English for Economists. Практикум

УДК 811.111 ББК 81.2

Р49

Автор:

Ризатдинова Л. Д. — старший преподаватель кафедры юридических и гуманитарных дисциплин Набережночелнинского филиала

УВО Университет управления «ТИСБИ»

Рецензенты:

Садыкова Г. З. — канд. филол. наук, доцент кафедры филологии УВО Университет управления «ТИСБИ»;

Маклакова Е. М. — канд. филол. наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков НЧИ КФУ

Ризатдинова, Л. Д.

Р49 English for Economists [Электронный ресурс] : практикум / Л. Д. Ризатдинова. — Электрон. дан. и прогр. (6 Мб). — Саратов : Вузовское образование, 2019. — 52 с. — (Высшее образование).

ISBN 978-5-4487-0528-1

Цель практикума — развитие навыков чтения профессиональноориентированных текстов, совершенствование коммуникативных навыков устной и письменной речи на основе текстов по экономике. Кроме текстового материала, в издании приведены упражнения, направленные на проверку понимания прочитанного, лексические упражнения, для закрепления новых лексических единиц, а также приведены задания к ролевым играм, для развития коммуникативных навыков.

Соответствует требованиям, предъявляемым Федеральным государственным образовательным стандартом высшего образования к изучению дисциплины «Иностранный язык».

Для студентов, обучающихся по направлению подготовки бакалавров

38.03.01 «Экономика».

Учебное электронное издание

© Ризатдинова Л. Д., 2019 © Оригинал-макет, оформление.

ООО «Вузовское образование», 2019

Издано в авторской редакции

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UNIT 1

1. Read the definitions of the words “economy” and “economics”. Explain the difference in meanings.

Economy: 1) the relationship between production, trade and the supply of money in a particular country or region; 2) use of available resources in a way that saves money, time or avoids waste;

Economics: 1) the principles of the production and distribution of goods and services and the development of wealth; 2) the application of these principles to a particular country or region, or to a particular area of business.

2.Work with the dictionary. Find as much words with the root-word

“economy” as you can.

3.Fill in the missing words:

1.I am going to study … at the University this term.

2.Larger tubes of toothpaste are more … .

3.The … of the United Kingdom is the fifth-largest national … in the world.

4.It’s false … to buy a milder, cheaper cheese for cooking.

5.The national budget generally reflects the … policy of a government.

6.An … knows the value of everything and the cost of nothing.

7.We are spending far too much money – we must … .

What is economics?

Economics is about making choices. We make all kinds of choices every day. How much should I spend on gas? What's the best route to work? Where should we go for dinner? What are the pros and cons of finishing college versus taking a job or inventing the next, best Internet startup? Which roommate should take care of washing the dishes? Can I get that dog as a pet? Should I get married, have children, and if so, when? Which politician should I vote for when they all claim they can improve the economy? What is "the economy," anyway? What if my personal or religious principles conflict with what people tell me is in my best economic interest?

Many people hear the word "economics" and think it is all about money. Economics is not just about money. It is about weighing different choices or alternatives. Some of those important choices involve money, but most do not. Most of your daily, monthly, or life choices have nothing to do with money, yet they are still the subject of economics. For example, your decisions about whether it

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should be you or your roommate who should be the one to clean up or do the dishes, whether you should spend an hour a week volunteering for a worthy charity or send them a little money via your cell phone, or whether you should take a job so you can help support your siblings or parents or save for your future are all economic decisions. In many cases, money is merely a helpful tool or just a veil, standing in for a partial way to evaluate some of the goals you really care about and how you make choices about those goals.

You might also think economics is all about "economizing" or being efficient — not making foolish or wasteful choices about how you spend or budget your time and money. That is certainly part of what economics is about. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg. We all know that we can save money or time by being more efficient in our planning. A trip to the supermarket can be coordinated with a trip to deposit a check at the bank across the street to save on gas. But we sometimes don't choose the most efficient options. Why not? Economics is also about plumbing the depths of why we sometimes do and sometimes don't make what seem like the most economizing or economical choices.

Is economics a science (like physics), or is it a social science, or even an art? What is the difference, and what do we know about what we can't or don't know for now? Can economic problems be solved by better government, more experts, bigger computers, more engineering, better education, less government, more dispersed knowledge, more markets? How can we make informed choices?

You've probably heard that economists disagree about a lot of things. Actually, what economists disagree about is politics or public policy, not economics. Exploring the interface between politics and economics is part of the fun.

Vocabulary

Involve — включать в себя.

Charity — благотворительность.

Evaluate — давать оценку.

Goal — цель.

Veil — покров.

Plumb — проникать.

Exercise 1. Suggest the Russian equivalents for the words and word combinations given below:

Make choice, personal and religious principles, weigh alternatives, save for future, evaluate some goals, tip of the iceberg, plumb the depth.

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Exercise 2. Find the words in the text that mean the following:

To measure, varied, aim, to help, foundation, choice, journey, effective, guess, search, friend.

Exercise 3. Work in pairs. Answer the question:

Student A’s questions. (Do not show to Student B):

1.What is economics?

2.Are you interested in economics?

3.How important is economics?

4.Do you think economics is a good subject to study?

5.How is the economy in your country?

6.What are the biggest economic problems in your country?

7.Do you think economics is a science?

8.How is economics different under socialist and capitalist systems?

9.What was the last thing you read or heard about economics?

10.Do you think economics is the most important thing people think about in an election?

Student A’s questions. (Do not show to Student B):

1.Do you read or watch economics news in newspapers and on the TV?

2.Do you worry about the world economy?

3.What are the biggest economic problems in the world?

4.Do you know what the difference is between macroeconomics and microeconomics?

5.What do you know about economic growth?

6.What do you understand by the term ‘environmental economics’?

7.What is the effect of economics on society?

8.Do you think economic aid and economic sanctions work?

9.Which people in this world care most about economics?

10.What do you think ‘happiness economics’ is?

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UNIT 2

1. Read the table and tick the facts that you and your partner know:

Early forms of money

Coins

Paper money

Credit cards

Read the text and give more information.

2. Find synonyms to the words:

Buy and sell, barter, expensive, to insure, benefit, down payment, to make, cost, fixed.

Money: History and Functions

Money is something that is very difficult to explain. People in various cultures think of money in different ways. A London banker and an African tribesman have different ideas of what money is.

Many people think of money as a currency — metal coins and paper bills. We need it to buy the things in life that we need. We also get money for the work that we do. So, money is a way of exchanging goods and services.

The History of Money

In early civilizations people did not have money. They traded objects. Maybe a hunter had more animal furs than he could use and his neighbour might have caught more fish than he could eat himself. They soon saw that they needed each other. The fisherman needed furs to protect himself from the cold and the hunter needed something to eat, so they exchanged their goods. This is called barter.

Barter also had disadvantages. If there weren’t any more people who needed the hunter’s furs he couldn’t trade them for the things he needed.

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Early Forms of Money

As time went on, people used things that were valuable as a kind of money. Cattle was one of the earliest forms of money. People who had many cows were thought to be very rich. Later on, grain and salt were common forms of money. They had advantages because you could weigh them.

The Aztecs used cacao beans as money. They were valuable and easy to carry. The early American colonists used gunpowder, tobacco and nails as money. These things were very rare.

Coins

In the course of time people searched for better ways of trading goods. They found out that metal, especially gold and silver, was very valuable.

Some historians believe that the first coins were made at around 700 B.C. by the Lydians. The Greeks and Romans also had silver and gold coins. Their value was guaranteed by the government.

But it was not until the late Middle Ages that coins became common throughout Europe. Metals were stamped and coins had to have a certain weight. People knew how many coins they needed to buy something because they had a fixed value.

Paper money

Paper money came into use about 300 years ago. The idea came from goldsmiths who gave people pieces of paper in exchange for their gold.

These bills could be exchanged for their gold later on. They told you that real gold and silver existed somewhere.

Until the middle of the 20th century governments all over the world had deposits of gold that was worth as much as the money they gave to their people. Paper money had many advantages. It was cheaper to make and easier to carry around.

But there were also dangers. Governments could produce as much paper money as they wanted. If they produced too many banknotes and gave them to the people, they would have too much money to spend. If there were not enough goods to buy, prices would go up. The money then would lose its value. We call this inflation.

Today, the amount of money in circulation is controlled by central banks. They make sure that paper money has a constant value.

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In the second half of the 20th century people realized that they didn’t have to carry money around to buy the things they needed. Information about money was sent from bank to bank, so you could have your money transferred from one place to another without touching it.

Credit cards

Today, more and more people use credit cards to buy things. You don’t have to take real money with you. With a credit card the bank lends its customer money to buy something. The customer signs a small slip of paper and the shop assistant sends it to the bank and gets his money at once. A few weeks later the customer pays the money back to the bank.

Vocabulary

Currency — денежная единица.

Trade — торговля

Exchange — обмен.

Goods — товары.

Barter — обмен.

Valuable — ценный.

Deposit — вклад.

Advantage — преимущество.

Realize — осознавать.

Circulation — оборот.

Amount — сумма.

Exercise 1. Match the words and their definition: