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ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ АГЕНТСТВО ПО ОБРАЗОВАНИЮ

МОСКОВСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ

УНИВЕРСИТЕТ МАМИ"

Савицкая Т.П.

Кафедра иностранных языков

From Colonies to Affluent Society.

(Методические указания и задания для самостоятельной работы

студентов 1 курса экономического факультета)

Москва 2007

Савицкая Т.П. «From Colonies To Affluent Society»

Настоящие методические указания и задания предназначены для развития навыков самостоятельного изучающего чтения у студентов 2 курса экономического факультета.

Структура заданий отражает тематику рабочей программы и нацелена на расширение лексического запаса студентов, а также изучение реалий американского общества в связи с историей развития его экономики.

TEXT 1. LAISSER- FAIRE.

1. Прочитайте текст, расположите ниже приведённые утверждения соответственно логике развития темы текста.

А. American colonists wanted to establish an independent nation based on individual

freedom.

B. French thinkers considered that economic freedom was necessary to increase a

nation’s wealth.

C. The colonists were greatly dissatisfied with Great Britain’s rule over them.

D. Most Americans believed that they would be able to engage in trade, producing and manufacturing goods and services without government interference.

In the mid-1770s, conflict spread in a group of 33 British colonies located along the eastern coast of what is now the United States of America. Over several years, the colonists had become increasingly dissatisfied with Great Britain's rule over the colonies. The colonists were being taxed without having the right to affect the way in which they were governed. Britain dictated the economic development of the colonies forcing them to serve as a source of raw material for the "mother country" and a market for its manufactured products.

Open warfare broke out in April 1775, and a Declaration of Independence was adopted by the colonists on July 4, 1776. Individual freedom - political, religious and economic -was so priced by these British citizens who had become American colonists that they were willing to fight a war (1775-1783) in order to establish an independent nation based upon it.

The Declaration of Independence - written at the beginning of the American Revolution in 1776 - stated that everyone should be guaranteed certain rights that a government cannot take away. They also believed that the best government is the least government, a phrase which incorporates the ideas of Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Most Americans of that time also believed that people should be able to engage in trade, produce goods and sell products and services without any governmental interference. This attitude toward economic activity was an important part of their general belief about the role of government. A group of French thinkers called physiocrats, considered that economic freedom was necessary to increase a nation's wealth, and government policy in regard to economic activity should be one of "laissez-faire" - allowing individuals (in this case - businesses) to act as they wished.

The ideas of laissez-faire applied to economics appealed greatly to Scottish economist Adam Smith. Using these ideas Smith began another kind of revolution during the period in which the American colonists were fighting their revolutionary war.

2.Пользуясь словарем уточните значение и произношение слов:

То locate, to increase, tax, source, raw, to manufacture, independence, to establish, to guarantee, interference, to occur, to apply ,to engage.

Найдите в тексте предложения с данными словами, переведите их.

3. Найдите эквиваленты слов и словосочетаний в тексте, вы­пишите их.

Путь (способ); для того, чтобы; по отношению к; в начале; в середине.

4. Прочитайте текст, ответьте на вопросы:

1. Why were the colonists dissatisfied with Great Britain's rule over the colonies?

2. When did the revolt break out?

3. How long did the war between American colonists and British troops last?

4. How did Smith's theory influence the economic thinking of the American

colonists?

4. What do you know of Thomas Jefferson?

5. Разделите текст на логические части, выделите в каждой из них ключевые предложения (содержащие основную информацию). Напи­шите краткое содержание текста.

6. Прочитайте текст. Расскажите о «невидимой руке» экономики. Озаглавьте текст.

Smith explained that the purpose of production is to satisfy consumers. In an economic system of voluntary exchange, he said, people serve the interests of consumers by following their own particular interests. They identify how best to specialize by working at jobs or owing businesses in which they can produce the most value for consumers. By making their best contributions to producing the total “economic pie”, they are likely to receive more slices in exchange. But the gains in exchange also motivate people to develop new products, start new businesses, and invent new ways of producing. Led by the “invisible hand” of the economy, said Smith, we increase the nation’s material wealth by using our individual interests, talents, and abilities to serve consumers in the market. Adam Smith had a keen eye to see how voluntary exchange could organize and coordinate people’s actions.

Contemporary economists still quote Adam Smith. In the late 1990-s U.S.Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers said, “What’s the single most important thing to learn from an economics course today? What I tried to leave my students with is the view that the invisible hand is more powerful than the hidden hand. Things will happen in well- organized efforts without direction, controls, plans”

TEXT 2. TНЕ WEALTH OF NATIOHS.

1.Прочитайте текст, расположите ниже приведённые утверждения в соответствии с развитием темы текста.

1. The selfishness of people leads to competition among them.

2. “The Wealth of Nations” is an argument in favour of economic activity of people without the interference of government.

3. The rationality of people would enrich and improve the whole of society.

4. The competition would provide more goods and lower prices.

5. The government is best suited for building roads and controlling monopolies.

In 1776, the year that Jefferson wrote the Declaration or Independence, Smith published one of the most important books in the history of economics. Most people simply call it The Wealth of Nations. (An Inquiry into the Nature and the Causes of Wealth of Nations).

Smith's book is an argument in favor of allowing people to engage in trade, manufacturing or other economic activity without unnecessary control or interference from government.

The main argument in The Wealth of Nations might be stated rather simply: people are naturally selfish. When they engage in manufacturing or trade, they do so in order to gain wealth and/or power. This process should not be interfered with because, despite the self-interest of these individuals, their activity is good for all of society. The more goods they make or trade, the more goods people will have. The more people who manufacture and trade, the greater the competition. Competition among manufacturers and merchants helps all people by providing even more goods and probably lower prices. This activity creates Jobs and spreads wealth.

Smith concluded that individuals should own private property and be allowed to engage in private economic activity. This would result in greater wealth for all.

Smith accepted the idea that there were some things the government should do. A government is best suited to build canals or roads. A government may find it necessary to put some restrictions on international trade. And, he said, the government must not allow individual businesses to act together to control the production or trade of certain goods, thus creating a monopoly. A monopoly, in Smith's opinion, could be as harmful to the general welfare as governmental control.

Smith's economic ideas fit perfectly with American ideas or a new type of government based on such individual rights as those to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. He wrote that people, though acting from the selfish desire to enrich themselves, would be led by "an invisible hand" (rationality) to enrich and improve all of society.