II. Говорение и письмо

Задание: Составьте письменно на английском языке рассказ о себе (12-15 предложений) в опоре на прилагаемые ниже вопросы.

Форма итогового контроля – монологическое высказывание по теме или ответы на вопросы преподавателя.

III. Фонетика

Задание: Подготовьте фонетически правильное чтение вслух отрывка текста 1.1 или 1.2 (8-10 строк) на выбор.

Форма итогового контроля – чтение вслух выбранного отрывка текста.

Тема 2: «Рынок»

I. Чтение

• Изучающее чтение

Текст 2.1. «The Market»

“The market is a place set apart where men may deceive each other.” – Diogenes Laertius

(1) Definition: what exactly is the market? There is no universally accepted definition of the term market in economics. The term originally referred to a special place (typically, the main square of the largest village in the vicinity) where products were bought and sold once a week.

Nowadays, a market does not have to be a physical place like a shop. It can be defined as any arena in which buyers and sellers make transactions. Markets may be general or specialized, large or small, local or global.

(2) Market participants: buyers, sellers, and intermediaries. Any market consists of two main groups of people: all those who have commodities for sale, and all those who are interested in buying those commodities, – that is sellers and buyers. Besides, most markets comprise groups of people who act as intermediaries between the first seller of a commodity and the final buyer.

(3) Other market arrangements. Markets also include the arrangements by which buyers and sellers communicate their intentions, such as business letters, phone calls, radio-, television-, newspaper-, and Internet ads. These market mechanisms provide information about the quantity, quality, and price of products offered for sale.

(4) Market items: goods, services, and resources. Markets are primarily used to exchange goods, services, and resources. Goods are physical, tangible items or products that are used to satisfy wants and needs. Services are intangible activities that provide direct satisfaction of wants and needs without the production of tangible products or goods. Resources (labour, capital, and land) are inputs that are used in the production of goods and services.

Speaking in broad terms, any item or service of value can be referred to as a good.

(5) Market exchanges. Markets work by placing many interested sellers in one place, thus making them easier to find for prospective buyers, and strike a deal/make an exchange.

Most market exchanges in modern economies involve a commodity on one side and a monetary payment on the other. In essence, a buyer gives up money and receives a good, while a seller gives up a good and receives money.

Buyers and sellers negotiate with each other trying to get the best deal for them. Sellers sell only if the market price is greater than or equal to the price they require to give up a good or resource that they own. Buyers purchase products and resources only if the market price is less than or equal to the price they are willing and able to pay.

(6) What is money? Money is an extremely difficult concept to define with precision. Most simply put, it is anything “what you buy things with”. It is a medium of exchange, in terms of which the value of all goods and services is expressed. Most market exchanges involve money because goods and services can be traded more easily with money than without it.

(7) Barter exchanges: no money is needed. While most markets involve the exchange of money for a commodity, sometimes one commodity can be traded for another, doing what is commonly termed barter.

Barter is the exchange of goods and services performed directly, without using money. It requires a double coincidence of wants: A must have what B wants, and B must have what A wants.

(8) Market price. The amount of money for which a/one unit of goods or services is exchanged is called price. In other words, price is the money value of a good or service. Prices are providers of information. They reflect how much people value goods and what sacrifices society has to make to provide the goods.

The amount of money that a willing buyer will pay a willing seller for a given good or service is normally referred to as a market price or market-determined price. Market price is established at the point of exchange through the interaction of buyers and sellers.

(9) Free market. A free market is a market where price is determined by trade rather than by government. Because no national economy in existence fully manifests the ideal of a completely free market, the concept is considered to be a fantasy.

(10) Market, non-market, and mixed economies. An economic system in which goods and services are exchanged by market functions is called a market economy (also termed capitalism). An alternative economic system in which non-market forces (often government regulations) determine prices is called a planned economy or command economy (also termed socialism). An economic system in which an attempt is made to combine socialist ideals with the market economy is known as a mixed economy or market socialism.

Задание к тексту 2.1: Прочтите текст 2.1, стараясь понять как можно полнее его содержание с помощью англо-русского словаря и любого справочника по грамматике английского языка. Все незнакомые слова и выражения выпишите и запомните их контекстуальные значения.

Форма итогового контроля степени усвоения лексико-грамматического материала текста – компьютерный лексико-грамматический тест.

Примечание: Образцы тестовых заданий к тексту для изучающего чтения см. на примере текста 1.1 выше.