Английский. Учебник МЭО 1 курс. Учебное пособие по английскому языку. Мировая экономика. Часть 1 Москва 2012 удк 81(075. 8)111 ббк 81 Англ. 7365. 5
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Part 2 Ex 1. Read the passage below and match each paragraph with the appropriate heading.
How to Choose a University Course 1)______ You’ve decided you want to do a course. Whether you would like to make a career, to find a good job or simply to learn something new, it’s a good idea to think carefully first. Here’s a guide to help you. 2)______ Qualifications prove you’ve acquired knowledge or developed skills. For some careers like medicine and law, it’s essential you have specific qualifications. For others, such as journalism, it helps to have a particular qualification. Most universities set entry requirements for degree courses. Mature entrants don’t always need formal qualifications, but need evidence of recent study, relevant work experience or professional qualifications. Professional bodies may grant you membership if you have certain qualifications. It’s not always essential to have a qualification. Working knowledge, such as being able to use computer software, can be just as important. 3)______ Your motives will help you choose the best course for your aims and goals. If you are career-driven, you’ll need a course relevant to the profession you’ve chosen. If you are interested in self-development and meeting people, you should find out who else will be on the course. There are work-related (vocational) and academic courses. Further education colleges offer academic courses and work-related courses. Universities offer higher education qualifications, such as academic first degrees, and higher degrees, and the more vocational diplomas. For career in plumbing, for instance, a vocational course is essential. For teaching you need a degree. However, for many jobs, you have a choice between academic and vocational courses. A vocational course is better if you like doing things and learning practical skills. You might prefer an academic course if you like researching, analyzing and presenting arguments. 4)______ Do you prefer on-the-job training – or do you prefer to research and gather facts? Do you like working in a group covering the same topics and working towards the same goal? If you prefer to work on your own, at your own pace, an open or distance learning course might suit you. You study from home, with the help of tuition packs, computers and tutor support via telephone or e-mail. You can speed through the course or take your time. But for this you do need self-discipline and motivation. 5)______ You might also prefer open or distance learning if:
Many colleges and training centers now offer flexible open-learning courses, where you can study at your own pace. 6)______ You've decided which subject and type of course you want, and how to study it. You now need to choose between different course titles and providers. There are many courses and they are not of equal value. The only way to assess the quality and value of a course is by research. Read the prospectus (course guide) carefully and note if a course is accredited or validated by a recognized body (this might be an awarding body or a professional body.) This can add extra weight to your qualification. Don't take everything you read at face value; check out the facts about each course yourself. Ask the course tutor as many questions as you want. 7)______ Be clear of your goal. If you've decided on a particular job, get an idea of what the job's about and if you'll like it. Read careers information, buy trade magazines, and speak to people currently working in the job. This research is well worth it. It's better to take your time rather than doing a course that leads to a job you might not really want. You'll ensure that you don't waste any time or money. 8)______ Plan for when you finish. If you're aiming for a particular job, do voluntary work while studying. If you're doing a language course and want to be a journalist, you could write for the student newspaper or work on the radio. If you want to specialize, or enter your chosen field at a higher level, you could do a more advanced course after completing your first course. Ex 2. Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-F from the box below. Write the correct letter A-F next to questions 1-5
Ex 3. Classify the following statements as applying to
Ex 4. Speak about yourself and answer the questions you have put before each paragraph. Ex 5. Role-play: hold a TV Talk Show on the problem of choosing a university course. Unit IV Part 1 Competition competition, monopoly, oligopoly, perfect competition, product differentiation, incentive Text A Competition is the rivalry of two or more parties over something. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which coexist in an environment with limited resources. For example, animals compete over water supplies, food, and mates. In addition, humans compete for recognition, wealth and entertainment. Competition can be remote, as in a free throw contest, or antagonistic, as in a standard basketball game. These contests are similar, but in the first one players are isolated from each other, while in the second one they are able to interfere with the performance of their competitors. Competition gives incentives for self-improvement. If two watchmakers are competing for business, they will lower their prices and improve their products to increase their sales. If birds compete for a limited water supply during a drought, the more suited birds will survive to reproduce and improve the population. Competition is another important force of the market. On the one hand, it protects the customers — they have the right of choice and they benefit from the fact that competition keeps prices close to costs; on the other hand, it makes producers and suppliers of scarce resources utilize them economically, using most sophisticated technologies. All businesses produce goods and services and seek profits. They all compete with each other for inputs of labour, capital and natural resources, including foreign partners. Seen as the pillar of capitalism in that it may stimulate innovation, encourage efficiency, or drive down prices, competition is touted as the foundation upon which capitalism is justified. According to microeconomic theory, no system of resource allocation is more efficient than pure competition. Competition, according to the theory, causes commercial firms to develop new products, services, and technologies. This gives consumers greater selection and better products. The greater selection typically causes lower prices for the products compared to what the price would be if there was no competition (monopoly) or little competition (oligopoly). However, competition may also lead to wasted (duplicated) effort and to increased costs (and prices) in some circumstances. For example, the intense competition for the small number of top jobs in music and movie acting leads many aspiring musicians and actors to make substantial investments in training that are not recouped, because only a fraction become successful. Similarly, the psychological effects of competition may result in harm to those involved. Three levels of economic competition have been classified:
Competition does not necessarily have to be between companies. For example, business writers sometimes refer to "internal competition". This is competition within companies. The idea was first introduced by Alfred Sloan at General Motors in the 1920s. Sloan deliberately created areas of overlap between divisions of the company so that each division would be competing with the other divisions. For example, the Chevy division would compete with the Pontiac division for some market segments. Also, in 1931, Procter & Gamble initiated a deliberate system of internal brand versus brand rivalry. The company was organized around different brands, with each brand allocated resources, including a dedicated group of employees willing to champion the brand. Each brand manager was given responsibility for the success or failure of the brand and was compensated accordingly. This form of competition thus pitted a brand against another brand. Finally, most businesses also encourage competition between individual employees. An example of this is a contest between sales representatives. The sales representative with the highest sales (or the best improvement in sales) over a period of time would gain benefits from the employer. It should also be noted that in most countries competition often is subject to legal restrictions. For instance, competition may be legally prohibited as in the case with a government monopoly or a government-granted monopoly. Tariffs, subsidies or other protectionist measures may also be instituted by government in order to prevent or reduce competition. Depending on the respective economic policy, the pure competition is to a greater or lesser extent regulated by competition policy and competition law. Competition between countries is quite subtle to detect, but is quite evident in the world economy, where countries like the US, Japan, the European Union and the East Asian Tigers each try to outdo the other in the quest for economic supremacy in the global market. A monopoly (from Greek mono, alone or single + polo, to sell) is a persistent situation where there is only one provider of a product or service in a particular market. Monopolies are characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods. A government-granted monopoly or legal monopoly is sanctioned by the state, often to provide an incentive to invest in a risky venture. The government may also reserve the venture for itself, thus forming a government monopoly. Vocabulary List
syn. rivalry, contest
syn. perfect competition
syn. to drive down
syn. to be limited
Notes
Ex 1. Suggest the Russian equivalents: an environment with limited resources; to interfere with the performance of their competitors; to keep prices close to costs; sophisticated technologies; products that are close substitutes; to champion the brand; economical competition; to be legally prohibited; protectionist measures; to be regulated to a greater or lesser extent; a lack of viable substitute goods. Ex 2. Fill in the gaps with the words and expressions from the text.
Ex 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following: конкурировать за признание и богатство; быть изолированными друг от друга; снижать цены и совершенствовать продукцию; сокращать уровень цен; близкий к уровню издержек; стимулировать эффективность; оправдывать что-либо; более обширный выбор; приводить к напрасно потраченным усилиям и увеличению издержек; быть близкими заместителями; деньги, имеющиеся у семьи в наличии; подразделения компании; правительственная монополия. Ex 4. Match each term with the appropriate explanation. competition, monopoly, oligopoly, internal competition, incentive, pure monopoly
Ex 5. Answer the questions and do the assignments.
Ex 6. Find in the text the words and word combinations that refer to the following notions and comment on them.
Ex 7. Comment on the following statements:
Text B Competition:
Perfect competition is referred to as a model of industrial structure in which many small firms compete in the supply of a single product. Three primary features characterize a perfectly competitive industry:
Perfect competition is economically efficient in three ways: (a) In the short run, this is efficient for the allocation of resources, because it ensures that no consumer will be deterred from buying something which he values more than it cost to make. (b) In the long run, freer entry and exit ensures new entrants will be attracted into any industry where high profits are made. (c) Again, in the long fun, perfect competition ensures minimum-cost production. Although the features of perfect competition make it look a poor description of modern industry, it is a realistic description of world commodity markets where many traders deal in a homogeneous product. Moreover, its very powerful results indicate that the achievement of even a partially competitive market can be advantageous. Thus, the simple perfect competition model provides a good starting point for illuminating the forces underlying the real behaviour of firms. Contestability is referred to as the degree of ease with which firms can enter or leave an industry. A perfectly contestable industry is one in which, as in free competition, there are no barriers to entry at all. Unlike perfect competition, however, perfect contestability implies nothing about how many firms currently exist in the industry - it is possible for an efficient monopolist to exist while no barrier to entry prevents other firms from competing. Contestability theory was stimulated by W. J. Baumol in the early 1980s. He showed that the attractive features of perfect competition could be achieved merely by the threat to incumbent firms that entry would occur should large profits be made. The threat of entry should induce marginal-cost pricing and efficient production. In practice, entry barriers do exist, and because incumbent firms can often scare potential entrants away from entering, discipline that potential competition provides is considered less effective than that of actual competitors. Vocabulary List
Notes
Ex 1. Suggest the Russian equivalents: active rivalry of firms for customers; price variations; product differentiation strategies; market performance; new entrants; minimum-cost production; entry barriers; an individual impact on market force; costlessly enter and exit the industry; the outputs traded. Ex 2. Fill in the gaps with the words and expressions from the text.
Ex 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following: определить тип рынка; изменение цен; результаты деятельности рынка; непосредственно относиться к; размещение ресурсов; торговать однородной продукцией; никаких препятствий для входа; эффективное производство; реально существующие конкуренты. Ex 4.Match each term with the appropriate explanation. perfect competition, free competition, differentiation, monopolistic competition, contestability
Ex 5. Answer the questions and do the assignments.
Ex 6.Find in the text above words or phrases that mean:
Ex 7. Increase your vocabulary.
Other adjectives: latent, fierce, cut-throat, (un)fair, free, global, active, actual, predatory, intraindustry, interindustry, (un)healthy. Verbs: to face, to defy, to win, to eliminate, to meet with, to stand, to sustain, to provoke, to enter in, to avoid.
Writing Task I. Write a Summary and a Gist of Texts A and B. Task II. Fill in the tables on different types and forms of competition.
Speaking Task I. Comment on the tables from Task II (Writing) Task II. Make a presentation in class on one of the following topics. Use the appropriate structure and visual aids to make it more interesting.
Task III. Act as an interpreter for Parts A and B.
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