Список терминов к тексту

 

1. swap  1. обмен;

                2. менять, обмениваться;

2.   a store of value  средство накопления ценностей (как функция денег);

3.   a unit of account  единица счета (отчета, учета);

4.   a standard of deffered payment  единица отсроченного платежа (средство погашения долга);

5.   a token money  символические деньги;

6.   legal tender  законное платежное средство;

7.   IOU money  долговая расписка.

Assignment

(Задание)

 

1. Прочтите текст и изложите кратко содержание на английском языке.

 

Marketing starts in a market, where individuals or organized groups who want to buy goods or services meet people who want to sell them. The buyers must have money to spend and a willingness to spend it, or a product or service they themselves are willing to trade. The sellers must have what the buyers want. The first step in marketing is to understand these groups. The marketers must determine the number of buyers, what they want to buy, how, when and where they want to buy it, at what price and what they expect from it. Elaborate techniques of research have been developed to supply this information. Of course marketers have to decide which needs they want to meet. A concept for a product or service may develop long before any marketing research is done, or it may be a response to identifying need.

In part, at least, marketing determines what products and services are to be offered. Historically, marketing experts were supposed to sell any product in any way possible. The techniques of marketing research have now given marketers new ways to learn and analyze the needs and wants of consumers. They can now play a critical role in determining what  as well as how  to market. Most large companies now produce only what their market researchers tell them to sell.

All products were new at one time. Today, a product is new if it is unique, or if it is new for the manufacturer who is entering the market to challenge the existing competition, or if it has had enough substantial design modifications to make it a new product issue. For the manufacturer, merchandising includes selecting the products to be produced, deciding on the size, appearance, form and packaging; and “having the right goods at the right place at the right time at the right price”.

 

  2. Переведите письменно текст с английского языка на русский.

 

Marginal Rate of Substitution

 

We now introduce the concept of the marginal rate of substitution of meals for films.

The marginal rate of substitution of meals for films is the quantity of films the consumer must sacrifice to increase the quantity of meals by one unit without changing total utility.

 

Since consumers prefer more to less, an additional meal tends to increase utility. To hold utility constant, when one meal is added the consumer must simultaneously sacrifice some quantity of the other good (films). The marginal rate of substitution tells us how many films the consumer could exchange for an additional meal without changing total utility. The marginal rate of substitution must be a negative number: it is the ratio of a negative change in the quantity of films to the positive change in the quantity of meals when utility remains unaltered.

Suppose the student begins with a bundle comprising 5 films and no meals. Having already seen 4 films that week, the student probably does not enjoy the fifth film very much. With no meals, the student is very hungry. The utility of this bundle is low: being so hungry, the student cannot really enjoy the films anyway. To obtain the same amount of utility the student could give up a lot of films in exchange for a little food. The marginal rate of substitution is a large negative number and we say that it is high.

Suppose instead that the student is consuming a large number of meals but seeing few films. To obtain the same amount of utility, the student will be reluctant to sacrifice much cinema attendance to gain yet another meal. The marginal rate of substitution is a small negative number and we say that it is low. When the ratio of films to meals is already high the marginal rate of substitution of meals for films is high. It makes sense to sacrifice abundant films for scarce meals. Conversely, when the ratio of films to meals is already low the marginal rate of substitution of meals for films is low. It does not make sense to sacrifice scarce films for yet more meals.

Economists believe that this common-sense reasoning about tastes or preferences is very robust. It will hold in a wide range of circumstances. Indeed, it is sufficiently plausible that it can become a general principle, the third assumption we need to make about consumer tastes. It is called the assumption of a diminishing marginal rate of substitution.

Consumer tastes exhibit a diminishing marginal rate of substitution when, to hold utility constant, diminishing quantities of one good must be sacrificed to obtain successive equal increases in the quantity of the other good.

For example, our student might be indifferent between, that is, be equally happy with, bundle X = (6 films, 0 meals), bundle Y = (3 films, 1 meal), and bundle Z = (2 films, 2 meals). Beginning from bundle X, a move to Y sacrifices 3 films for 1 meal, but a further move from Y to Z sacrifices only 1 film for 1 extra meal. Such tastes satisfy the assumption of a diminishing marginal rate of substitution.

These three assumptions  that consumers prefer more to less, can rank alternative bundles according to the utility provided, and have tastes satisfying a diminishing marginal rate of substitution  are all we shall require. It is now convenient to show how tastes can be represented as indifference curves.

 

 

 

[1] Уровень 2(Intermediate) полного курса английского языка для системы дистанционного образования.

[2] Прослушайте слова на кассете и повторите их за диктором

[3] После выполнения задания проверьте Ваши ответы: 1), 2), 4), 6).

[4] Прослушайте слова на кассете и повторите их за диктором (во всех уроках).

[5] Ответы по всем тестам записываются сочетанием номера и буквы. Например: 1) (номер предложения) –i (выбранное слово) = 1i.

[6] После выполнения задания проверьте ваши ответы: 1), 2), 4), 6).

х) Проверьте Ваши ответы: 1), 3), 5), 7).

х) Проверьте Ваши ответы: 3), 4), 5), 7).

1 Прослушайте слова на кассете и повторите их за диктором.

х) Проверьте Ваши ответы: 1), 2), 4), 6).