Vocabulary

apprentice — ученик, подмастерье

internal combustion — внутреннее сгорание

workshop — мастерская, цех

engine —двигатель

sink — раковина

horsepower — лошадиная сила

to reach a speed of 25 miles per hour — достигать скорости 25 миль в час

to collapse — рушиться; терпеть крах

racing cars — гоночные машины

article — изделие, товар

to constitute — составлять

to meet a demand — удовлетворять спрос

pricing — ценообразование

nickname — прозвище

purchasing power — покупательская способность

goal — цель

leadership — лидерство

industry — промышленность

charitable — благотворительный

average — средний

society — общество

Unit 7: market and command economies

Text 1: a) Translate the following text into Russian;

Market and command economies

Economics is a science that analyzes what, how, and for whom society produces. The central economic problem is to reconcile the conflict be­tween people's unlimited demands with society's ability to produce goods and services.

In industrial Western countries markets are to allocate resources. The market is the process by which production and consumption are coordinated through prices.

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

A free market economy has no government intervention. Resources are allocated entirely through markets.

Modern economies in the West are mixed and rely mainly on the market but with a large dose of government intervention. The optimal level of gov­ernment intervention remains a problem which is of interest to economists.

The degree of government restrictions differs greatly between coun­tries that have command economies and countries that have free market economies. In the former, resources are allocated by central government planning. In the latter, there is not any government regulation of the con­sumption, production, and exchange of goods. Between the two main types lies the mixed economy where market and government are both of importance.

Vocabulary:

economics - n 1. экономическая наука; 2. экономика

economic – а 1. экономический; 2. экономически выгодный; рентабельный

economical – а 1. экономный, бережливый; 2. экономичный

economist - n экономист

economize – v экономить; экономно расходовать или использовать

economy – n хозяйство, экономика

command economy – централизованно управляемая экономика; нерыночная экономика

free market economy – свободная рыночная экономика

mixed economy – смешанная экономика

society - n 1. общество, общественный строй; 2. общество, организация, ассоциация

produce – v производить, вырабатывать

production – n производство

demand – n спрос; требование; запрос; потребность

demand for smth – спрос на что-нибудь

to be in high / low demand – пользоваться большим / небольшим спросом

good – n товар, изделие

service – n услуга

market – n рынок

allocate v (smth to / in smth, smb) 1. размещать, распределять (что-л, куда-л, кому-л); 2. ассигновать (что-л, на что-л, кому-л)

resource(s) – n ресурс(ы), средства

consumption – n потребление

through – prep через; посредством; благодаря

price - n цена

at high/low prices – по высоким / низким ценам; при высоких / низких ценах

price for/of a good – цена товара, цена на товар

plan - v планировать

planning – n планирование

decision – n решение

to make a decision – принимать решение

rely v (on smb, smth) - полагаться (на кого-л, на что-л)

entirely – adv полностью, всецело

government – n правительство

intervention – n вмешательство

government intervention – государственное вмешательство

level – n уровень

at a certain level – на определенном уровне

restriction – n ограничение

(the) former – а первый (из двух названных)

(the) latter – а последний (из двух названных); второй

regulation – n регулирование

government regulation - государственное регулирование

both – а pron оба, обе; и тот и другой

importance - n важность, значение

to be of importance – быть важным, иметь (большое) значение

Exercise 1: Choose the correct word

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

Exercise 2: Translate the sentences into Russian using the Vocabulary to the Text 1.

1. Economics is the study of how society decides what, how, and for whom to produce.

2. The central economic problem for society is how to reconcile the con­flict between people's limitless demand for goods and services and the resources which can be allocated for the production of these goods and services.

3. The market is the process by which individuals' decisions about con­sumption 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.

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 of social services may be higher than the level of production of goods for individual consumption.

5. The world economy produces mostly for the people living in the indus­trial countries.

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

1. Even the countries with free market economy still have high levels of government activity in the production of public goods and services and the regulation of markets.

2. All-round planning is not an easy task, and there is not any command econ­omy that relies entirely on planning for all resources allocation decisions.

Exercise 3: Fill in the gaps with the words from the box and translate the sentences into Russian:

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.

1. ... is placed among the social sciences.

2. Markets in which there is no ... intervention are called free markets.

3. Society allocates resources into production ... the price system.

4. There are no government ... and ... in a free market economy.

2. ... is an economy in which the government and private sector cooperate in solving economic problems.

3. Government regulations and restrictions must ... work in the interests of society.

5. People produce ... and … . … are produced in factories or on farms, ... — at schools, hospitals, shops, banks.

Exercise 4: Match 2 parts of the sentences:

1. America's strong demand for au­tomobiles explains	a) may be called command econo­mies.
2. In contrast to market economies, economies with different forms of dictatorial control	b) entirely through government regu­lation.
3. Big corporations are not allowed to dominate an industry or a mar­ket	c) and resources are allocated through goods and services markets.
4. In some industries, such as radio, television, telephone services and some others, competition cannot be relied	d) why auto workers have historically been among the highest paid work­ers in the world.
5. Resources are the things or services that are used	e) which rely heavily on economic advisers in making the decisions about the future of the country.
6. Economics and economists play an important role at the highest levels of governments	f) entirely on to produce results that are good for the society.
7. Until the middle of the 18th cen­tury, industry (in contrast to agri­culture and commerce)	g) was of little importance in the economies of Europe and Amer­ica.
8. Under capitalism, economic deci­sion-making is decentralized	h) to produce goods which can satisfy (удовлетворять) people's demands.

Exercise 5: Group the following words and complete the table; translate the words into Russian

decision, recommend, regulation, consumer, produce, allocation, decide, consume, allocate, production, recommendation, consumption, regulate, producer

Action (verb)	General notion (noun)	Doer of the action (noun)

Exercise 6: a) Change the following phrases, using adjectives economic or economical

1. A practical woman.

2. Problems of economics.

3. A crisis in the field of economy.

4. To be careful in the spending of money.

5. Reforms in the field of economy.

6. A law (закон) regulating the sphere of economics.

7. A plan of the industrial development of the country.

8. A small car that doesn't use too much fuel.

9. Geography that studies the location (размещение) of industries, mar­kets, transport.

b) Fill in the gaps using the words from the box:

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

1. An early definition (определение) of ... was "an inquiry (изучение) into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations".

2. The national... is the system of the management and use of resources of a country.

1. You can ... if you compare the prices of goods before buying them.

1. J. M. Keynes was a famous ....

2. Inflation may cause a bad ... state (состояние) in a country.

3. If you've got a large family, it's more ... to travel by car than by train.

Exercise 7: Translate the following combinations into Russian paying special attention to the nouns in the function of attribute:

lecture hall, school year, university laboratories, command economy, mar­ket economy, government intervention, land resources, government restric­tions, Soviet bloc countries

Exercise 8: Say what part of speech this words belong to judging by their suffixes:

economist, production, productivity, highly, mechanism, worker, limit­less, manager, consumption, entirely, restriction, government, technical, de­cision, priceless, extensive, mainly, population

Exercise 9: Translate the sentences into Russian, paying attention to the construction “to be + of + noun”

1. This book on economics is of great interest.

2. Independent work at the library is of great value to every university stu­dent.

3. These new machines may be of use on farms.

4. Knowledge of foreign languages may be of great importance to every­body.

Exercise 10: Find the predicate in the following sentences and translate them into Russian:

1. For 40 years after 1945 countries in Eastern Europe had planned econ­omies in which market mechanisms played only a small role.

2. The government plays an important role in allocating resources in the economy.

3. Goods are produced on farms or in factories. Goods of the both groups are consumed by the people who buy them.

4. A government planning office decides what will be produced, how it will be produced, and for whom it will be produced.

5. Resource allocation decisions are being made every day in every city, mostly through the mechanisms of markets and prices.

6. When there was a bumper coffee crop (очень высокий урожай кофе) in Brazil, much coffee was bought by the Brazilian government from farmers and then burnt.

7. Grain (зерно) markets have greatly changed over the last 25 years in the United States and Europe. Both have high levels of government intervention in their agriculture.

8. The ideas of Adam Smith, the famous Scottish philosopher and econ­omist, have been studied by economists for over two hundred years.

Exercise 11: Translate the sentences into Russian:

1. Prices are to regulate production and consumption in a market econ­omy.

2. The problem with government regulation of markets is to control how government restrictions work in real life.

3. The aim of that book is to form a theory of the role of government in economic life.

4. The market is to decide how much to produce.

5. A building society is a financial organization whose purpose is to help people buy houses or flats.

6. When the authors of the textbook discussed examples, their intention (намерение) was to prepare students for future economic analyses.

7. Governments are to regulate or plan production and consumption. The former is typical of mixed economies, the latter is typical of command economies.

Exercise 12: Translate the sentences into Russian, paying attention to the construction “to be + of + noun”:

1. Economists' recommendations may be of high value to governments but governments do not always rely on them.

2. The study of economics is of great use even to those students who have no wish to become professional economists.

3. Basic problems of economics are of great importance to every econo­mist, while specific problems of farm economics are mostly of interest to economists who study agriculture.

4. Since economists cannot make experiments, collecting and using in­ formation from a large number of past years is of practical importance for analyzing and solving problems of today.

5. Professional marketing services are of great value to producers and sellers.

6. Economic statistics are of interest to economic policy decision-makers.

Exercise 13: Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Развитые страны достигают экономического успеха через специализацию.

2. В годы войны в стране всегда имеет место регулирование экономики правительством.

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

4. Каждый менеджер принимает решения, как распределить ограниченные ресурсы наилучшим образом.

5. Мы не можем положиться на эти данные при планировании производства на следующий год.

6. При рыночной экономике регулирование производства и потребления осуществляется через цены.

Exercise 14: Read and translate the text; supply it with a title. Guess the meaning of the underlined words.

The free market allows individuals to produce goods and services without any government restrictions. The command economy allows little individual economic freedom since (так как) most decisions are made by the govern­ment. Between these two extremes lies the mixed economy.

In a mixed economy the government and private sector co-operate in solv­ing economic problems. The government controls production through taxa­tion (налогообложение) and orders for goods and services for the army, the police force, administration and other needs.

In a mixed economy the government may also be a producer of goods. An example of this is the United Kingdom where there are nationalized indus­tries such as railways and coal.