Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:English of Global Economics. Учебное пособие
.pdf
130
Unit Four
В 1970-е годы препятствием для снижения общей стои
мости грузоперевозок во внешней торговле были высокие
тарифы на перевозки по железной дороге и автотранс
портом, которые устанавливались правительствами стран.
Такое положение стало постепенно меняться с началом про
цесса дерегулирования транспортных систем. Первой стра
-
ной, которая начала дерегулировать свою транспортную
систему, была Америка. Сначала авиалинии, затем авто
транспорт и железные дороги были освобождены от огра
-
ничений на то, что они могли перевозить, куда перевозить
и какую цену они могли взыскивать за свои услуги. Грузо
вики уже больше не возвращались порожняком при достав
-
ке груза в одном направлении, железные дороги перестали
поддерживать убыточные железнодорожные ветки, и посте
пенно стоимость перевозок снизилась.
В 1980-е годы процессы дерегулирования продолжились
и в других странах. Hовые технологии устранили преграды,
существовавшие между различными видами транспорта, и
смешанные перевозки получили большое распространение.
Отправитель теперь мог иметь дело только с одной фирмой, специализирующейся на грузоперевозках с привлечением всех видов транспорта. Если это судоходная компания,
тоонамоглазаключитьсделкусжелезнойдорогойиавтоперевозчиком, а также взять на себя ответственность за своевременную доставку груза в пункт назначения и выслать
отправителю единый сч¸т за транспортировку груза.
В последние годы широкое распространение получила
перевозка грузов автотранспортом. Междугородные авто
грузоперевозки быстро росли благодаря усовершенствова
нию транспортных средств и дорог, а также благодаря услу
-
-
-
гам, которые может предложить этот вид транспорта.
III. Hаш мир стал таким сложным, что мы всецело зависим
от происходящих в мире событий. Это заставило людей со
здавать системы, которые позволяют быстро реагировать
на то, что происходит вокруг нас. Современная система
связи через спутники переда¸т сигналы по всему миру и
функционирует во всех сферах человеческой деятельности:
военной, гражданской (civil), коммерческой и производствен
ной. Эта система способна передавать сотни тысяч перего
воров одновременно и обеспечивает передачу звука, факси
мильной информации (facsimile), данных и изображения.
-
-
-
-
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
131
Спутниковая связь сталкивается с сильнейшей конкурен
цией со стороны общественных телефонных сетей. Дело
в том, что затраты на волоконно-оптическую телефонную
связь, которая обеспечивает высокое качество сигнала и
не вносит задержки во времени, примерно равны затратам
на спутниковую связь. Однако спутниковая связь представ
ляется более экономичной, чем кабельная, подземная или
подводная (submarine), при обслуживании малочисленных
разбросанных пользователей, например в сельской местно
сти. Благодаря инновациям и современным технологиям
стало возможным получать информацию не выходя из дома.
В основе этой системы — компьютер. Компьютер коренным
образом изменил и улучшил качество нашей жизни.
Hе менее важной является система телекоммуникаций.
Происходит дальнейшее сближение и взаимодействие всех
действующих систем связи по предоставлению услуг потребителям. Огромный объ¸м информации поступает через
Интернет. Интернет позволяет пользователям недорого и
качественно общаться друг с другом независимо от расстояния. Через Интернет можно отыскать любую интересующую вас информацию, покупать и продавать товары, приобретать железнодорожные и авиационные билеты, выбрать
тур для проведения отпуска, пополнить свои знания, получив
доступ к определ¸нным образовательным программам, и т.д.
Большим спросом пользуются мобильные телефоны. Стремясь удовлетворить желание потребителей получать информацию на ходу, были разработаны системы, позволяющие
подключаться к Интернету с помощью мобильного телефона.
Спрос на мобильные телефоны резко возрос и превзош¸л
по объ¸му продажи персональных компьютеров.
Hовые коммуникационные технологии вносят много но
вого и интересного в нашу повседневную жизнь как на ра
боте, так и дома и способствуют дальнейшему подъ¸му всех
секторов мировой экономики.
-
-
-
-
-
Ex. 5. Read and translate the following texts. Pay attention to the
terms and make sure you understand them.
A number of urban economists feel that a system of user charges
on drivers would be very useful in achieving a better balance in
the use of mass transit and auto transportation and, in particular,
in alleviating the problem of traffic congestion. They contend
132
that the city’s streets and highways are overused and congested
because drivers do not bear the full cost of driving; they are in
fact subsidized by society (taxpayers) at large. By “full cost” is
meant not only the cost of highway construction and repair but
also the cost of traffic control devices and traffic police and
even automobile pollution costs.
In short, the purpose of user charges is to relieve traffic
congestion by rationing some people out of the “driving market”,
that is, they will use the public transportation system or, if they
have the option , will make fewer trips downtown.
Recognizing that the morning and evening rush hours are the
focal points of the urban transportation problem, many advocates
of user charges also contend that the pricing of both auto and
mass-transit facilities should vary according to the time of day.
That is, peak pricing should be used; charges should be higher
during the peak or rush hours and lower during off-peak hours.
The purpose, îf course, is to “ration out” travelers whose need
to travel during rush hours is less pressing or less necessary. For
example, shoppers might be induced by a system of peak prices
to alter the timing of their trips to and from downtown so that
they do not coincide with the travel times of commuting workers.
Unit Four
***
Telecommunication is the extension of communication over
a distance. Telecommunication has been defined by international
agreement as any emission, transmission, or reception of signs,
signals, sounds, and writing. It covers all forms of distance and
conversion of the original communications, including radio,
telegraphy, television, telephony, data communication and computer
networking.
Recent advances in electronics have made mobile personal
communications widely available and inexpensive, primarily through
cellular telephony. Worldwide computer networks allow computer
users to use modems to communicate rapidly and inexpensively
through electronic mail. The proliferation of facsimile machines
allows users to send printed communications over telephone lines.
The elements of a telecommunication system are a transmitter,
a medium (line) and a receiver. The transmitter is a device that
transforms or encodes the message into a physical phenomenon;
the signal. The transmission medium, by its physical nature, is likely
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
to modify or degrade the signal on its path from the transmitter
to the receiver. The receiver has a decoding mechanism capable
of recovering the message within certain limits of signal degradation.
In some cases, the final receiver of the message is the human
eye or ear
user charge сбор с пассажиров транспорта (налоги на горючее, сбор
за выдачу водительских удостоверений, плата за проезд по новым до
рогам и т.п.); to alleviate a problem смягчить проблему; to ration out
ограничивать, исключать; driving market рынок распределения време
ни езды по дорогам; option выбор, право выбора; rush hours ÷àñû
ïèê; off-peak hours любое время, кроме часов пик; commuting регу
лярные поездки из пригорода в город на работу; emission излучение
ТВ-сигнала; сellular telephony сотовая телефония; modem модем (уст
ройство для компьютерной связи); facsimile machine ôàêñ; transmitter
передатчик; to encode кодировать; transmission medium канал переда
чи; to degrade ослаблять сигнал; receiver ïðè¸ìíèê; decode декодиро
вать, раскодировать; signal degradation деградация, затухание сигнала.
2
.
Ex. 6. Read the following text and discuss urban transportation
problems for city dwellers and for those who live in the suburbs.
A large proportion of higher-income people — professional,
technical and white-collar workers — work downtown; that is,
they are employed in the banking and financial firms, the legal
and consulting firms and the advertising agencies which have
remained in the central city. On the other hand, many kinds of
manufacturing, wholesale, retail, and personal service industries —
industries which require blue collar and less skilled workers —
have moved to the suburbia. The result is a significant locational
mismatch of jobs and labour force between suburbs and central
city. This mismatch creates the need for an effective transportation
system to negotiate the required cross-hauling of the population.
But the need for efficient transportation is even more urgent.
Accessibility is the essential condition of effective participation
in urban life. Most of the cultural and social advantages of city
life can only be efficiently realized through a viable transportation
system.
Given the convenience of private automobile travel, most
suburbanites have chosen this form of transportation. Transportation
by private cars has soared, while the use of public transportation
has declined. Indeed, large subsidies to highway construction have
created a substantial financial bias in favour of the automobile.
133
-
-
-
-
-
-
134
The greatly expanded use of auto transportation has given rise
to increasingly acute problems of traffic congestion, not to
mention the automobile’s substantial contribution to air pollution.
The response to traffic congestion, of course, has been to
construct more highways. But the additional highways permit the
growth of still more distant suburbs and elicit more traffic. So
giant highway construction programs usually have been accompanied
by more — not less — traffic congestion and parking problems.
We have witnessed a vicious circle of more autos, more highways
which induce more autos, and the construction of still more
highways.
The other side of the coin has been the general deterioration
of the mass-transit system of the cities. The vast geographic
dispersion of population throughout the suburbs has made it
difficult for mass-transit systems to realize the heavy trunk-line
operations requisite to their prosperity or survival. Unfortunately,
not all people have the option of using either mass transit or
their automobile. The poor and less skilled of the central city must
rely only upon mass transit. Shrinkage and service deterioration
of the transit system, accompanied by the shift of blue-collar
jobs to the suburbs, unfortunately leave many of the central-city
residents isolated from the economic opportunities of the metropolitan
area.
There has been a revival of interest in the revitalization and
development of public mass-transit systems — commuter railroads,
subways, buses, monorails, and so forth. First, given projections
of suburban population growth and the consequent possibility
that the volume of urban automobile traffic may double in the
next twenty years, many city planners and public officials feel that
effective alternatives to auto transportation are imperative. This is
particularly so in view of the previously noted point that increased
investment in streets and freeways often seems to induce a higher
volume of traffic, rather than relieve congestion. Despite the
existence of an elaborate system of supposedly high-speed freeways,
the average rate of travel on some freeways is only 37 miles per
hour and this figure is expected to fall to 17 miles per hour in
the coming years. In fact, freeway drivers often spend 10 percent
of their time stopped. An expanded and improved mass-transit
system can yield substantial social benefits in terms of a viable
and revitalized central city with an expanding property-tax base,
greater accessibility to suburban jobs for the central-city poor,
Unit Four
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
135
and avoidance of an increasingly acute pollution problem which
3
an expansion of automobile transportation is likely to entail
suburbs (suburbia [sə!bə:biə]) предместья, окрестности города; suburbanite
житель пригорода; to negotiate договориться, получить; ñross-hauling
встречная перевозка; viable жизнеспособный; bias пристрастное отно
шение; to elisit [i!lisit] добиваться, получать; vicious [!vi
íûé êðóã; dispersion of population разбросанность населения; trunk-line
магистраль; to be requisite (to) быть необходимым; shrinkage уменьше
ние, сокращение; to revitalize оживлять; property-tax base база налого
обложения недвижимости; to entail влечь за собой.
Ex. 7. Read the following text and speak on: (a) the situation in air
transportation; (b) competition in the industry; (c) the importance
of its consolidation; (d) the difficulties certain air carriers face in
America and Europe; (e) the role of the Internet in cutting
distribution costs.
ʃəs] circle пороч
.
Air travel began to bottom out during 2002 in the depression
caused by the economic downturn and the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The year saw the
rise of low-cost airlines in America and Europe. They even spread
to Australasia.
Before that, airlines in America were headed for a loss of about
$3 billion in 2001; they finished the year within losses of up to
$10 billion. The federal bail-out of $15 billion allowed most to
stagger on, but in the first half of 2002 at least one, and possibly
three, American carriers were expected to go bust. Although traffic
recovered to near normal levels by the middle of the year, the cash
drain in the interim could prove too much for the likes of America
West or US Airways. Northwest and Continental were also badly
exposed. A full recovery in traffic occurred in early 2003.
In a normal world, as soon as economic clouds gather, companies
cut back on business travel; so volume declines, and more business
travelers move back into the economy seats from business class.
This will be seen in the next few years. The airlines that will hold
up best in terms of traffic are low-cost, low-fare carriers. Nowadays
economy-minded travellers even have the option of opting for
the much cheaper f lights available on low-cost carriers, such as
Southwest and JetBlue in America, easyJet, Go and Ryanair
around Europe. Southwest will soon carry more passengers inside
America than any of the big airlines. In Europe, the relentless
growth of the low-fare carriers is leading them to set up bases in
-
-
-
-
136
continental Europe. One new airline, Blue Fox, will start
low-fare business-class f lights across the Atlantic in March.
The volume of air traffic worldwide will fall by around 5%
before bouncing back dramatically in the future, with growth of
nearly 20%. The revenues that airlines receive for every seat
occupied will fall faster. Over the longer term, this is declining at
a rate of 1% a year but discounting, to lure back lost passengers,
will depress it even further.
The combination of a structural change — the big push of
the low-fare airlines — and the conjunctural economic downturn
will put huge pressures on the big airlines to change. Consolidation
along conventional business lines is not possible because of the
regulated nature of air travel. A petty, out-of-date nationalism will
do economic harm. It is nearly impossible for one nation’s “flag
carrier” to take over another. And no airline can operate freely
in a country that is not its own. Theoretically this does leave
some scope for consolidation within the two biggest aviation
markets, America and Europe.
In America the scene was set for considerable consolidation
when United Airlines launched an agreed bid for US Airways in
May 2000, followed seven months later by another deal whereby
American Airlines would rescue the ailing TWA, while taking over
the bids of US Airways that United thought it wise to divest in
order to placate the antitrust authorities in Washington. In the event,
the regulators blocked the United deal and American waltzed off
merrily with TWA to become the largest airline in the world.
In Europe, consolidation was supposed to follow Swissair’s
bold expansion in which it took a stake in Belgium’s Sabena and
bought shares in several smaller French carriers. That turned to
dust because all the airlines Swissair bought proved to be severe
cash drains. In the event both Swissair and Sabena went bust.
They will re-emerge from bankruptcy much diminished, if at all.
Similarly, plans by British Airways to hook up with Royal Dutch
Airlines came to naught.
The old saga of British Airways and American Airlines trying
to pool their transatlantic businesses is back in fashion. They
have two hurdles to clear: one is assuaging fears in Europe that
a combination, which would give them 60% of traffic on some
key routes, would not be anti-competitive. The other is the creation
of an open skies agreement between Britain and America, without
which Washington will never allow the two airlines the antitrust
Unit Four
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
immunity they need to pool services, fares and revenues. If
the airlines do not pull off their deal quickly they will find that
Britain will soon lose the ability to negotiate such deals, as the
European Commission wins the right to handle air agreements
for the EU as a whole.
The other big change is in the use of the Internet. The low-fare
carriers are leading the way in using the Internet to cut distribution
costs. The established airlines are moving fast too, with their joint
online booking services to prevent too much of the distribution
side of air travel slipping away to non-airline online agencies.
The aviation business (with its perishable product, seats on a
flight) and the Internet (with its instantaneous information f low)
were made for each other. The two are likely to learn how to live
4
together
carrier авиакомпания; bail-out экономическая помощь для выхода из
финансового затруднения; to stagger on устоять, выжить; to go bust
обанкротиться; in the interim тем временем; conjunctural конъюнктурный; nation’s flag carrier авиакомпания, действующая под флагом своей
страны; to ail находиться в затруднительном положении; to divest отторгать (ранее присоединенную компанию); to take a stake получить
долю, участие (в капитале); to placate успокаивать; cash drains утечка
денег, наличности; to hook up (with) консолидироваться (с); hurdle
препятствие; to assuage [
ществить сделку (несмотря на трудности); to slip away ускользать.
.
ə!sweid‚] умиротворять; to pull off a deal îñó-
137
Ex. 8. Read the following text and exchange opinions on liberalization
of air traff ic, explain what countries benefit from it and what are
the conditions of the “open skies” deal.
At first sight it looked like an historic breakthrough for free
trade in aviation. After ten years of trying, negotiators in Washington
agreed to press ahead with an “open-skies” deal liberalizing air
traffic between the European Union and the United States.
Since these two markets together account for more than half of
world traffic, this would be a great achievement. But, while the
Washington deal would be a big step forward, genuinely “open
skies” are s till some way off.
If ratified on both sides of the Atlantic, the tentative deal
would replace a patchwork of national bilateral open-skies deals
already in existence between America and 15 EU countries with
one agreement between the United States and the EU as a whole.
It would mean that any American airline could f ly to anywhere
138
inside the 25-member EU and vice versa. The Americans are
delighted because it means that far more American airlines can
expect access to London Heathrow, the world’s busiest international
airport. And European airlines see two possible benefits. First, it
will be easier for them to buy a stake in an American airline.
Second, they will be able to f ly from anywhere in Europe to
the United States — so that Air France, for instance, could f ly
to Washington from London, and British Airways could compete
with Lufthansa on the Frankfurt-New York route. This abolition
of national f lag carriers will, in turn, make it easier to complete
cross-border European airline mergers.
The models for the EU-US agreement are the various deals
that America has signed around the world with 58 countries in
addition to EU countries. The merits of these are that they allow
any airline to f ly where and when it wants between two countries,
with no limits on capacity or need for official approval of fares.
But these deals stop short of opening up the market in America —
internal f lights operated by foreign airlines are still off-limits and
foreigners are also limited to owning 25% of the voting rights of
a domestic airline (Europe is more liberal, with a 49% limit)
They are more like “liberalized mercantilism” than real free trade,
in the words of one executive closely involved in the recent talks.
America now in promising to loosen the ownership rule by
reinterpreting it so that foreign nationals can actually run an
American airline, although the 25% limit would remain. This is
as far as the administration can go without needing approval from
Congress. Many Europeans in the business think this “concession”
is not worth all that much. Even so, some airlines in America
are already lobbying to get the administration to withdraw it.
Most European countries were quite happy to get any sort
of deal with the United States. But not Britain, since it will now
be compelled to open up Heathrow for the first time to any
American carrier that can buy landing slots on the grey market.
In theory, any other EU airline could also now try to elbow
into Heathrow for transatlantic flights, if it could acquire suitable
slots. Hitherto, Britain retained a particularly restrictive traffic
agreement with America and only American Airlines and United
have been allowed access to Heathrow for transatlantic f lights,
alongside British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
It was therefore unsurprising that the British pair were moaning
this week that Brussels had sold the pass by failing to wring more
Unit Four
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
concessions from America. Although previous liberalizing deals
have fallen through, British carriers are gloomily reconciled to
the fact that this one, after several months more haggling could
actually be sealed
5
.
139
tentative предварительный, временный; patchwork неразбериха, пута
ница; to buy a stake купить долю, участие (в капитале); concession ус
тупка; landing slot время, отвед¸нное для посадки; grey market серый
(полулегальный) рынок; to fall through провалиться, потерпеть неуда
чу; haggling переговоры об условиях сделки.
Ex. 9. Read the following text and give your own examples of business
centres growing near the railways, airports, rivers and oceans, and
residential areas around underground stations.
In the 19th century cities and businesses grew up around the
railways; in the 20th century the growth of motorways drove
development. But these days the magnets for business are airports.
With so much emphasis on just-in-time manufacturing and some
professionals needing to jump on planes almost daily, airports are
becoming the centres of cities of their own. Warehouses, shopping
malls, high-tech firms and even consultancies are setting up shop
almost within sight of the runway. It is a phenomenon that some
call the “aerotropolis”.
One such aerotropolis has grown up around Dallas/Fort Worth
International Airport (DFW). Dense clusters of buildings appear
on all sides, just beyond the highways that ring the airport.
DFW opened in 1974 and is set squarely in the middle of the
two huge metropolitan areas that give it its name. But much of
the surrounding development has taken place over the past ten
years. The immediate airport area has all the facilities travellers
expect — rental-car agencies, hotels and cargo storage — as well
as the headquarters of American Airlines. Warehouses are on all
sides; the latest arrival is Amazon.com, which plans to open a
giant plant later in the city of Irving, just a 15-minute drive from
the airport. A new shopping mall is due to open south of the
airport.
Irving used to be known mostly as a home to Texas Stadium
and the Dallas Cowboys. But Las Colinas, a planned business and
residential community within Irving, now boasts offices belonging
to household names such as Accenture and Bank of America.
Fluor, a giant engineering company, also decided to move its
-
-
-
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]