UNIT 3

TEXT FOR STUDY: World Economy after World War II. (TEXT A)

GRAMMAR GUIDE: 1. THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE (Active and Passive).

2. THE PRESENT PERFECT AND THE PAST PERFECT

TENSES (Active and Passive).

3. Numbers. Words and Phrases for Mathematical

Calculations.

S PEAKING Topics: 1. Making requests. 2. Expressing one’s

personal opinion. 3. At a students’ scientific

conference.

Activity: Interviewing your partner. Acting out

dialogues.

READING Topic: How Japan Boosts Britain. (TEXT B)

Skill: Skimming (reading for gist) and scanning

(reading for specific information).

Independent reading:

TEXT 2. The Coming Global Boom.

PRE-TEXT TASKS

Practise the pronunciation and stress of the following key words from

TEXT A looking at their translations for understanding. Try to guess the meaning of the international words.

1 prosperous [¢pr sp r s] - процветающий, зажиточный

2 output - производство, продукция

3 consumer goods [k n¢sjum ...] - потребительские товары

4 advances [ d¢va:nsiz] - зд. прогресс

5 access (to) [¢ kses] - доступ к ...

6 prosperity [pr s¢periti] - процветание, успех

7 transition [tr n¢zi n] - переход

8 unemployment [ nim¢ploim nt] - безработица

9 commodities - товары, предметы потреб-

ления

10 debt payments [det ...] - платежи по долгам, погашение

долгa

International words

1 commerce [¢k m :s] 2 exports 3 ethnic barriers 4 neutrality [nju¢tr liti]

5 integration 6 infrastructure [infr ¢str kt ] 7 hyperinflation [haip in¢flei n]

Study carefully the meanings of the following phrases and word combinations to avoid any difficulty in understanding TEXT A.

1 ... that defied every attempt at - зд. ... которые создавали непреодо-

unification долимые трудности на пути к

объединению

2 ... have sought to preserve ... = have tried to preserve ...

3 at all costs - любой ценой

4 drive towards = organized effort at ...

5 had gambled = had risked money (Compare:

a gamble = a risky undertaking)

6 soaring interest rates - резко повысившиеся процентные

ставки

7 to line the pockets = to make money in a way that is

disapproved of

Work through TEXT A. The text is intended for intensive reading and translation. The underlined forms of the verbs describe past actions and states. See GRAMMAR GUIDES for differences in their meanings.

Text a World Economy After World War II

Over the past three thousand years, the world has changed its main centre of economic activity many times. The world economy was once centered around Mediterranean, where Egypt, Greece and Rome based their prosperous economies on seafaring trade.

With European expansion into the New World, following Columbus’s voyage of 1492 - and with the rise of the great trading nations of England, Holland, Spain and Portugal - the Atlantic became the centre for international trade and commerce.

After World War II the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore became major trading nations, all located on the Pacific Rim. By the end of the 1980s these countries produced a large part of the world’s output of goods and services.

The rapid economic growth of such countries as Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan was based essentially on exports. South Korea, for example, decided to concentrate its economic production on consumer goods, such as televisions and VCRs that could be sold to affluent consumers in Europe and North America. The success of this export-led economic growth was based on a hard-working, low-wage work force, combined with rapid technological advances and improved access to world trade.

Apart from brief periods of military rule - such as the Roman or the Napoleonic empires - Europe has been divided by sturdy political and ethnic barriers that defied every attempt at unification¹. England, for example, has often preferred to maintain closer relations with its former colonies around the world than with its European neighbours. Other countries such as Switzerland have sought to preserve² their independence and neutrality at all costs³. But by the end of 1950s some countries of Europe decided that the best way to encourage trade and economic growth was to remove economic barriers between countries. In 1957 six countries - Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, and West Germany - signed the Treaty of Rome to form the European Economic Community (EEC).

As the EEC grew during the 1970s and 1980s to include Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Spain, and Portugal, it became known as European Community or EC (now the European Union).

The rapid change in Europe was, in part, brought on by outside economic forces. During the 1980s, Western Europe looked abroad and saw the United States creating millions of jobs and expanding rapidly in the Pacific Rim. In the Far East, Japan was booming and had become the second largest economy in the free world. The fear of being left behind sparked a renewed drive towards⁴ European political, economic and monetary integration and a new Treaty on the European Community was signed in February 1992.

The Communist countries of Eastern Europe - the U.S.S.R., Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakia - saw their modest post-war growth. The failure to “deliver the goods” led to the fall of most Communist governments by the end of the 1980s. But the eagerly awaited prosperity of the free-market systems that replaced them was a long time coming. Their transition from communism to capitalism was often hindered by a crumbling infrastructure, rising unemployment, hyperinflation, and internal dissension.

The developing and relatively poor countries are said to make up the Third World. The term “Third World” was based on the idea that the “first” and “second” worlds were made up of the free-market and centrally planned countries with advanced industrial economies. Although the Third World comprises three quarters of the world’s population and 90% of the world’s population growth, it provides only 20% of the world’s economic production.

The developing countries had gambled⁵ in the 1970s and borrowed billions of dollars from Japanese and Western banks, hoping to grow their way out of poverty. But the gamble failed. By the 1980s, the debtor countries of the Third World found themselves confronted with soaring interest rates⁶ and an economic slump in the developed countries. The prices of commodities such as coffee and sugar fell sharply, reducing many developing countries’ export earnings. Debtor countries were forced to borrow even more money to pay for the increased cost of oil and debt payments.

Although some of the original loans had been used to line the pockets⁷ of government officials and businessmen, much of the money was actually spent on valuable infrastructure projects like electricity systems and roads.

COMPREHENSION CHECK

Exercise 1

Find the wrong statements.

1 The United States of America turned into the centre for international

trade three centuries after Columbus’s voyage of 1492.

2 Japan’s economic prosperity was created before World War II.

3 South Korea and Taiwan are big exporters of consumer goods.

4 England always wanted to maintain close relations with its European

neighbours.

5 Removing economic barriers is the major objective of the member

countries of the European Community.

6 Most Communist governments of Eastern Europe failed to achieve

any economic growth after World War II.

7 The transition from communism to capitalism is delayed only by

hyperinflation.

8 The decline in export earnings of the Third World countries was

caused by the recession of the 1980s in the developed countries.

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences joining the suitable part.

1 The Pacific Rim countries succeeded in ...

... a) preserving their independence.

... b) combining rapid technological advances with a

very great volume of imports.

... c) producing large amounts of consumer goods.

2 The rapid economic growth of most countries is based ...

... a) on neutrality at all costs.

... b) on encouraging foreign trade.

... c) on borrowing as much as possible.

3 The Third World countries comprise ...

... a) 90% of the world’s population.

... a) 75% of the world’s population.

... c) 60% of the world’s population.

Exercise 3

Fill in the correct words from TEXT A.

After World War II many countries of the world decided ____ economic and political barriers. Economic ____ resulted in ____ economic ____ and increased ____ of goods and ____ . The Pacific Rim countries concentrated on ____ of consumer goods. Their economic growth was ____ on low-wage work force combined ____ rapid technological ____ . The Communist countries ____ Eastern Europe had a very ____ growth. They were ____ planned economies and this ____ to the ____ of most Communist governments by the end ____ ____ 1980s. The developing countries are mostly ____ countries. They ____ a lot of money ____ Japanese and Western banks ____ the 1970s. ____ the 1980s these ____ countries were forced to borrow more ____ because prices of ____ such as coffee and sugar fell ____ , reducing their export ____ and ____ debt payments.

Exercise 4

Complete the chart practising word-formation. The words in the chart come from TEXT A. Consult the dictionary if necessary.

N	Adj	V
expansion
		produce
consumer
	prosperous
		remove
neutrality
	advanced
population
		pay
	developing

GRAMMAR GUIDE 1

TEXT A contains many instances of the Simple Past Tense (Active and Passive). The Simple Past is used for a completed action that happened at one specific time in the past. In other words, it is used for past events which started and finished at a known time in the past. It is also used to describe a definite period of time in the past (from ... to ...). For better understanding and practical use consult the following charts.

CHART 1

I	translated			yesterday
He/ she	wrote			last week
You We	did not/ didn’t	translate write	this article	two years ago last October
They	lived	in Moscow		from 1990 to 1995

CHART 2

	Did	he they	translate write	this article	last year? in 1992?
When	did	he they	translate write	this article?
Who			translated wrote	this article	last week?

CHART 3 (Passive Voice)

This article These articles	was/ wasn’t were/ weren’t	translated	by	him them	into English?
Was Were	this article these articles	translated	by	him them	into English?

Exercise 5

Complete the following chart of regular and irregular verbs from TEXT A.

Base	Simple Past	Past Participle
become
	sold
improve
	sought
		changed
		removed
see
		grown
	made up
comprise
		borrowed
	fell
pay
		found

Exercise 6

Fill the gaps in the sentences with the appropriate forms of the verbs in brackets.

1 My father ____ for a computer company from 1988 to 1993 (work). Now he ____ in a television company (work).

2 He ____ a new car yesterday (buy). He and his wife ____ to go on holiday to Poland by car next summer (want).

3 They ____ a few months ago (get married). Now they ____ (be separated).

4 She ____ her boyfriend recently (leave). Now she ____ sorry for this hasty decision (feel).

5. My friend ____ his flight to Moscow last week (miss). He never ____ anywhere on time (arrive).

Exercise 7

Reading the following story supply the correct form of the verb in brackets.