Астраханский государственный технический университет

Кафедра иностранных языков

Markets, prices, world trade

Методическая разработка по развитию навыков чтения и анализа профессионально ориентированных англоязычных текстов

(для студентов старших курсов экономических специальностей)

АСТРАХАНЬ – 2002

Составители: доцент кафедры «Иностранные языки»,

к.ф.н. Т.В. Дроздова,

доцент кафедры «Иностранные языки»

Н.С. Акифьева,

доцент кафедры «Иностранные языки»

Л.М. Жигульская.

Рецензент: доцент кафедры «Иностранные языки»

Г.Н. Егупова.

Методическая разработка рассмотрена и утверждена на заседании кафедры иностранных языков ___________ 2001 г.

Протокол № _____ .

PART I

MARKETS AND PRICES

TEXT I

The term market does not refer just to fishmarkets or fresh vegetable stalls or even to retail trade in general. Every good has a market in which supplies are bought and sold. There is a market for basic steel, electric power, textile, machinery, cotton cloth, dry cleaning, barber services, and every other item produced in the economy. Moreover, a product may pass through a series of markets before reaching the ultimate user. For instance, a farmer sells wheat to a miller, who sells bran to a food manufacturer, who sells bran flakes to wholesale distributors, who resell it to retail grocers, who supply consumers in the retail market.

There are also markets for the factors of production - for land, labor, and capital. In the labor market, employees deal with employers, exchanging so many hours or weeks of labor for a scertain wage.

A market is not necessarily, or even usually, a single place. Antoine Cournot, the distinguished French economist, defined a market as “the whole of any region in which buyers and sellers are in such free intercourse with one another, that the prices of the same goods tend to equality easily and quickly”. Some markets are virtually worldwide. This is true of many basic raw materials and also of securities of the U.S. government and of leading U.S. businesses. The requirements for a wide market are that the products be sufficiently standardized that it can safely be bought and sold without being seen and that its value be high relative to the cost of transporting it. Gold, precious stones, and gilt edged securities, whose value is high and transport cost low, are international commodities “par excellence”. But other staples such as copper, aluminium, rubber, coffee, cocoa, wool, and cotton also enjoy a world market.

Other markets are national in scope. Men’s and women’s clothing can be shipped anywhere in the United States at a cost that is small relative to the value of the merchandise. A clothing manufacturer, in any part of the country, then, is in direct competition with makers of similar products in other regions, This is true also of other light manufactured goods. With heavier products, having a low value per pound, shipment to distant points becomes less feasible, and the market shrinks to regional or local proportions. Each city has its own sand and gravel quarries, which do not compete with suppliers in other cities. Brick factories have a narrow market area because of the great weight and low value of their products.

Retail markets, particularly markets for groceries and other staple necessities, are centered in a single town or city. But the rise of the automobile has made retail markets larger than they used to be. An enterprising shopper will drive to an area shopping center miles front home, or even to the next town to take advantage of a difference in quality or price. The market area of each town thus interlocks with that of neighboring towns in an endless chain.

The size of the labor market depends on the level of labor in questi­on. An outstanding business executive, scientist, actor, or surgeon enjoys a national market. He or she is known throughout the country, is well informed about opportunities in other areas, and will move to another location if it offers sufficient advantage. For most manual, clerical, and subprofessional jobs, however, the locality is the relevant market area. A worker who is settled in a community and perhaps owns a home there is unlikely to know about or to be much interested in jobs in other cities. These local labor markets are linked, however, by the possibility that people might move if the wage level of City A rose much above that of City B. This possibility is sufficient to keep wage levels of nearby cities reasonably well in line with each other.

What is a competitive market? The main requirements are: many buyer and sellers, freedom to enter or leave the market at will, no collusion among buyers and sellers to control the price, and no price-fixing by government. Under these conditions, we can set up a model to predict what the marked price will be and how much will be sold at that price.

Demand is a list (or schedule) of the quantities that will be bought at various prices. In economics the term "demand" always refers to a schedule. It is not a single quantity. If we want to focus on the quantity that will be bought at some particular price, we call it the quantity demanded. The principle of demand: A consumer will purchase less of a product the price of which has risen, and more of a product the price of which has fallen, provided that his or her income and preference system remain unchanged, that the prices of all other products remain unchanged, and that present prices are expected to continue indefinitely in the future.

Supply is a list (or schedule) of the quantities that will be offered on the market at various prices. Quantity supplied is the amount that would be supplied at a particular price, at a given moment of time. Equilibrium quantity is the quantity demanded and supplied in a market at the equilibrium price (price at which quantity demanded and supplied are equal). The demand-supply model rests on the idea that two kinds of pressure are at work in a market.

Task 1. Find the correct translation of the words and word combinations:

A. 1. term 2. retail trade 3. item 4. ultimate user 5. wholesale distributor 6. consumer 7. retail market 8. employee 9. at will 10. wage 11. intercourse 12. worldwide 13. securities 14. requirements 15. value 16. gilt-edged securities 17. commodities par excellence 18. merchandize 19. competition 20. maker 21. manufactured goods 22. grocery 23. staple necessities 24. enterprising shopper 25. labor market 26. subprofessional job 27. in line with 28. employers 29. schedule 30. purchase

B. 1. ценные бумаги 2. товары высокого качества 3. зарплата 4. термин 5. по желанию 6. работодатель 7. рынок труда 8. схема 9. бакалея 10. товар, изделие 11. конкуренция 12. промышленные товары 13. предметы первой необходимости 4. стоимость 15. работники 16. потребитель 17. требования 18. изготовитель 19. связь 20. оптовый дистрибьютор 21. розничная торговля 22. покупать 23. розничный рынок 24. конечный потребитель 25. мировой 26. надежные ценные бумаги 27. товар 28. предприимчивый покупатель 29. нeквалифицированная работа 30. соответствовать.

Task 2. Ask each other questions on the contents of the text and answer them.

MARKETS AND PRICES