4 Answer these questions:

Are you a student? Were you a student last year?

Is your friend a student? Was your friend a student last year?

How old is your friend? Will you be an economist?

What is his/her name? What will your friend be?

Where is he/she now? Where will you be tomorrow?

5 Translate into English:

(1) Экономика - это наука и учебная дисциплина.

(2) Это известный российский экономист.

(3) Они были знакомы с работами Кейнса и Фридмана.

(4) Они были его учениками?

(5) Насколько я знаю, они не были его учениками.

(6) Я не знала ответа на этот вопрос.

Note: Keynes, Friedman, as far as I know - насколько я знаю.

6 Use these verbs in the Present Simple (Indefinite) Tense and translate the sentences:

(1) These topics (to be) familiar to us.

(2) Economists {to write) about various important topics.

(3) They often {to discuss) these topics.

(4) One of my friends {to be) an economist.

(5) He (to like) talking about the Russian economy and economics in general.

(6) But when we {to meet) we {to speak) about different matters.

7 Translate into English using the text:

(1) Ежедневно те или иные экономические проблемы упоминаются и обсуждаются в газетах, радио- и телепередачах.

(2) Все эти бизнесмены активно участвуют в экономической дея­тельности.

(3) Экономика говорит об определенной системе экономии.

(4) Это означает использование способностей и возможностей?

(5) Это все необходимо для обеспечения высокого жизненного уровня.

8 Answer these questions:

(1) Are you familiar with many terms used by economists?

(2) What are these terms?

(3) Did you know that economics is a science?

(4) Do you know the difference between economics and economy?

(5) Was it difficult for you to translate the text?

(6) What sentences were most difficult to translate?

9 Translate into English and make sentences with these word combinations: экономическая система, экономические термины, экономические ресурсы, экономическая наука, экономическая деятельность, доход, выгода, жизненный уровень, деньги, налоги, зарплата, земля, строения, здания, оборудование.

Text 2: The meaning of scarcity

One of the great benefits of television is that it enables us to see how people in the rest of the world live. We see that in some parts of the world, such as Western Europe and North America, people are generally well off. Pictures from other parts of the world, such аs Africa and Asia, show millions of people living in poverty.

It seems very strange, therefore, that economists say that scarcity is a world-wide problem, that it is a feature of all so­cieties.

This puzzle is explained by looking at the way the word scarcity is used in economics. When economists say that; something is scarce, they do not mean that it is rare or that only a very small quantity is available. They simply mean that there is not enough of it to completely satisfy everyone's wants.

When the word is used in this way, it is true to say that scarcity exists in all countries, both rich and poor. In all of them people want more goods and services than they can ob­tain. It is because their wants are not fully satisfied that peo­ple everywhere work for and demand higher and higher living standards.

Why is it that so many wants remain unsatisfied, in spite of the enormous increases in the output of goods and services in modern times?

An important reason is that our wants are not limited. They are always growing and changing. How often do we hear the comments, “You are never satisfied” and “The more you have, the more you want”?

The problem is that our wants seem to grow as fast as, or even faster than, our ability to produce goods and services.

The basic problem of economics, therefore, is that eco­nomic resources - land, labour, materials, fuel, factories, ma­chinery, etc. - are limited in supply but people's wants seem to be unlimited.