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ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ВЫСШАЯ ШКОЛА ЭКОНОМИКИ

Пермский филиал

English for Economics

Под редакцией кандидата филологических наук

С. О. Глушаковой, M arcia A. Rauch, M .A. (TESOL EFL Fellow, sponsored by the Public Affairs Section,

U.S. State Department)

Рекомендовано Научно-методическим советом по иностранным языкам Министерства образования и

науки Российской Федерации в качестве учебного пособия для студентов, обучающихся по экономическим специальностям

Пермь 2006

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ББК 81.2Англ-923

Авторы-составители:

Антинескул О.Л., Глушакова С.О., Георгиева Н.Ю., Егорова И.В., Королева О.Л., Костарева Е.В., М аслова С.М ., Пахомова О.С., Пермякова Т.М., Рачева И.А., Садикова Т.Б., Ухова Т.В., Халезова Е.Н., Шевелева М .С.

English for Economics: Учебное пособие для студентов экономических специальностей вузов / Под ред. Глушаковой С.О., M arcia A. Rauch, M.A.

Е 56 – Пермь: Пермский филиал Государственного университета – Высшей школы экономики, 2006. – 216 с.

IS BN 5-88187-286-X

Целью учебного пособия является обучение аспекту «English for Specific Purposes» на первых двух курсах экономических вузов и факультетов. В задачи обучения входит развитие навыков чтения и перевода текстов общеэкономической направленности. К текстам прилагаются задания, способствующие более глубокому пониманию текстов и содержащихся в них экономических понятий и терминов, закреплению терминологического и понятийного аппарата для дальнейшей работы по ESP. Учебное пособие содержит также набор текстов, объединенных общей тематической направленностью и позволяющих контролировать усвоение базового материала.

Печатается по решению Учебно-методического совета Пермского филиала Государственного университета – Высшей школы экономики.

Рецензенты:

доктор пед. наук Гейхман Л.К., зав. кафедрой прикладной лингвистики и информационных технологий образования ПГТУ

доктор фил. наук Кузменкова Ю.Б., зав. кафедрой английского языка факультета «Менеджмент» ГУ-ВШЭ

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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Предлагаемое учебное пособие предназначено для студентов I-II курсов специальностей «экономика» и «менеджмент» специализированного вуза и является результатом опыта преподавания английского языка на факультетах «Экономика» и «М енеджмент» Пермского филиала ГУ-ВШЭ. Пособие рассчитано ориентировочно на 60 часов годовых аудиторных занятий.

Целью данного пособия является развитие навыков чтения и перевода текстов общеэкономической направленности, выработки навыков понимания содержания иноязычного специального текста, которое дополняется формированием умения грамматически и лексически пр авильно оформлять речевые высказывания в процессе перевода, различных видов коммуникации и профессионального общения.

В рамках указанной цели учебное пособие делится на четыре части. В первой части содержатся аутентичные тексты по экономике. Первым этапом работы с текстами является их чтение и перевод. Второй этап включает в ы- полнение заданий, способствующих более глубокому пониманию текстов и содержащихся в них экономических понятий и терминов. Вторая часть может использоваться при аудиторном контроле и/или самоконтроле студентов. Эта часть предназначена для работы над пониманием англоязычного экономического текста и содержит тексты, аналогичные по тематике текстам первой части, что позволяет контролир овать усвоение базового материала.

Тематическое единство и равновеликая сложность заданий составляют внутренний принцип преемственности данного учебного пособия. Кроме того, в третьем разделе задания по чтению составлены с учетом проверки умений студентов находить искомую информацию, оперировать перифразом, сопоставлять данные, критически осмысливать и генерализировать содержание – все эти умения и навыки включены в Европейскую схему компетенций изучающего иностранный язык. К вышеупомянутым разделам прилагается глоссарий экономических терминов. Четвертый раздел учебного пособия представляет собой теоретическую часть с широким диапазоном справочных и практических материалов по грамматическим вопросам перевода. Эта информация, включающая основные правила пер е- вода, необходима для начального этапа работы с пособием – работы по переводу текстов. На первоначальном этапе студенту рекомендуется самостоятельно прочитать и перевести текст, используя справочный материал пособия и словари. В дальнейшем при аудиторной работе могут вноситься необходимые дополнительные коррективы. Преподаватель имеет возможность гибко выстраивать учебный процесс с учетом организационных моментов и конкретныхусловий обучения.

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Part I. Texts on Economics

THE S CIENC E OF ECONOMICS

Economics, like physics or meteorology, is a science to the extent that it comprises a set of analytical principles that work with consistent regularity. Unlike the so-called natural sciences, however, economics is a social science because it studies human behavior r ather than the disembodied workings of nature. T hus it is appropriate to describe the subject, by analogy, as a set of tools. Just as a carpenter’s tools may be used to build a house, a printer’s tools to make a book, so an economist uses tools to build understanding – in this case, understanding of human behavior and its consequences. Each social science makes the same claim, however. So what distinguishes economics from its “sister” social sciences, such as sociology or psychology? The unique feature of economics is that it studies human behavior within the context of markets. A market is an institutional arrangement that fosters trade or exchange. M odern economics, therefore, is the study of how markets work – of how value is determined, and how inputs relate to each other in production, for exa mple. But there is a larger set of questions involved: where did the market come from? Is it the only way to organize economic activity? What are its alternatives? How might they work?

The history of economic thought is replete with writers who sometimes addressed the former set of questions (i.e. how markets work) and sometimes the latter (what are its alternatives). Occasionally, but rarely, a writer will address both. M arx was such a writer. M ost of the writers who achieved lasting fame as architects of the discipline of economics stuck to the former set of questions, however. So dominant was this tendency that it may be termed mainstream, or orthodox. By contrast, attempts to explore the second set of questions are typically regarded as unorthodox, or outside the mainstream. Surely the market place of ideas encourages variety.

Although others might present the subject differently, the important point that should be derived from any historical survey of the subject is that economics is a vibrant form of intellectual discourse, not a set body of principles.

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Even in this new millennium, there is increasing evidence that economics continues to ferment. Even among mainstream economists, gnawing questions persist about the nature, scope and method of economic inquiry, and the value and place of economics among competing social sciences. Disagreement persists about the proper boundaries of the subject, the role of the individual versus the group, the method of analysis to be employed, and the usefulness of the field itself.

TAS KS

I. Give the English equivalents to:

Родственная дисциплина, факторы производства, обмен, экономич е- ское исследование, в условиях рынка, обеспечивать торговлю, определять стоимость, метод анализ а, альтернатива, масштаб, основное направление.

II. Find words with similar meanings in the text:

Resources required for production, to promote commerce, the way people act, academic discussion, economic r esearch, to remain, a related science, the first of two, to develop, a definite set of concepts, a dominant tendency.

III.Answer the following questions:

1.Why can economics be called a science?

2.What kind of science is economics? Why?

3.What other social sciences do you know?

4.What is the difference between economics and other social sciences?

5.What are the two sets of questions connected with modern economics?

6.What questions were addressed by the mainstream economists?

7.Can M arx be regarded as a mainstream economist?

8.What evidence is there that economics continues to develop?

9.What are the main areas of disagreement among contemporary economists?

IV. Are the following statements true or false? Correct the false ones:

1.To build understanding all economists use the same tools as carpenters and printers do.

2.Modern economics studies problems connected only with the market.

3.Economics is based on a set body of principles.

4.There are a lot of authors addressing both sets of questions mentioned in the text.

5.M ost scientists agree on the methods and scope of economic r esearch.

V. Render the text in English:

Экономика, подобно родственным социальным наукам (например, со-

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циологии), изучает поведение человека. Однако, в отличие от других дисциплин, экономика анализирует поведение человека в условиях рынка. Рынок – это институт, обеспечивающий торговлю и обмен.

Исследованием вопросов, связанных с рынком, занимались многие ученые. Некоторые из них рассматривали проблемы функционир ования рынка (данное направление получило название основного, или ортодоксального), другие искали альтернативы рынку. В работах Карла М аркса затрагиваются оба аспекта.

Экономика – постоянно развивающаяся наука: среди экономистов не прекращается полемика по ряду ключевых моментов, таких как место экономики среди других социальных наук, методы экономического исследования и др.

VI. Give a summary of the text.

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MACRO ECONOMICS AND MICROECONOMICS

“M acro” is derived from the Greek word makros meaning “large”. M acroeconomics considers the whole economy from a national point of view. In studying macroeconomics we turn our attention to the major forces acting and interacting within the economy. M acroeconomics in a modern economy is largely a study of government economics. Central and local governments play such a signif icant role in the formation and application of economic policies that it has become essential for businessmen to appreciate the bases of government economic policy. In former times, and in a very few countries perhaps still today, the free play of market forces was left to decide the level of national income, and the rate of growth of the economy. As a result of this policy of laissez-faire (“let the thing work itself out”) the economy tended to grow in spiral-like movements of business activity. Years of rapid expansion, called “booms”, were followed by years of consolidation and slower progress, called “slumps”. The economy was always growing, but it suffered from cycles of activity spiraling upwards. The more exposed members of society, the poor, and the immigrant, suffered great misery. A cry went out for more conscious control of business activity, and eventually Keynesianeconomics showed the way to achieve it.

Under this final group of studies we must consider:

a)The national income; what it is, how it may be increased, and how it may be fairly shared;

b)Business cycles; their causes and cures. This involves a study of deflation, inflation, and equilibrium levels of activity in the economy;

c)Problems associated with full employment, structural unemployment, and regional under-employment;

d)The public sector of the economy; its conflict with the private sector and

their reconciliation with one another;

e)Public finance;

f)The balance-of-payments problem presents itself mainly at macroecono m-

ics levels;

g)The international implications of national policies and co-operation with

other countries.

Though macroeconomics has been defined as the study of the whole, or of the aggregate, of a national economy, the central problem of it in the second half of the twentieth century is the management of prosperity to maximize individual welfare. In fact, the whole economy stands or falls by what is achieved for the individual. If I am not prosperous, what use is it to me that society as a whole is prosperous? What satisfaction do I get, when I am poor, to know that others are rich? If I am unemployed, high levels of general employment do me no good, and what use is the general security if I am insecure?

* The British economist, John Maynard Keynes, is one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. In 1936 his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money transformed the economic thinking of that time.

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The application of economic theory to the aggregate level is a process subject to a reasonably high degree of uncertainty. No one can be absolutely sure what the outcome of a particular macroeconomic policy will be. There is though, in practical terms, every reason for the study of macroeconomics. That a point cannot be made 100% clear ought not to detract from the achievement of a highly probable prediction. Business itself is founded upon the principle of exploiting uninsurable risk. Those who operate businesses ought to appreciate what is likely to happen within the national and international economy so that they can reduce the risk element in their own businesses.

M icroeconomic analysis offers a detailed treatment of individual decisions about particular commodities. For example, we might study why individual hous e- holds prefer cars or bicycles and how producers decide whether to produce cars or bicycles. We can then aggregate the behavior of all households and all firms to discuss total car purchases and total car production. Within a market economy we can discuss the market for cars. Comparing this with the market for bicycles, we may be able to explain the relative price of cars and bicycles and the relative output of these two goods. The sophisticated branch of microeconomics known as general equilibrium theory extends this approach to its logical conclusion. It studies simultaneously every market for every commodity. From this it is hoped that we can understand the complete pattern of consumption, production, and exchange in the whole economy at a point in time.

M icroeconomists tend to offer a detailed treatment of one aspect of econo m- ic behavior but ignore interactions with the rest of the economy in order to preserve the simplicity of the analysis. A microeconomic analysis of miners’ wages would emphasize the characteristics of miners and the ability of mine owners to pay. It would largely neglect the chain of indirect effects to which a rise in miners’ wages might give rise. When microeconomic analysis ignores such indirectly induced effects it is said to be partial analysis.

TAS KS

I.Answer the following questions:

1.What do macroeconomics and microeconomics consider?

2.Why does the study of modern macroeconomics involve governments?

3.Is there any interaction of “general” and “individual” in economics? Give your

reasons.

4.Despite a high degree of uncertainty macroeconomics is necessary to study. Do you agree with the statement or not? Explain your point of view.

5.What is the interconnection of macroeconomics and microeconomics?

6.What is known as a “partial analysis”?

7.John M aynard Keynes said that: “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else”. (What do you think Keynes meant by this last statement? Do you agree or disagree? Give the reasons that would support your opinion.)

II.Fill in the blanks using the correct term: microeconomics, macroeconomics, microeconomists or macroeconomists:

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