Unit 9. American Economy Pre-reading activities

1. Practise the pronunciation of the following words.

majority [mq'82rItI], private ['praI4qt], engage [In'geI8], consequence ['k2nsIkwqns], vehicle ['vi:IkFl], reign [reIn], safeguard ['seIfg@:d]

2. Memorize the words.

1. majority n – большинство

2. private a – личный, частный

3. own v – владеть

4. pursue v - преследовать

5. engage v – нанимать, занимать

6. prosperous a – процветающий

7. abundant a – обильный

8. profitable a – выгодный

9. sufficient a – достаточный

10. consequence n – следствие, результат

11. annual a – годовой, ежегодный

12. enable v – давать возможность

13. per year – в год

14. reign n – власть

15. safeguard v – охранять

16. pure a – чистый

17. drug n – лекарство

3. Answer the following questions before you read Text A.

1. What type of economy is the American economy?

2. Does the country have enough natural resources to support the economy?

3. Can you name the factors that turned the US into a leading and prosperous state?

Read Text a and fulfill the tasks which follow. Text a The American Economy

The USA is one of the largest industrial nations in the world. The United States economy is based on a free enterprise system: individuals and companies are free to make their own economic decisions.

In spite of the fact that the great majority of productive forces are privately owned, the federal government plays an important part in the market place. It pursues the policy of laissez faire (“leave it alone”), allowing private interests to have free reign in operating business. At the same time it provides public goods and services, helps specific groups, checks the purity of products and drugs, controls the ecological situation, safeguards the market system, stabilizes the economy. So, the US economy is considered to be mixed.

About one-fifth of the labor force is engaged in manufacturing. The leading industries are engineering, chemical, oil processing, light and food industry. The US is the world’s leader in such branches as aerospace, biochemical and genetic engineering, communications, computer and information services. Today service industries make up the most important sector of the economy, employing almost three-fourths of the work force.

The USA exports machinery and transportation equipment, such as aircraft, computers, electric power equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, agricultural products, metals and paper.

The USA imports raw materials, automobiles, engines, office machines, telecommunication equipment, clothes, shoes, toys, petroleum, medicines.

Farming accounts for less than 2 per cent of annual GDP and employs fewer than 3 per cent of US workers. Farmers not only produce enough to meet domestic needs, they produce enough to enable the US to export more farm products per year than any other nation in the world.

There were a number of factors that turned the US into a leading and prosperous state. They are the following: a favorable geographic position, abundant natural resources, development of profitable branches of industry, free market system, implementation of new technologies, sufficient amount of labor force, mobility of the Americans, their spirit of enterprise, creativity and initiative. Also, the US didn’t suffer from the consequences of World War II.

Post-reading activities

1. Match the words on the left to those on the right. Make 10 word partnerships and translate them into Russian.

1. profitable a. state

2. sufficient b. engineering

3. productive c. interests

4. prosperous d. place

5. specific e. amount

6. private f. decisions

7. market g. branches

8. domestic h. forces

9. economic i. groups

10. genetic j. needs

2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following Russian collocations.

1. система свободного предпринимательства; 2. находятся в частных руках; 3. проводит политику невмешательства; 4. предоставляя свободу в управлении фирмой; 5. считается смешанной экономикой; 6. занято в производстве; 7. чтобы удовлетворить внутренние потребности; 8. внедрение новых технологий; 9. дух предпринимательства; 10. прибыльные отрасли; 11. достаточное количество рабочей силы; 12. творчество и инициатива.

3. Choose the best alternative to complete the sentence.

1. Effective farming … the US to export more farm products per year than any other nation in the world.

a) creates b) engages c) enables d) deals

2. The USA is … in natural resources.

a) abundant b) profitable c) lack d) prosperous

3. The federal government … the market system.

a) controls b) reigns c) owns d) safeguards

4. The USA economy is based on a free … system.

a) government b) enterprise c)property d) labour

5. The US government leads the policy allowing private interests to have free … in operating business.

a) reign b) production c) market d) economy

4. Complete the sentences.

1. A free enterprise system means …

2. … plays an important part in the market place.

3. The most important sector of the economy …

4. Farmers produce enough to …

5. The US government leads the policy …

6. Almost three-fourths of the work force are …

5. Say whether the following statements are true or false.

1. The USA economy is a mixed economy.

2. The government plays an important part in the US economy.

3. Farming is the most important sector of the economy.

4. World War II brought great damage to the US economy.

5. About one-fifth of the labour force is engaged in agriculture.

6. Chemical industry employs almost three-fourths of the work force.

6. Answer the following questions.

1. What type of economy is the US economy?

2. What does the policy ‘leave it alone’ mean?

3. What are the major industries in the American economy?

4. What does the USA export?

5. What does the USA import?

6. Name the main reasons why the USA has become a leading industrial nation in such a short period of time.

7. Get ready to discuss the following.

In spite of its overall strength the US economy has faced problems from time to time. What are these problems?

Read Text B using the dictionary and do the following tasks.

1. Think of the title to the text.

2. Make up 5-6 questions of different types.

3. Give a short summary of the text.

Text B

A century ago one-half of the labor force worked on farms; in the 1990s that figure was down to less than 3 per cent.

American agriculture is increasingly “agribusiness”. Agribusiness refers to the entire complex of farm-related business, from an individual farmer to a multinational maker of farm chemicals. It includes farm cooperatives, rural banks, shippers of farm products, commodity dealers, firms that manufacture farm equipment, food-processing industries, grocery chains and many other businesses.

Earlier, many farms changed hands by being passed on from father to son. The high cost of capital investment in land and equipment now makes entry into farming very difficult for most individuals. In fact, the small family farm is no longer viable in the US. In the late 20th century, farms were increasingly being passed into the hands of corporations, ranging from small one-family business to giant conglomerates. About one-seventh of all farmland is owned by corporations, about two-thirds of which are family corporations.

Beef cattle rank as the most valuable product of American farms. Other leading farm products include milk, soybeans, chickens and eggs, hogs, wheat and cotton. American farms also produce large amounts of tobacco, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes and apples.