пособие Экономика. Учебное пособие по переводу научной литературы (Economics) Москва 2011 Рецензент Гвозданная Надежда Вячеславовна
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Appendix 1 1. Precis The precis is a summary of the original text (about 25-35% of the length). It leaves out all elaborations of the thought and gives only what is left, in such a way as to make the summary a complete composition. It usually retains the style, tone and words of the original. Writing a précis stick to the following format:
Study the sample précis below: http://www.cgu.edu/pages/935.asp James L. Sundquist, Constitutional Reform and Effective Government INTRODUCTION In Constitutional Reform and Effective Government (1992), James L. Sundquist evaluates a number of proposed solutions to structurally relieve the conflict, ineffectiveness, and recurring gridlock attributed to divided government, short electoral horizons, and constitutional constraints. Sundquist, a founding director of the Committee on the Constitutional System and a senior fellow emeritus with the Brookings Institution (a non-partisan research organization), examines how structural modifications--though politically difficult to enact--might remedy the institutional impediments to collaboration and effective governance. Originally published in 1986, Sundquist's analysis affirms concerns that the pervasive problems in modern governance, particularly interbranch stalemates and the escalation of the deficit, are symptoms of the immediate need for constitutional reforms. By looking to the past for the structural and institutional roots of divided government and interbranch conflict, Sundquist exposes the practical defects of popular reforms and the institutional barriers to their adoption. Beginning with the premise that the "tripartite constitutional design has evident and serious weaknesses" (p. 20), Sundquist identifies the merits and potential pitfalls of proposed reforms with respect to three main criteria: (1) efficacy in promoting and maintaining effective government, (2) impacts on collaboration and the relative balance of interbranch power, and (3) political feasibility. METHODOLOGY AND EVIDENCE Within an institutional framework, Constitutional Reform and Effective Government merges policy evaluation with historical context. The efficacy of each proposal is evaluated as a measure of its ability to reduce interbranch gridlock, improve collaboration, foster more effective (or less divided) government, or resolve potential crises of leadership stemming from interbranch immobilization. Historical evidence and comparative analyses are used to draw inferences about the effectiveness of a proposed reform from the experiences of parliamentary or state governments with similar measures. The impacts of the proposed reforms on the balance of executive/legislative power are obtained from arguments advanced by scholars, legislators, and former U.S. Presidents. Finally, in order to evaluate political feasibility, Sundquist surveys historical evidence, including the Framers' intent of the constitutional provisions affected (primarily from records of the Constitutional Convention, and The Federalist Papers), the origins and main variants of each proposed solution, past congressional action (if any), and the barriers to adoption as discerned from the congressional record and secondary sources. In the end, these three criteria are used to distill from a wide range of proposed reforms a set of nine recommended actions. PROMOTING AND MANAGING EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT Effective government begins with forestalling the pattern of divided government that has dominated interbranch relations “eighty percent of the time since 1968” (p. 12). Although Sundquist considers several alternatives toward this end, the most direct and effective route is by eliminating the option for voters to cast a split ticket (p. 126, 323). This would be accomplished by the introduction of a team ticket, where all party candidates--President, Vice President, House and Senate members alike--stand or fall together as a unit. Although some splintering of the parties might be expected (mid-term elections might still produce divided government, and independent candidates would face additional hurdles), team tickets are expected to cultivate party unification and "an ethos of teamwork" between the Executive and the Legislature (p. 127). The second most effective reform would be a constitutional amendment that lengthens House and Senate terms to four and eight years, respectively. This modification would eliminate losses to the President's party at midterm elections, stretch the President's "honeymoon" (thus promoting more productive policy making), and lengthen electoral horizons (hence, freeing up House members to focus on policy rather than electoral politics). Maintaining effective government would require modifications to the electoral college system (such as the award of bonus electoral votes to the popular election victor) and a mechanism--short of impeachment--for resolving irreconcilable differences between the Executive and Legislative branches or reconstituting a failed government. This latter reform would be accomplished most effectively through a special election initiated by the President, the Senate, or the House, to recast all the elected positions for full terms (p. 206, 207, 324). IMPACTS ON COLLABORATION AND THE RELATIVE BALANCE OF POWER A second class of proposed reforms pertains to minor adjustments in Executive, Legislative, and shared powers. The measure of effectiveness for these modifications is two-fold: improved interbranch collaboration coupled with minimized disruptions in the balance of power between the President, the House, and the Senate. First, as a "means of linking the executive and legislative branches," Sundquist recommends a constitutional amendment to remove the Article I prohibition against dual office-holding (pp. 232-245, 324). Second, a single amendment consisting of four measures--which individually distort the balance of power, but collectively neutralize adverse effects--is prescribed. This omnibus amendment would grant the President a line-item veto, restore the (presently unconstitutional) legislative veto, validate the War Powers Resolution of 1973, transfer treaty approval to both houses, and reduce the two-thirds supra-majority requirement to a simple majority of the members (pp. 278-315, 324). The former amendment would cut new channels of communication between the branches, although its usefulness is expected to be limited by the sheer workloads of cabinet members and representatives. The latter amendment would (a) legitimize first-line-of-defense negotiation tools to defuse conflicts arising from budget provisions; (b) ground administrative control in the Executive branch (subject to Legislative oversight); (c) minimize disputes over the boundary between Commander-in-Chief powers and the congressional power to "declare war"; and (d) transfer the veto power in the treaty ratification process from thirty-four Senators to majorities of either house. These constitutional amendments could potentially forge increased collaboration, reduced veto points, and more effective policy making. In sum, modifications to improve government effectiveness and promote collaboration would mitigate two central and institutionally exacerbated dangers of divided government: economic meltdown arising from uncontrollable budget deficits and government paralysis in times of crisis (p. 322). POLITICAL FEASABILITY With respect to political feasibility, it becomes an axiom of constitutional reform," Sundquist pessimistically concludes, "that any structural amendment that would bring major benefits cannot be adopted--again, barring a governmental collapse that can be clearly attributed to the constitutional design--while any measure that stands a chance of passage is likely to be innocuous" (p. 330). The most effective measures will likely encounter organized institutional opposition and little public support. This grim prediction is based on (a) the assumption that most Americans fault incumbents (as opposed to the Constitution) for government failure, and (b) the zero-sum nature of the reforms and the inevitable opposition by incumbents who are expected to perceive their losses as outweighing the potential collective gains (p. 329). CONCLUSION The immense political barriers to real, non-incremental structural reforms create a paradox for American government. It turns out that once the political insurmountability of constitutional reforms is taken into account, party strengthening measures and particularly the overhaul of campaign finance statutes become the centerpiece doctrines in building effective national leadership (pp. 245-274, 324). Measures such as nominating convention reforms, campaign finance reforms that channel political contributions through the parties, government-subsidized political media purchases, and strengthened internal party discipline would "serve the same objectives" as the recommended amendments, albeit considerably less effectively (p. 276, 324). By curbing intra-party dissension, effective government would be fostered through unified objectives across branches. This would ensure a solid core of support for the President's agenda, despite rift sin the partisan control of the branches. This finding conflicts with generations of reforms made since the Progressive Era's dismantling of the party machines, and cultural biases that associate individualism with heroism, and standing one's ground (despite partisan pressures) with courage (pp. 90-93,111-125,258-277). In the end, the same institutions that have fostered stability in American government for the last two centuries hold the seeds of its demise. Real reform is the captive of culture, education, and democratic institutions that immobilize the collective public and political will to act. 2. Abstract An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a work. It summarizes the purpose, scope, methods used, the results, conclusions, and any recommendations. Abstract length varies by discipline and publisher requirements. Typical length ranges from 100 to 500 words, but very rarely more than a page. Abstracts are typically sectioned logically as an overview of what appears in the paper, with any of the following subheadings: Background, Introduction, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Abstracts in which these subheadings are explicitly given are often called structured abstracts by publishers. In articles that follow the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) pattern structured abstract style is the norm. Abstracts that comprise one paragraph with no explicit subheadings are often called unstructured abstracts by publishers. They are often appropriate for review articles that don't follow the IMRAD pattern within their bodies. When writing an abstract use mainly the Present Simple tense do not use - abbreviations, - citations or references, - the first person singular - illustrations, detailed explonations, tables and the like. Sample abstract Charles S. Peirce's article, "The Fixation of Belief (1877), asserts that humans have psychological and social mechanisms designed to protect and cement (or "fix") our beliefs. Peirce backs this claim up with descriptions of four methods of fixing belief, pointing out the effectiveness and potential weaknesses of each method Peirce's purpose is to point out the ways that people commonly establish their belief system in order to jolt the awareness of the reader into considering how their own belief system may the product of such methods and to consider what Peirce calls "the method of science" as a progressive alternative to the other three. Given the technical language used in the article, Peirce is writing to an well-educated audience with some knowledge of philosophy and history and a willingness to other ways of thinking. Examples of abstracts Luís F. Costa and Huw David Dixon Fiscal Policy under Imperfect Competition with Flexible Prices: An Overview and Survey ABSTRACT This paper surveys the link between imperfect competition and the effects of fiscal policy on output, employment and welfare. We examine static and dynamic models, with and without entry under a variety of assumptions using a common analytical framework. We find that in general there is a robust relationship between the fiscal multiplier and welfare, the tantalizing possibility of Pareto improving fiscal policy is much more elusive. In general, the mechanisms are supply side, and so welfare improving policy, whilst possible, is not a general result. *** Karl Aiginger The Great Recession versus the Great Depression: Stylized Facts on Siblings That Were Given Different Foster Parents ABSTRACT This paper compares the depth of the recent crisis and the Great Depression. We use a new data set to compare the drop in activity in the industrialized countries for seven activity indicators. This is done under the assumption that the recent crisis leveled off in mid-2009 for production and will do so for unemployment in 2010. Our data indicate that the recent crisis indeed had the potential to be another Great Depression, as shown by the speed and simultaneity of the decline in the first nine months. However, if we assume that a large second dip can be avoided, the drop in all indicators will have been smaller than during the Great Depression. This holds true specifically for GDP, employment and prices, and least for manufacturing output. The difference in the depth in the crises concurs with differences in policy reaction. This time monetary policy and fiscal policy were applied courageously, speedily and partly internationally coordinated. During the Great Depression for several years fiscal policy tried to stabilize budgets instead of aggregate demand, and either monetary policy was not applied or was rather ineffective insofar as deflation turned lower nominal interest rates into higher real rates. Only future research will be able to prove the exact impact of economic policy, but the current tentative conclusion is that economic policy prevented the recent crisis from developing into a second Great Depression. This is also a partial vindication for economists. The majority of them might not have been able to predict the crisis, but the science did learn its lesson from the Great Depression and was able to give decent policy advice to at least limit the depth of the recent crisis. *** Real Business Cycle Theory and the Great Depression: The Abandonment of the Abstentionist Viewpoint Michel De Vroey and Luca Pensieroso The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, 2006, vol. contributions.6, issue 1 ABSTRACT: Is the Great Depression amenable to real business cycle theory? In the 1970s and 1980s Lucas and Prescott took an abstentionist stance. They maintained that, because of its exceptional character, an explanation of the Great Depression was beyond the grasp of the equilibrium approach to the business cycle. However, while Lucas stuck to this view, Prescott changed his mind at the end of the 1990s, breaking his earlier self-imposed restraint. In this paper we document this evolution of opinion and produce a first assessment of real business cycle models of the Great Depression. We claim that the fact of having constructed an equilibrium model of the Great Depression constitutes a methodological breakthrough. However, as far as substance is concerned, we argue that the contribution of real business cycle literature on the Great Depression is slim, and does not gain the upper hand over the work of economic historians. Keywords: great depression; new classical macroeconomics; real business cycle theory; equilibrium; unemployment. 3. О правилах создания рефератов и аннотаций на русском языке смотрите В.В. Алимов. Теория перевода. Перевод в сфере профессиональной коммуникации.: Учебное пособие. Изд. 2-е, испр. – М., Едиториал УРСС, 2004. – 160с. Культура устной и письменной речи делового человека: Справочник. Практикум. – 16-е изд. - М.: Флинта: Наука, 2011.- 320 с. APPENDIX 2 Graphs, Pictures and Diagrams : Description The description must be a minimum of 150 words and it is recommended that you spend no longer than 20 minutes on this. Content and task types You have to write about the information shown, describing the main features, trends or differences. You have to refer closely to the diagram and, where relevant, illustrate your main points with figures. You are not required to give any explanation for the data, but have to describe only the information given in the task. Task types may involve describing information from a graph, chart or table a flow chart or process diagram a plan or map a diagram showing how something works a diagram showing or comparing objects a set of small diagrams Here are some useful vocabulary units to describe figures To go up, to increase, to rise, to climb, to improve (dramatically, markededly, significantly, slightly) An increase, a rise, a climb, an improvement (dramatic, marked, significant, slight) To go down, to decrease, to fall, to decline, to deteriorate (dramatically, markededly, significantly, slightly) A decrease, a fall, a decline, a deterioration (dramatic, marked, significant, slight) To recover, to get better / a recovery, an upturn To get worse, aggreviate / a downturn To level out, to stabilize, to stay the same / levelling out To reach a peak, to reach a maximum to peak / a peak To reach a low point, to hit bottom / trough To undulate, to fluctuate / an undulation, a fluctuation Some more structures The graph shows that…started climbing steadily, peaking at…, and flattened out at a level of… According to the diagram, the number of…rose sharply between…and…, before plunging back down to its original level. The graphs show a plateau at the level of… The graphs show a plateau at the level of… Within the picture is contained… The diagram depicts that there were more…than…between…and… This diagram represents…and therefore shows that… The shape of the graph demonstrates that… There is a clearly defined pattern to the graph, and this can be taken to mean that… The graph can thus be used to predict… One can interpret the graph in several ways. Firstly it shows… Study the samples below and memorise the description. |