Text 4 the pollution of the environment

I. Read and translate the text.

The ecological problem is one of the pressing problems of our days. It is closely linked to the problems of economic growth, progress in science and technology, natural resources, energy and food supplies.

The term “pollution” has been variously defined but it may be described as “detrimental effects on a localized ecological structure by the addition of the waste products of a society”.

The pollution of the environment, the distruction of ecosystems, the extinction of many species of plants and animals have now reached threatening proportions. An increasing influence on nature and the application of new technologies may cause catastrophic results.

This is illustrated by the following data. The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as well as aerosols has increased dozens of times in many cities. As a result of the formation of a carbon dioxide layer around the Earth the threat of unfavourable changes in climate has arisen. It may transform our blue planet into an enormous greenhouse during the next decades. Those include changes in its energy balance and a gradual increase in temperature that will transform fertile regions into deserts, raise the level of water in the oceans and produce a flooding of great numbers of lands and cities.

While towns and cities have become larger and more densely populated the rural areas have lost most of their population. The countryside has been affected by the large-scale use of insecticides. For one thing the killing of insects has resulted in a loss of balance in the ecology. Insects although a nuisance to farmers provide food for birds. Many people are afraid that fruit and vegetables sprayed with chemicals may have some poisonous effect upon the people who eat them.

II. Answer the following questions to the text:

1. What is the ecological problem closely linked to?

2. How can the term “pollution” be defined?

3. What are the results of the formation of a carbon dioxide layer around the Earth?

4. What are the two sides of intensive use of insecticides?

5. Why are some people afraid to eat vegetables and fruit?

6. What do you think is the most pressing problem of our life today?

Text 5 money

I. Read and translate the text.

Money as it exists in the present form is a product of historical evolution. The introduction and use of money is marked by a slow transition from the barter economy to the money economy. In fact money came to be introduced into the economic system to avoid intolerable inconveniences of the direct exchange of goods by an indirect exchange. The commodity is first exchanged for money and later on money is exchanged against another commodity. Thus the process is “commodity – money – commodity”. In the historical evolutionary process a barter economy gives place to a money economy which leads to the emergence of highly developed credit economy.

A modern economy is a money economy. Like the various inventions in the field of science and technology the introduction of money into the economic system is one of the greatest inventions in the field of economic life. Since its introduction money has served various purposes. As time passed money has changed its form and to a certain extent its function. There are four important functions which money performs in the present day economic system.

Firstly money provides a common medium of exchange. That is to say money in the form of metallic coins, currency notes and bank deposits can be used as an intermediary for making purchases and sales of commodities and services and for the settlement of the various other transactions between individuals, institutions and the Government and the others.

Secondly money as a medium of exchange which may be a standard coin or some standard commodity must also be a measure of value.

Thirdly money serves as a store of value. As some standard commodity came to be accepted as a measure of value the values of different commodities came to be expressed in terms of that commodity and there arose demand for money.

Lastly money has come to serve as a means of the payment of debts that is to say as a standard of different payments. Therefore today money is known by the functions it performs. Money is what money does.