measure the medium of exchange as well as to quote prices and keep accounts in. However, there may be exceptions. During the rapid German inflation of 1922-23 when prices in marks were changing very quickly, German shopkeepers found it more convenient to use US dollars as the unit of account. Prices were quoted in dollars though payment was made in marks. The same goes for[28]28
  for the same goes for… – то же самое относится к…


[Закрыть] Russia and other post-communist economies who used the US dollar as a unit of account, keeping their national currencies as means of actual payment. The higher is the inflation rate, the greater is the probability of introducing a temporary unit of account alongside the existing units for measuring medium of exchange.

Money is a store of value, for it can be used to make purchases in future. For money to be accepted in exchange, it has to be a store of value. Unless suitable for buying goods with tomorrow, money will not be accepted as payments for the goods supplied today. But money is neither the only nor necessarily the best store of value. Houses, stamp collections, and interest-bearing bank accounts all serve as stores of value.

Finally, money serves as a standard of deferred payment or a unit of account over time. When money is borrowed, the amount to be repaid next year is measured in units of national currency, pounds of sterling for the United Kingdom, for example. Although convenient, this is not an essential function of money. UK citizens can get bank loans specifying in dollars the amount that must be repaid next year.

Thus, the key feature of money is its use as a medium of exchange. For money to be used successfully as a means of exchange, it must be a store of value as well. And it is usually, though not always, convenient to make money the unit of account and standard of deferred payment.

Запомните!

The… the… – чем… тем…

The more the better. – Чем больше, тем лучше.

* * *

for – prep дня, за, на; в течение

– cj (после запятой) так как, потому что

for example

for instance – например

for + сущ, + инфинитив – для того, чтобы что-либо было сделано

Словарный минимум к тексту

medium n (pl – dia) средство, способ

exchange и обмен

medium of exchange средство обмена; средство обращения(как функция денег)

in exchange for smth в обмен на что-л.

exchange v (smth for smth) менять, обменивать(что-л. на что-л.)

exchange rate – обменный курс

the exchange rate of rouble against US dollar – обменный курс рубля по отношению к американскому доллару

means n (употребляется с глаголом в ед. или мн. числе) средство, средства

store n запас, резерв

store of value – средство сбережения, средство образования сокровища; средство «сохранения стоимости»(как функция денег)

store v накапливать, запасать; хранить

account и 1. расчет, подсчет; 2. счет; запись финансовых операций

unit of account – расчетная единица

to keep an account вести счет

defer v откладывать, отсрочивать

deferred payment – отложенный, отсроченный платеж

distinguish v (smth from smth) отличать, различать(одну вещь от другой)',

(between things) проводить различие(между двумя вещами)

accept v принимать

barter n бартер(способ торговли, состоящий в обмене товарами и услугами без использования денег)

trade v 1. (in smth with smb) торговать(чем-л. с кем-л.), 2. (smth for smth) обменивать(что-л. на что-л.)

trade – торговля

swap v (smth for smth) менять (что-л. на что-л.) (употребляется преимущественно для обозначения бартерных операций)

swap n обмен

to make a swap – произвести обмен

expensive adj дорогой

nowadays adv в наше время, в наши дни, теперь

actually adv фактически, на самом деле

actual adj фактический

wasteful adj неэкономный, расточительный

waste v расточать, попусту тратить, терять(время, средства)

convenient adv удобный

exception n исключение

with the exception of this bank за исключением этого банка

rapid adj быстрый, скорый

currency n валюта

temporary adj временный

alongside prep наряду с, вместе с

finally adv в конце концов, в заключение

repay (repaid) v возвращать(долг)

loan n заем, ссуда

Аудиторная работа № 1

6. Переведите на русский язык предложения с парным союзом the… the…

– The greater a person's income, the more he will usually buy

– The higher the labour productivity, the lower the production cost.

– The higher is the demand, the higher can the price for the commodity be.

– The greater is the number of sellers in a market, the better choice can a buyer make.

– The more inelastic is the demand, the more will a tax fall on purchasers rather than sellers.

– The more efficiently is the equipment used, the higher is the labour productivity and the more effective is the production.

– In each industry, the more workers there are, the greater is the total output of the good produced.

– The higher the real wage, the more individuals the labour force comprises.

7. Назовите номера предложений, в которых есть неполные придаточные предложения.

– If decreased, input prices will make the production less expensive.

– If kept accurately, accounts are easy to check.

– If a man's assets have been found to be large, the banker believes his chances of repaying the loan to be high.

– When deferred, the wage should be indexed, which is not actually done.

– Although swaps are widely made in less developed economies, they make economic mechanisms function more inefficiently.

– Although serving as an actual means of payment, the rouble is known to have been replaced by the US dollar as a unit of account in Russia in the 1980s and the 1990s.

– When Brazil owed $123 billion to its creditors in 1991, the biggest debt in the Third World, its government negotiated (вести переговоры) another loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.

– When employed in a temporary job, workers are paid a lower wage.

8. Переведите на русский язык предложения со сложными формами инфинитива.

– In some countries, such as post-communist Eastern Europe, foreign currency is known to be used alongside domestic currency.

– If properly kept, accounts could have provided valuable financial information necessary to make decisions about the future of the company.

– Capital, or property, should be distinguished from income received from that property during a given period.