III. Прочитайте текст и переведите его письменно на русский язык.

FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.K.

In the l9th century Britain dominated international trade, accounting for about one third of world's exports. Early in the 20th century its position changed. The volume of world's exports increased but the percentage of British exports in world trade declined significantly.  But still foreign trade is vital to Britain's livelihood. With a large population, small land area, and few natural resources, the country must depend on foreign trade to supply the raw materials for English factories and to provide a market for the sale of the thousands of types of manufactured goods produced by English industries.  The United Kingdom's principal exports are vehicles, machinery, manufactured goods and textiles. Her main imports are foodstuffs and most of the raw materials for industry. Britain imports half the food it needs. There is usually an unfavourable balance of trade, that is, imports exceed exports, but this is compensated for in part by the so-called invisible trade.  The earnings from invisible trade come in the way of shipping charges, interest payments from foreign investments, interest payments from British enterprises abroad, and tourist expenditure. The earnings from foreign tourist trade make this one of Britain’s important industries. Britain has got very sound economic ties with various countries of the world, especially the Commonwealth countries. The Commonwealth, officially called The Commonwealth of Nations, has grown out of the old British Empire which came to an end with the Second World War. The Commonwealth countries are Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other small countries and territories.  The United Kingdom has been a member of the European Free Trade Association (E.F.T.A.) since 1959, and a member of the European Economic Community (E.E.C.) since 1973.

IV. Прочитайте текст и выпишите 5-6 ключевых слов Branch Economy

It is not entirely evident who first used the ‘branch plant economy’ concept; however, it has been extensively used in Canadian and UK literature since the 1970s. This concept broadly describes the negative consequences on the growth of the regions whose economies are primarily composed of branch plants that belong to multi-plant firms. Since the position of branch plants within the command chain is low, the regions that host these branch plants tended to be remotely controlled by the plant headquarters, which are usually located distantly. Authors at that time thought that branch plants might create a short-term boom in the regional economies when initial investments were deployed, or when they performed well owing to external factors such as the sector’s expansion (e.g., the oil industry boom led to an economic boom in Aberdeen). That boom, however, did not sustain itself over the long term.^[1]

In Scotland, it was mainly Scottish journalists and political readers who warned of the danger of Scotland's dependence on English firms' branches in Scotland.

In Canada, an upsurge of Canadian nationalism in the 1960s and early 1970s led the Liberal governments of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau to implement policies aimed at regulating foreign investment. The views of Walter L. Gordon were especially influential in the 1960s. Further left, the Waffle emerged in the New Democratic Party on a program based on Canadian economic nationalism and independence. These developments led to measures such as the creation of Petro-Canada, a government-owned oil and gas company, implemented by the Trudeau government in the mid-1970s to increase Canadian control over the oil industry. The crown corporation was created as one of the demands of the NDP in exchange for their support of Trudeau's minority government. Trudeau also established the Foreign Investment Review Agency to regulate foreign investment in the economy and limit the takeover of Canadian-owned companies by foreign multinational corporations.

The election of Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government in the 1984 election brought this period of economic nationalism to an end. Mulroney's government dismantled FIRA and moved to privatize Petro-Canada. The Mulroney government's negotiation and implementation of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement resulted in increased economic integration between the US and Canada, and was opposed by economic nationalists in the 1988 election.

The Canada-US FTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization may bring branch plants to an end as the elimination of many tariffs and trade controls makes it much easier for a foreign supplier to sell in the Canadian market without having a branch plant in the country. Numerous plants, particularly in the textile and manufacturing sector, have shut down and moved to Mexico or other countries with lower wages and costs of production.