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PAGE 14
Х.Ф. МАКАЕВ
20 УСТНЫХ ТЕМ ПО
АНГЛИЙСКОМУ ЯЗЫКУ
ББК 81.2 Англ.
М.
Макаев Х.Ф. 20 устных тем по английскому языку. Для студентов дневных и вечерних отделений: Учебное пособие. – Уфа: Изд-во УГНТУ, 2007. – с.
Это учебное пособие, написанное в соответствии с Государственными образовательными стандартами высшего профессионального образования, может использоваться для самостоятельной подготовки студентов к аудиторным беседам, устным сообщениям и докладам, к экзаменам, а также к поступлению в высшие учебные заведения.
ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ
Учебное пособие представляет собой подборку 20-ти текстов на английском языке. Каждый текст посвящён определённой теме.
Оно предназначено для студентов и преподавателей высших технических учебных заведений и ориентировано на систематизацию знаний по наиболее важным устным темам. Содержание языкового материала способствует развитию навыков устной речи. Информативная насыщенность текстов расширяет кругозор студентов и углубляет их знания по будущей профессии, специальности, географии, менеджменту и т.д.
В конце каждого текста имеется словарь, содержащий подлежащую заучиванию наизусть лексику. Наиболее употребительные слова и выражения снабжены переводом и комментарием.
Предлагаемое пособие может быть использовано для аудиторной работы, самостоятельных занятий студентов и подготовки к выпускным и вступительным экзаменам.
Как работать с учебным пособием
1. LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF
Hello, friends. Let me first introduce1 myself. My name is …. My surname or last name is …. I was born on the 13th of October in Sochi, Krasnodarsky Krai. This is the most beautiful city in Russia situated on the Black Sea coast2. Now I am a first-year student3 at the Faculty of Automation (Machines and Apparatus, Chemical Technology, Environmental Protection) of Ufa State Petroleum Technical University.
Now let me describe my appearance4. I am tall and slim5 and have fair hair and blue eyes. My friends say that I am pretty. I love sports and music. I was very serious about a career in gymnastics6 when I was in the 4th form. But then I broke my arm7 and doctors didn't let me to go in for gymnastics. I love to listen to the modern music and dance. I dance a lot and I hope I am good at it. I also love swimming. I always swim in the Black sea when I visit my parents, my dear family.
I would like to tell you about my family. There are five people in our family. My father's name is … . He is a mathematician8 by education but works at a bank now. My mother's name is … . She works as an chief accountant9 at the hotel «Zhemchuzhina». She also has much work about the house after she gets home from work. But my sister and I always help her. Yes, let me introduce my younger sister. She is still a pupil. Her name is … and she is in the fifth form. She is very pretty and a great dancer. We are good friends with my sister. My grandmother, my mother's mother, lives with us. She is very kind10 and helps us a lot.
Our family is very friendly, we have many friends. In summer many relatives come to visit us. And of course they use a chance to spend several11 weeks in beautiful Sochi.
In May I have finished school No 5 in Sochi. I did well12 in all the subjects but my favourite subjects at school were Computer Science\and English. I also enjoyed Geography lessons.
I am very interested in learning English because I always wanted to become an economist or a manager at some joint venture13. That is why I think it is necessary to know at least one foreign language. Besides, knowledge of foreign languages helps in everyday life.
As you see, my biography isn't very long yet. But we'll meet again in the next lesson and tell you more about myself. See you later...
VOCABULARY
1) introduce — представлять, знакомить
2) Black Sea coast — побережье Черного моря
3) a first-year student — студент (-ка) первого курса
4) appearance — внешность
5) slim — стройная
6) gymnastics — гимна стика
7) broke my arm — сломала руку
8) mathematician - математик
9) chief accountant — главный бухгалтер
10) kind — добрая
11) several — несколько
12) to do well — зд. успевать
13) joint venture — совместное предприя тие
Add to your active vocabulary
(Пополни свой активный словарь)
1) all - высокий
2) short — маленького роста
3) stout — приземистый, коренастый
4) slim — стройный
5) fat — толстый
6) plumper — полный
7) fair hair — светлые волосы
8) blonde — блондин (-ка)
9) brunette — брюнет (-ка)
10) gray hair - седые волосы
11) bold headed - лысый
12) short sighted — близорукий
13) smart, clever, right — умный (-ая)
14) stupid— тупой, глупый
15) boring — скучный (ая)
16) fun to be with — веселый человек
17) easy to go along — легкий в общении
18) quiet — спокойный
19) impulsive — порывис тый, импульсивный
20) aggressive — агрессивный
21) rude — невежливый, грубый
22) shy, confused — зас тенчивый
23) active — активный
24) talkative — разговорчивый
25) enthusiastic — энтузи аст, затейни
Spoken etiquette
1) How do you do! — Здравствуйте. (Как ваши дела?)
2) Good morning/good afternoon/good evening — Доброе утро/день/вечер
3) May t introduce myself. (Let me introduce myself.) My name is ... —Позвольте представиться. Меня зовут...
4) Let me introduce you to ... — Позвольте Вам представить ...
5) I'd like you to meet... — Я бы хотел (а) Познакомить Вас с ...
6) Pleased to meet you, (it is very nice to meet you) — Приятно с Вами познакомиться.
Informal
1) Hello! Hi! - Привет!
2) How are you? / How are yon doing? / How is it going? — Как дела? Как поживаешь?
3) Hi! What's up? — Здорово! Что новенького?
Please, introduce yourself. The questions below will certainly help you:
1. What is your name?
2. Where and when were you born?
3. How old are you?
4. Have you got a family?
5. How many people are there in your family?
6. Do you have brothers, sisters and grand parents in your family?
7. Where do you live?
8. Did you study well at school?
9. What school did you finish?
10. Did your teacher of English help you to choose your future profession?
11. What was your favourite subject?
12. What do you like to read?
13. What sport do you go in for?
14. What are you going to be?
15. Do you still live with your parents?
16. Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?
For Supplementary Reading
In all times etiquette of speech and rules of the behaviour were of great importance. Forms of greeting play great role in our life. The situations "Addressing", "Greeting" and "Farewell" are one of the most important signs of the speech etiquette. With their help contact of communicating is fixed and is terminated, relations are defined between them. So not to know forms of greetings, farewells and wishing means not to know how to communicate.
The main function of greeting is an expression of politeness. From ancient times people render to each other special respect by means of greeting. Forms of greeting are different in different countries. But by all varieties of greetings international etiquette in its base is the same: people, while meeting, want to each other good and wellfares, health, success in labour, good morning, day or evening. The simple gesture, light smiles express respect fullness and esteem.
I would like to tell it is necessary to know how to introduce and bid farewell in English correctly. Since school years we have been taught how to introduce and bid farewell properly. Greeting and address will assign the tone to the whole talk. Greeting is chosen according to the social role of the participants of the conversation. Of great Importance here is also the situation of the contact.
We greet in English like this: Greetings! I'm happy to welcome you! Allow me to welcome you! Welcome! Good morning! Morning! / Good evening! Evening! Good afternoon! Hi! Hello! Hallo! Hello there! Hello everybody! Hullo! Hey! Bon appetite! How do you do? Haven't seen you for ages, etc. "How do you do". Is a greeting usually used at the first acquaintance, introducing and has an official nature. In response to "How do you do" an introduced person answers "How do you do" . The one who presents must report something about the introduced person. At present more relaxed forms of greeting are used. For example:
Pete: Good morning! My name's Pete. I'm here to see Ann.
Kate: Ah, yes! One moment, please.
Kate: Hello. Ann, Pete is in reception.
Ann: Are you Pete? I'm Ann. How do you do?
Pete: How do you do? Glad to meet you.
When parting such greetings as "Goodbye!" "Bye - bye!" "So long!" "See you tomorrow!" "See you later!" "Take care!" "See you!" "Have a good time!" "See you in London!" "I'll meet you at 3 on Monday/later!" "Bye for now!" "I must be off!" "Keep in touch!" are used.
For example:
Pete: So sorry I must be going. I've got an appointment for five.
Ann: My best regards to your wife.
Pete: Thank you. Good - bye.
Ann: Good - bye.
In true to life situations such types of greeting are used like: Good night! Sleep well! Stay healthy! Have a nice trip! Enjoy staying! Relax and enjoy! All the best! Good luck! Good bless you! Happy landing!
For example:
Pete: Are you flying to Florida?
Ann: We are.
Pete: Happy landing!
Ann: Thank you.
Pete: Have a nice holiday!
People greet each other on holidays, celebrations with Happy birthday! Have a nice day! Happy New Year! Merry Christmas! Welcome! etc.
Often greetings emerge as a kind of address.
To young people such addresses like: Young man! (by the conversation between a father and his son); Youth! Hey, you there! Hey there! (by the conversation between a professor and a student); Young woman! (by the conversation between parents with their daughter); Friend! Mate! Chum! Pal! Buddy! (between friends).
For example:
Pete: If it isn't John!
John: Fancy meeting you here!
Pete: How are you?
John: Very well, thank you. And you?
Pete: So, so.
Situations of the introducing yourself on telephone. In response to a bell – the first remark of the person who holds the tube can be as following: Hello, Cook's residence. Glenna speaking.
If you (Neil) hear an unacquainted voice: Hello, who is this? - you should politely answer:
Neil: This is Neil.
Pete: To whom would you like to speak?
Neil: Or I'm sorry, to whom I speaking?
If your friend of childhood rings you, he should simply say: Hello! Stas, is that you? Your answer may be: Oh! Yes.
The most using forms of the greeting are: Hi! Hello! How do! What's up? Hey! pointing to the relaxed nature of the contact.
2. THE UNIVERSITY I STUDY AT
The petroleum university is one of the leading1 higher schools on training of
scientifically pedagogical staff for profile higher schools of Russia. It trains specialists for oil-and-gas and building complexes. In postgraduate study2 they train specialists of the top skills on 27, and in doctoral studies3 - on 5 scientific directions.
225 persons study in postgraduate, and 22 persons are trained in doctoral studies. More than 100 professors of the university carried out the scientific management4 of post-graduate students and doctors. In 1996 the first eight graduates defended their theses. Basically these are young people in the age not older than thirty - the future professors and heads of the faculties of the university.
Eight specialized councils5 on awarding of scientific degrees of candidate and doctor of sciences6 work at the university. For the years of the existence of the university 140 doctor's and 1150 master's theses were defended at this council. Curriculums7 according to standard specialties are successfully improved. Except for the traditional five years' program, training of specialist is carried out on multilevel system (the bachelor - the expert - the master).
Educational process at all grade levels undergoes great changes8. The wide development is received by modern information and computer technologies.
One of the major fields of activity of the higher school in modern conditions is its international cooperation in the fields of science and education with foreign universities and organizations. Today at the university more than 150 foreign students from 24 countries of the world are trained.
In recent years there were made more than 17 agreements with educational and scientific institutions of France, England, Canada, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, China and other countries. They are successfully realized.
Groups of post-graduate students and doctors take annual training9 in the French institute of petroleum, at the University of the city of Mishkoltz (Hungary) and at the Gorny institute of Austria and in other countries. For the first time10 in 1996 24 teachers of the USPTU after having trained at the Huyron university (England) have received international certificates giving them right to teach their specialty in English.
Post-graduate students and teachers of the university take part in international conferences with reports, participate in exhibitions and read lectures at foreign universities.
The Ufa State Petroleum Technical University is a component of the uniform educational space11 of the Russian Federation and participates in integrational processes with reports, participate in exhibitions and read lectures at foreign universities.
The Ufa State Petroleum Technical University is a component of the uniform educational space of the Russian Federation, and participates in the integrational processes with the thermal power stations of the Russian Federation and the republic Bashkortostan, carries out a united scientific and technical, educational -methodical, industrial and financial politics for the decision of problems facing12 them.
VOCABULARY
1) leading – ведущий
2) postgraduate study – аспирантура
3) doctoral studies – докторантура
4) scientific management – научное управление
5) a specialized council – специализированный совет
6) to award a scientific degree of candidate and doctor of sciences – присуждать научную степень кандидата и доктора наук
7) curriculum – учебная программа
8) to undergo great changes –подвергаться большим изменениям
9) annual training – ежегодная подготовка
10) for the first time – впервые
11) uniform educational space – единое образовательное пространство
12) problems facing smb. – проблемы, стоящие перед кем-либо
3. THE ROLE OF EDUCATION FOR MODERN YOUTH
Education is very important for youth today. It helps young people realize their possibilities1 in future. It helps find job, do the job well.
People in Russia can get education at different institutions2. They are3 schools, professional schools, technical schools and higher schools. There are a few types of higher schools in our country. They are universities, institutes and academies. They train specialists in the natural and exact sciences and the humanities4. There are specialized higher schools training engineers, doctors, teachers, etc.
Today a student must assimilate5 large amounts of new information. It is growing all the time. So the main task of higher education is to teach students to gain the new information by self-training6.
Study rooms are now equipped with TV sets, computers, video tape-recorders, etc. Lectures and seminars alternate with laboratory work, discussions, research work and self-training.
A large part of study time is devoted to7 basic subjects. This enables8 future specialists to attain9 greater professional knowledge and assimilate more modern methods of scientific research, advanced production technology, its organisation and management. This provides a basis for10 the study of special subjects and the organisation of practise.
Great is the role of books in the education. It is practically impossible today to imagine our life without books. You can find them in every house. But very seldom people think about a long way the book has come. At first man learned to draw pictures, then letters and alphabetic writing appeared. For a long time people used papyrus11 and skins of different animals to write on. Then the Chinese invented paper.
At that time there were not so many books as there are now. All the books were written by hand with pen and ink. Monks12 did the most of this writing. Some of the books were very beautiful. But it took much time to write a book. Often many years were spent to make one copy of a book. This made books very expensive. Most people had no books at all and those who had twenty books were considered to be very rich.
At last13 men learned how to print14. It happened in Germany in the middle of the fifteenth century. The man who invented the art of printing15 in Rus sia was Ivan Fedorov. He started his work in Mos cow, and then moved to other cities. In 1574 he printed the first Azbuka (ABC). This book helped people to learn the alphabet and taught them to read.
Now we find it hard to imagine17 the bookless world of the past. Books are printed in great number16 all over the world and every person can enjoy their wisdom18.
VOCABULARY
1) realize one’s possibilities – реализовать чьи-то возможности
2) an institution – учебное заведение
3) They are … - зд. Это …
4) the natural and exact sciences and the humanities – естественно-научные, точные и гуманитарные науки
5) assimilate – усваивать
6) to gain the new information by self-training – приобретать новую информацию самоподготовкой
7) to devote to – посвящать
8) to enable – давать возможность, позволять
9) to attain – достигать
10) to provide a basis for – обеспечить основой для
11) papyrus - папирус
12) monks – монарх
13) at last – наконец
14) to print - печатать
15) the art of printing - искусство книгопечатания
16) in great number - в большом количестве
17) to imagine – представить, вообразить
18) wisdom - мудрость
4. MY MOTHERLAND
THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world. It occupies about one-seventh of the earth surface. It covers the eastern part of Europe and the northern part of Asia. Its total area1 is about 17 million square kilometers. 12 seas and 3 oceans wash the country: the Pacific, the Arctic7 and the Atlantic8. In the south Russia bor ders on China9, Mongolia10, Korea11, Kazakhstan12, Georgia13 and Azerbaijan14. In the west it borders on Norway15, Finland16, the Baltic States17, Byelorussia, the Ukraine18. It also has a sea border with the USA.
There is hardly2 a country in the world where such a variety of scenery and vegetation can be found: steppes3 in the south, plains4 and forests in the midland, tundra and taiga in the north, high lands and deserts in the east.
There are two Great Plains in Russia: the Great Russian Plain and the West Siberian Lowland5. There are several mountain chains on the territory of the country: the Urals19, the Caucasus20, the Altai21 and the others. The largest mountain chain, the Urals, separates Europe from Asia.
There are over two million rivers in Russia. The longest river in Europe, the Volga, flows into the Caspian Sea22. The main rivers the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena flow from the south to the north. The Amur23 in the Far East flows into the Pa cific Ocean6.
Russia is rich in beautiful lakes. The world's deepest lake (1600 meters) is Lake Baikal24. It is much smaller than the Baltic Sea but there is much more water in it than in the Baltic Sea. The water in the lake is very clear.
Russia has one-sixth of the world's forests. They are concentrated in the European north of the country, in Siberia and in the Far East.
There are various types of climate, from arctic in the north to subtropical in the south on the vast territory of the country. In the middle of the coun try the climate is moderate25 and continental.
Russia is very rich in oil26, coal27, iron ore28, natu ral gas, copper29, nickel30 and other mineral re sources.
Russia is a parliamentary republic. The Head of State is the President. The legislative powers31 are exercised32 by the Duma.
The capital of Russia is Moscow. It is the larg est political, scientific, cultural and industrial cen tre. It is one of the oldest Russian cities.
At present, the political and economic situation in the country is rather complicated, there are a lot of problems in the national economy of the Rus sian Federation. The industrial production is de creasing33. The prices are constantly rising, the rate of inflation is very high. People are losing their jobs because many factories and plants are going bankrupt34.
But in spite of the problems Russia is facing at present, there are a lot of opportunities for this country to become one of the leading countries in the world again.
VOCABULARY
1) Total area - общая площадь
2) Hardly - едва
3) Steppe - степь
4) Plain - равнина
5) Lowland - низменность
6) The Pacific Ocean - Тихий океан
7) The Arctic Ocean - Северный Ледовитый океан
8) The Atlantic Ocean - Атлантический океан
9) China - Китай
10) Mongolia - Монголия
11) Korea - Корея
12) Kazakhstan - Казахстан
13) Georgia - Грузия
14) Azerbaijan - Азербайджан
15) Norway - Норвегия
16) Finland - Финляндия
17) The Baltic States - Прибалтийские государства
18) Ukraine - Украина
19) The Urals - Урал
20) The Caucasus - Кавказ
21) The Altai - Алтай
22) The Caspian Sea - Каспийское море
23) The Amur - Амур
24) The Baikal - Байкал
25) Moderate - умеренный
26) Oil - нефть
27) Coal - уголь
28) Iron ore - железная руда
29) Copper - медь
30) Nickel - никель
31) Legislative power - законодательная власть
32) To exercise - выполнять
33) To decrease - снижаться
34) to go bankrupt - обанкротиться
BASHKORTOSTAN
The Republic of Bashkortostan is a sovereign republic within the Russian Federation.
It is located along the South Urals. Its territory is 143.600 square kilometers. The population is over 4 million people. About a hundred nationalities inhabit1 the Republic.
From the point of natural conditions2 Bashkortostan can be divided into three parts: western, mountains and Bashkir Trans-Urals3. The climate is continental with moderately warm, sometimes hot summers and cold winter.
More than 600 rivers and 800 lakes trim4 the beauty of the Republic's nature. Many of the rivers, including the Ural and the Agidel, belong to the Caspian Sea basin5.
Bashkortostan is rich in forests. The Republic accounts6 nearly all lime-tree7 forests of Russians. It is the lime-tree that makes Bashkir honey world-famous.
The mineral riches of Bashkortostan include iron ore8, copper, gold, zinc, aluminum, chromium, brown coal, natural gas, salt, manganese9, gypsum, lime-stone10 and many other deposits.
Oil is the main mineral resource of the land. Oil-related industries11 - power generation12, oil refining, chemical, gas and petrochemical have become most prominent13. The convenient geographical location promotes the development of manufacturing and agribusiness. Bashkortostan ranks14 second among the Ural regions as regards15 its manufacturing potential.
The Republic of Bashkortostan offers extensive facilities for exports and import of raw materials, fuel and manufactured item, maintaining trade and business ties with both the West and the East.
The BAL (Bashkir Airlines) carrier connects Ufa with the largest cities in Russia, the post-Soviet republics and abroad.
VOCABULARY
1) to inhabit – населять
2) from the point of natural conditions – c точки зрения природных условий
3) Bashkir Trans-Urals – Башкирское Зауралье
4) to trim – украшать
5) a basin – бассейн
6) to account – рассматривать (-ся), считать (-ся)
7) a lime-tree – липа
8) iron ore – железная руда
9) manganese – марганец
10) lime-stone – известняк
11) oil-related industries – относящиеся к нефти
12) power generation – энергетическая
13) prominent – известный, видный
14) rank – занимать какое-либо место
15) as regards – что касается, относительно
MY NATIVE TOWN STERLITAMAK
I live in Russia, in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Our Republic is located1 along the South Urals, forming a natural border between Europe and Asia. There are over 20 cities and towns in the Republic. Sterlitamak is the second largest city of Bashkortostan after Ufa. It was founded in 1766. It stands on the banks of the rivers Sterlya, Belaya, Ashkadar. More than 260 thousand people live there.
Sterlitamak is the main industrial and cultural centre. It is the major centre of chemical industry not only of the Republic of Bashkortostan, but of the whole of Russia.
More than 50 thousand employees2 engage at 500 industries and construction sites.
The largest factories are: the "Soda" Joint-Stock Company3, the Petrochemical Plant Joint-Stock Company, the" Kaustik" Joint-Stock Company, and the «Avangard» Joint-Stock Company, the"Kauchuk" Joint-Stock Company.
Machine building4 also remains the main branch of industry. The "Machine-tool Building Factory" Joint-Stock Company produces not only machines, but quite a lot of consumer goods5.
The "Inmash" Concern is known as the "factory of the future". It produces industrial robots, woods-cutting machines6, shoe-making machines7, mini-motors and other machines.
There is also the Leather-Processing Plant8, the Foot - wear factory9, the Garment Factory10, the Food industry11 companies.
Sterlitamak can be called a city of students. There are 9 industrial vocational schools12, 8 secondary specialized educational institutions, the Pedagogical Institute, the branch of the Ufa State Oil Technical University, the Sterlitamak Law Department of the Bashkir State University, the branch of All-Russia Financial Institute.
Sterlitamak is a city of Sports.
Sportsmen and sport fans can make use13 of 4 stadiums, 2 Physical Culture Houses with swimming pools, a ski-jump, gym halls, the city chess and draughts club14, physical-training and fitness centres, the city tourist centre, numerous sport grounds, three children's and teenager's sport schools. There is a Physical Training College.
Sterlitamak is a big cultural centre. There are some theaters there: the Russian Drama Theatre, the Bashkir Theatre, the Dance Theatre, the Bashkir-Tatar Philharmonic Society.
There are some museums, cinema-theatres, the Park of Culture and Recreation, three Culture Palaces, the Republican Culture College.
The city becomes cleaner and more beautiful and very attractive.
I like my native town very much.
VOCABULARY
1) to be located – быть расположенным
2) an employee – служащий
3) Joint-Stock Company – акционерное общество
4) machine building – машиностроение
5) consumer goods – товары широкого потребления
6) woods-cutting machines - деревообрабатывающий
7) shoe-making machines – машины для производства обуви
8) Leather-Processing Plant – кожевенный завод
9) the Foot - wear factory – обувная фабрика
10) the Garment Factory – фабрика для шитья одежды
11) the Food industry - пищевая промышленность
12) vocational school – профессиональная школа
13) to make use of – пользоваться
14) a draughts club – шашечный клуб
5. OUR DUTIES IN THE HOUSE
Our family is not very big. We are only four. My Mum works as a teacher and very often she feels tired. So we usually help her about the house.
Everybody in the family has duties. My Dad goes shopping and cleans the carpets. I tidy my room, wash up and sweep the floor. Sometimes I make tea or coffee for breakfast.
My Mum cooks dinner and lays the table. As you see we are a friendly family and we are ready to help each other.
I would like to say a few words about children’s duties at home. If we want to please our parents, to make them happy, (not to upset them) we must perform our most common household chores1. If we do it, the house will look tidy2, clean, neat3 and shiny4. The atmosphere in the house will be friendly and we will give more time to each other, to our hobbies. It will help us to have enough time to go to the pictures (movies) and theatre, to visit the Zoo or the circus, to read interesting books.
Boys and girls have different duties at home. As for boys5, they help their fathers, elder brothers or Grandfathers to repair6 their family car, their flat, broken furniture, to fix simple electric appli ances7, such as TV or radio sets, clocks or watches, irons or vacuum cleaners. They can use different tools such as a hammer8, a screw-driver9, a hack saw10, a plane11, a drill12, an axe13, scissors and a sol dering-iron14.
As for girls they have many duties at home as well. They put rubbish into a trashcan and empty it, wash the cutlery15 and the dishes. They must help their Mothers and Grandmothers to lay and clear the table and to serve meals16. They learn how to work with needles, threads17 and scissors.
In our family Mother keeps the house. It takes her a lot of time, but all the members of our family try to help her and share the duties18.
We have a lot of work to do at home. It is nec essary to cook meals, to tidy all the rooms, to do the laundry20, to wash up21 and to take away rubbish22 out of a trashcan.
It is very important to keep the house clean and tidy, so we must clean all the rooms regularly. If the room is messy (there is a mess23 in the room), you must fold your clothes19 and put it into the wardrobe, then find the right place for every thing. After that water the flowers, dust and polish the furniture, water the carpets, sweep and wash (clean) the floor. Then you can enjoy your room.
Some people; say that washing up isn't pleasant (boring) because you have to wash dirty dishes. Others like it. But washing up is a necessary do mestic duty and we wash up after each meal.
First we must clear the table and pile24 every thing tidily near the sink. Then you take a dish -cloth and wash glasses, cups, knives, forks, spoons, plates and other dishes. You must, of course, have a lot of hot water and some detergent25; after that you take a tea- towel and wipe every thing. If you have a plate-rack, you can p«t the plates and cups in the rack to dry.
Everybody knows how pleasant it is to have clean clothes and clean bed linen. The family washing is one of the most important duties. Small things can be nicely washed in soapy water, but most people today use detergents.
Many families do all the laundry at home. They have modern washing machines and say that this work is not very difficult. They do one big wash ing every week26 when bed linen27 and towels are washed. If there is a big yard with wash-lines and it is a fine day, it is good to hang wet clothes and linen out in the fresh air and sunshine. They smell so pleasant when they are dry.
But if you don't like to wash things at home by hand28 or with the help of the washing machine, you can take your washing to a public laundry and fetch29 it as soon as it is ready. Everything will be washed, pressed and your time will be saved.
VOCABULARY
1) household chores - домашние обязанности
2) tidy – опрятный, аккуратный
3) neat – приятный
4) shiny - блестящий
5) as for boys – что касается мальчиков
6) to repair - ремонтировать
7) to fix an electric appliance - установить элек троприбор
8) a hammer - молоток
9) a screw-driver - отвертка
10) a hacksaw – пила
11) a plane - рубанок
12) a drill -дрель
13) an axe - топор
14) a soldering-iron -паяльник
15) cutlery - столовые приборы
16) to serve meals - подавать еду
17) threads - нитки
18) to share the duties - разделять обязанности
19) to fold the clothes - свернуть одежду
20) to do the laundry – стирать бельё
21) to wash up - мыть посуду
22) to take away rubbish – выкидывать мусор
23) mess - беспорядок
24) to pile - складывать
25) detergent- моющее средство
26) to do one’s washing a week - стирать раз в неделю
27) bed linen – постельное бельё
28) to wash by hand - стирать вручную
29) fetch - забирать
6. FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN THE LIFE OF AN ENGINEER
You can't imagine an educated person who doesn't know any foreign language. It is especially important nowadays. Some people learn languages because they need them in their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying languages is a hobby.
Every year thousands of people go from one country to another either on business or for pleas ure. And the knowledge of languages opens the door to any foreign country and gives them a pos sibility to communicate, to understand people and to be understood.
A real professional cannot do without knowing languages, especially English as it is international language. You don't need to know Japanese when you go to Japan or Hindi when you visit India. English is spoken all over the world. You can hear it everywhere: in a street, in shops, at restaurants.
A modern engineer or even a worker deals with instruments and machines from other coun tries. He must be able to read the instruction which is usually written in English.
Scientists and scholars must understand English well because they use foreign literature to write their articles and books. They must speak English fluently to make speeches at international confer ences.
Diplomats need foreign languages in their work too. They make contracts, conclude treaties, hold negotiations.
If you want to be a stewardess, a pilot or a businessman you must learn English, the lan guage of international communication. Even a shopgirl or a cashier in a big department store must know at least some phrases in English to un derstand a foreign customer.
Foreign languages develop our mind. They help us to get acquainted with new customs and traditions, make it possible to read many books in the original.
Besides, languages are very helpful in estab lishing friendly relations between peoples and nations. Children and young people will under stand each other better if they speak one language.
That's why all the pupils should master English or other foreign languages to become a top spe cialist in any branch.
to do without - обойтись
to deal with - иметь дело с...
to make contract - заключить контракт
to conclude treaties - заключать договоры
to hold negotiations - вести переговоры
at least - по меньшей мере
7. PROBLEMS OF THE YOUTH
Youth is the time when a person is trying to find his place in the world. And during this search he or she comes across different problems, which are as important as those of the adults. The youth of the twenty first century face almost the same problems, which were acute to their parents when they were young.
One of them is a generation gap. Every generation is unique in its experience. It has its own ideals and a system of values concerning every aspect of human life. Adults always complain that the young are not what they were. These words are repeated from generation to generation.
Undoubtedly it is correct. In fact today the young are better educated. They grow up more quickly. They derive joy from more freedom. At present the young do not blindly accept the ideals of their parents. For them everything that the adults bear in mind is past history. And this is inevitable, because different generations take different directions.
Moreover, the young look forward and the old people look backward. The adults always teach the young how to live. They apply old standards to the new way of life. The past is hanging over them preventing them from appreciating the things around them anew. The young think that the adults have lost touch with everything that is important in life.
They are right, because what is important to the adults is the past. The young know what they want. They prefer to make their own mistakes rather than to listen to the warnings of the adults. The past exists to help the young to avoid unnecessary blurs. But they do want to have them. The young want to live their own life. They want to overcome their own difficulties without turning back. Unfortunately the life of the young is frequently determined by the adults. The adults start the war but the young die in it. The young and adults have different points of view concerning everything. And it generates the conflict of the generations.
In the 19th century Ivan Turgenev in his novel «Fathers and Sons» perfectly illustrated the eternal problem of fathers and children's misunderstanding. I think that parents will never understand their children. Every new generation is different from the one that preceded it. Today the differences are especially considerable. The adults always believe that they know best only because they have been around a bit longer. They don’t want their values to be doubted. The young on the other hand are questioning the assumptions of the adults; they suspect that the world created by their predecessors was not the best one.
It is known far and wide that the clash of tastes and value between generations occurs in the main in highly developed countries. Occasionally it was sharp, especially in the 1960s and 70s in Western Europe and the USA.
I think that the only way to solve this insoluble problem both the young and adults should be tolerant and patient. Despite our generation differences there are no clashes of values in our family and my parents are my best friends. They always help me, console me, and try to help me to solve my problems.
Another problem of the youth is the relationship of the young people with their friends and beloved. I believe in male friendship, and I doubt that there can be any real female friendship.
I think it is impossible to have a lot of friends. A person can be on good terms with his or her classmates, but have only one or two real friends. I believe that real friends will never betray each other. They will always understand and help each other. It is true that tolerance is the pledge of friendship. It is wonderful if your school friend will remain your friend for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, when one enters a university, school friends are often replaced by the new ones.
The problem of love is very important for the young. Today the young fall in love when they reach the age of Romeo and Juliet. Romanticism and idealism very often accompany the love of the young. Their belief in eternal love can end dramatically. Today nobody doubts about the depth of his or her passion. It is regrettable, but the young are not always ready to have stable relations. For a happy family life two people must understand and respect each other.
It should be said that the young have other problems as well. They are concerned with education, money, employment, and hobby, spending their free time, communication, and the like. And of course one of the most urgent problems is the accommodations problem. Few young people in our country have their own apartments. In the main they share the apartments with their parents even after getting married.
VOCABULARY
comes across – наталкиваться
face – сталкиваться
to be acute to – быть острым (о проблемах)
generation gap – разногласия между поколениями
a system of values concerning – система ценностей, касающаяся
adults - взрослые
undoubtedly – несомненно, бесспорно
to derive joy – получать радость
blindly accept – слепо принимать
to bear in mind – помнить что-н., иметь что-н. ввиду
inevitable – неизбежный
anew – заново
to lose touch – терять связь
unnecessary blurs – ненужные воспоминания
to overcome – преодолеть
an assumption – предположение
the clash of tastes and value – совпадение вкусов и ценностей
occasionally – время от времени, изредка
despite – несмотря на
to console – утешать
to be on good terms with smb. – поддерживать хорошие отношения с кем-л.
to betray – предавать
(pledge) of friendship – (обязательство) гарантия дружбы
passion – страсть
regrettable – прискорбный, достойный сожаления
accommodations problems – проблемы жилья
For Supplementary Reading
There are many young people in our country. Each of them has his own viewpoint on the life and the future. There are many problems, which are common for all young people. For example: how to spend their free time, what to do after school, choosing a profession, how to deal with girl and boy friends and so on.
The problem number one of most of the young people is the problem of fathers and sons. All young people want to be independent, they want their parents to listen to their opinion, not to interfere in their private life. Some parents neglect their children, because they can ‘t find a common language with each other.
Many problems were hushed up, but now we can speak openly about them. I think that the most difficult and serious problem of modern teen-ages is drug-habit. Some young man use drugs, because they think that will be cool guys. But they don't understand, that it's wrong. Some of them can't stop that, and they become dependent on drugs. And they commit different serious, because they need some money to buy drugs. There are also many other problems: alchoholism, smoking and so on.
There are many youth organizations in our country, which unite young men on different principles. Members of every organization have their own world out looks. Each of them has their own moral qualities. There are some informal organizations, for example: skinheads, hippies, panks and so on. Now there exists the problem of misunderstanding between different youth groups.
We also face the problem how to spend our free time. We can do it in different ways. Some of teen-ages spend their free time in different nightclubs. Other young people spend their free time in the streets.
As for me, I spend my free time at home or in the nightclubs. I also have some problems with my parents. But every time then I have them I try to solve them without quarrel.
Now we are young people and we are the future of our country. Teen-ages play an important role in the modern society. Grown ups must remember that we are the future of our country and in present moment our character is formed and that's why our parents must not assert pressure on us.
One more problem is the problem of unemployment. People of almost every age are susceptible to this perniсious disease but it hits the youth the hardest. The present-age of unemployed youth in the total number of the jobless is high. In many developing countries the situation is more serious. Many young people commit suicide. Unless the economic situation in the world changes, youth unemployment will mount. These predictions refer to all categories of workers with high and low skills in town and country. For all there possible distinctions, these young people over outside the production structure of society. They are deprived of the possibility of creating. There are "surplus" from time to time. Some may get a hit of luck, but the lot of the majority is to feel their helplessness to lose their ideals and become disillusioned. Unemployment greatly influences the tendency among the youth towards drug education, frustration and crime. This is a time bomb and is a heavy accusation of any social economic system.
VOCABULARY
to have a viewpoint on the life – иметь точку зрения на жизнь
to be common for – быть общим для
to deal with smb. – иметь отношение к кому-л.
to be independent – быть независимым
to listen to smb’s opinion – прислушиваться к чьему-л. мнению
to interfere in smb’s life – вмешиваться в чью-л. жизнь
to neglect – пренебрегать
to hush up – замять (дело), замалчивать
drug habit – наркомания
to become dependent on drugs – стать зависимым от наркотиков
to commit crimes – совершать преступления
to face a problem – сталкиваться с проблемой
misunderstanding – непонимание
as for me – что касается меня
a quarrel – ссора
grown ups – взрослые
to assert one’s rights – отстаивать чьи-л. права
unemployment – безработици
to be susceptible to – быть подверженным чему-л.
pernicious – вредный, пагубный
a desease – болезнь
to hit smb. the hardest – ударить кого-л. самым сильным образом
to commit suicide – покончить жизнь самоубийством
to mount – подниматься, увеличиваться
a prediction – предположение
to be deprived of – быть лишённым чего-л.
disillusion – разочарование, разочаровывать
frustration – расстройство (планов), крушение (надежд)
an accusation of – обвинение чего-л., кого-л.
8. SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS
As the form of public consciousness a science is system of knowledge of the person about a nature, a society and thinking. She reflects the world in concepts, categories, laws, correctness which validity is checked by practice.
The modern science as a whole represents set of the various private sciences studying certain areas of the validity. In this variety of sciences it is necessary to distinguish sciences public - a history, political economy, philosophy, an aesthetics etc. also natural - the mechanics, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and others. Distinctive feature of development of a modern science is progressing process of differentiation - partitions, crushing of traditional sciences on all new and new branches and directions. For example, from there is uniform science about alive organisms - to biology - the genetics, ecology, the evolutionary theory, microbiology, physiology and others were allocated.
Process of differentiation is inextricably related with integration - association of sciences, occurrence of the new scientific disciplines synthesizing in of achievement two and more, before known. The deepest opening presently are made more often on "joints" of sciences, in they’re interlacing.
Historically the science has arisen from practice and develops on her basis. The science has own sources, internal logic of development, however the main engines of her development are public needs, needs of production of goods. Already in a primitive society, extracting it of means to life, the person collided with forces of a nature and received about them the very first, while a superficial knowledge. This knowledge had ordinary, empirical character and did not make some more a science. The science as the special form of public consciousness has arisen later, in a slaveholding society when there was a branch of brainwork from physical and the special group of people - scientists for whom scientific activity became a trade was generated.
The major feature of a science is continuity of scientific knowledge. Each new generation of people, a newly arisen society do not reject scientific achievements of the past, and perceive, develop them according to new requirements of practice and the science. Scientific knowledge act, thus, as property of all mankind, and scientific work - as social activities.
Development of a science depends on economic attitudes prevailing in a society, character of sociopolitical building. The purposes depend on them, a direction and rates of development of a science, public use of scientific achievements.
Dependence on a society of social sciences, which express interests of the certain class, is especially great.
Expansion of scientific and technical revolution is connected to tremendous successes of automatics, radio electronics and telemechanics, with use of an atomic energy and an outer space exploration, achievements of cybernetics, chemistry, physics, biology and other sciences.
Scientific and technical revolution covers not only a science and engineering, but also manufacture. Undergo deep qualitative changes engineering and the "know-how", its power supply sources. Character of work changes; work is more and more filled with the intellectual contents. Progress in science and engineering allows mechanizing and automating not only physical, but also some kinds of brainwork. The cultural - technological level grows, vocational training of workers of manufacture raises.
Achievements of a science are embodied in advanced engineering and technology, in the person - manufacturer, its knowledge, skill, and professional experience. The whole branches of manufacture are born in sphere of a science and are inconceivable without it. In all the big volumes scientific researches are conducted directly on manufacture.
For Supplementary Reading
Science is a sphere of people's activity. Those who are involved in science are called scientists and scholars. Scientists deal with exact and natu ral sciences: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geography. Scholars study History, Art, Literature and Languages.
The aim of their work is to understand the fun damental laws of nature and society, to analyse and systematize the data obtained experimentally. They work hard to investigate unknown phenom ena in various branches of science.
Usually scientists and scholars working in the same field are united in Research Laboratories, Institutes and Centres. If problems are of great importance (significance) International Research Centres or Counsels are set up. They join their efforts to work out different programmes which help to solve serious problems of our time. Among these problems are ecology, medicine, space ex ploration, new sources of energy and many others.
Research is a noble occupation, though it is seldom profitable or rewarding. Not everyone can become a real scientist. You should work hard to develop уоur abilities to watch and see, to ex amine and interpret, to be able to analyse and come to certain conclusions. You should read a lot and accumulate profound knowledge.
The history of the mankind gives us a lot of ex amples of great scientists who started making their scientific career since childhood.
For example the greatest English scientist Charles Darwin knew the names of all the planets when he was eight. He had wonderful collections of plants, shells, birds' eggs and insects. Charles was fond of making chemical experiments near his house. While studying at Cambridge University he continued to study nature, collecting insects. This hobby of his childhood led him to his wonderful ideas of evolution.
Another outstanding scientist Isaac Newton was known as a silent thinking boy. He played little with other children giving all his time to Mathematics, Mechanics and Physics. Such curi osity and diligence resulted in his amazing dis covery of the most fundamental law of the Uni verse - the law of gravity.
VOCABULARY
to be involved in -быть вовлеченным в...
a scientist - ученый (занимающийся точными и ес тественными науками)
a scholar - ученый (занимающийся гуманитарными науками)
exact science - точная наука
natural science - точная наука
to obtain data - получать данные
Research Laboratory - исследовательская лаборатория
Research Institute - научно-исследовательский центр
Research Centre - научно-исследовательский центр
International Research Counsel - международный со вет по научным исследованиям
space ex ploration – исследование космоса
a noble occupation – благородное занятие
profitable – прибыльный, выгодный
rewarding – приносящий удовлетворение
accumulate profound knowledge – накапливать глубокие знания
curi osity and diligence – любопытство и усердие (прилежание)
to join efforts - объединять усилия
to interpret - объяснять, интерпретировать
to come to a conclusion - прийти к выводу
to be known - быть известным
amazing – поразительный, изумительный
to result in - привести к (иметь результатом)
the law of gravity - закон всемирного тяготения
9. MY PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
When you leave school you understand that the time to choose your future profession has come. It's not an easy task to make the right choice of a job. It is known that each school leaver has to make serious decisions.
It is a dilemma for the whole family. Fathers usually want their children to follow their foot steps. Mothers don't want their sons and daughters to leave the native town. So they persuade kids to enter local colleges and universities.
But it's extremely difficult for a person to solve this problem. On the one hand young people want to acquire and accumulate knowledge, develop their skills. On the other hand it is not easy to make yourself study hard for many years. In addi tion they want to earn as much money as possible. Each young man would like to do flourishing business/and to establish and run his own com pany.
To make a right choice you should consider your traits of character. To become a good doctor you must be patient, caring and kind. The teacher's work requires love for children, pro found knowledge of subjects and the ability to ex plain. Detective's job is very stressful. He must be brave, fair, witty and strong.
Since childhood kids have been trying to choose their way in life. There are too many won derful professions around. Very often they change their mind. Little girls, for example wish to be ac tresses (stars), mega models (top models). Boys dream to become cosmonauts (astronauts), presi dents, outstanding sportsmen. As years pass we understand that all the jobs are necessary and useful. And the most important thing for a person is to do any work professionally.
VOCABULARY
to make the right choice of a job – сделать правильный выбор работы
to make a decision - принять решение
to follow one's footsteps - пойти по чьим-то стопам
to persuade – убеждать
extremely – чрезвычайно
on the one (other) hand – с одной (другой) стороны
to acquire - приобретать
to do flourishing business - иметь процветающий бизнес
to run a company - управлять компанией
traits of character – черты характера
patient - терпеливый
caring – заботливый
to require love for children – требовать любви к детям
pro found knowledge – глубокие знания
stressful – напряжённый, fair - справедливый, witty – остроумный
a kid – ребёнок
to change one’s mind - передумывать
10. PEOPLE AND THEIR RELATIONS:
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
The attitude of people to a person depends on many things: his character, mind, manners, be haviour, abilities and appearance. If a person is good-looking he feels more confident. Unfortu nately, to be pretty or handsome doesn't mean to be happy. Very often beautiful people are stupid, stubborn and arrogant. And unattractive people can be intelligent, kind and generous. That's why people say: "Do not judge by appearance".
I have many friends, but Jane Brown and Andy Johnson are my special friends. Andy is tall (short) and lean. Jane is middle-sized (of medium height). She isn't slim, she is pretty plump. Andy is strong and well-built. As for Jane, she doesn't care about her figure. She is never on a diet and hates doing morning exercises. That's why she often puts on weight.
John took after his father in appearance and • character. His face is long and thin (square). His features are regular and stern a bit. His complex ion is ruddy (fair, dark, clear). His forehead is broad (doomed) and high (law, narrow). He has got large (small) wide-set (close-set) and deep -set eyes (bulging eyes) They are hazel (green, steel-grey). People remember his eyes because they are piercing (curious, prying). His nose is straight (aquiline, hooked). His chin is pointed (protruding, round, square). His cheeks are hollow (plump, chubby). He has got thin (full, thick) lips. He is a brunette (blond). He has got chestnut (auburn, red, dark, black) straight thick (thin) hair.
Jane looks like (resembles) her mother. She is a blue-eyed girl. Everybody admires her expressive shining eyes. She has got thick long curving eye lashes. Her eyebrows are pencilled (bushy, arched), her nose is small and snub (turned up). Jane has plump cheeks with dimples in them. She never worries about her hairdo (hairstyle), because she has got beautiful, long, thick, curly (wavy) hair. She thinks she would look nicer with a short haircut, and she wants to change the colour of her hair, but her mother doesn't let her to do it. To look more attractive she sometimes wears make up: she puts a little black mascara on her eyelashes and some eye shadow on her eyelids. She hates lipstick and never applies it (puts it on) because she believes that her well-cut lips are good enough.
As for their characters, I like them both. Let me give a touch on Jane's character. It is easy to get along with her. People find her sociable and easy going. Nobody can call her selfish (unselfish), greedy (generous), ill-bred (well-bred), angry (kind). She is reserved, modest (shy) and good-tempered (hot-tempered). I think she is of a ro mantic nature, she is interested in music, art, thea tre. She is keen on literature especially she likes poems. She is good at writing verses.
A lot of my classmates envy that my best (good, bosom, true, faithful) friend is Andy. I re spect many traits of his character. He is honest, brave (courageous),cheerful with a good sense of humour. He is always the life and soul of the party.
I am proud of my friends because they are car ing, faithful (sympathetic) and sincere. They are ready to help you when it is necessary.
We have much in common, we spend plenty of time together and 1 appreciate their charming (magnetic, dynamic, striking, strong) personalities more than their appearance (looks).
stubborn - упрямый
arrogant - надменный
a special friends - лучший друг
well-built - крепкий, хорошо сложенный
to be on a diet - сидеть на диете
to take after - унаследовать от •
stern - суровый
complexion - цвет лица
forehead – лоб
bulging eyes - глаза навыкате
prying eyes - любопытные глаза
aquiline - орлиный
auburn - темно-рыжий
to give a touch - затронуть, коснуться (в беседе)
sociable - общительный
easy-going - легкий в общении
to be keen on - увлекаться
to be life and soul - быть душой
11. ENGINEERING PROFESSION
An engineer is one of the most ancient professions. From the old ages humanity tries to make its life easy. For example people invented a mill, because they did not want to grind grain by hands; keg factor, for transporting hard things. This people were ancient engineers. So the contribution of engineers to improving of our life is hard to exaggerate.
In our time science and technique develop by great temps and this progress can not be stopped. Mechanical engineering, chemistry, physics, mathematics, genetics, robot building - all mis and other sciences help us make our life more comfort.
On this conditions development and modernization engineer's profession become not only important, but required. An engineer makes investigations, improvements and control. An engineer must know market for the results of his activity were maximum good in each field of his work. An engineer must learn market, before he makes investigations and offer new methods. On this aspect he looks like on economist. This is needed for his work to be useful and it has demand. Let's take, for example, such field as robot building. This branch of industry develops especially with high temps in our times, trying to automate different production processes more as it can. An engineer of automation is among those who is in this field. His task is to decide problems with minimum expenses and with maximum results.
Besides learning of market can help in installation of new technology in production more successfully.
For example, when first automobiles have been produced, people hadn't trust new kind of transporting. But soon automobiles became popular and demand on them began to grow, and it is growing in our time too. This has obliged to develop the technology of their building. And so many years later automotive conveyer substituted hard work, robots work instead of people, and each of them make it's own function.
For example, let's take the development of computer techniques. A man always wanted to make his work more easy on complex calculations. The steps of improving of calculations are abacus, calculator and computer. Computer can make millions of operations to second but a man can't. And engineers invented a computer. So an engineer depends on market, and market depends on an engineer. That is why the profession of an engineer valuable in the modern world.
12. MY FUTURE SPECIALITY
I am a day student of the first course of the Sterlitamak Branch of the Ufa State Petroleum Technical University. My speciality is "Automation of Technological Processes and Productions". Many enterprises are needed in such specialists. Our University trains highly skilled specialists in this field. It trains specialists with a wide theoretical and practical outlook.
"Automation" is a word coined in the 1940-s to describe processes by which machines do tasks previously performed by people.
Advances in industrial production of some goods need in high-accurate processes of manufacturing, assembling, etc.
In five years I'll graduate from the University and shall become an automation engineer. During the first two years we are taught general subjects, such as, Physics, Mathematics, Strength of materials, Theoretical mechanics, English, etc. In a year we shall begin specializing in one or another field we like best.
In our time computer technologies occupy an important part of the industry. All machines work by computer commands. And machines talk to each other in a binary code. We will study many subjects of this field in final courses, such as, "New Computer Technologies", "Languages of programming", etc.
The higher school has a specific task to train engineers of a new type who would combine fundamental knowledge with a high professional level and practical training in the specific field of the national economics. I like my speciality and I'm sure it will be useful for the humanity.
At present automation of the industry is vital.
When I finish my study, I'll work in an enterprise on my speciality. There are many enterprises of this field in our city, such as "Chemical factory", joint stock company "Kaustik", joint stock company "Kauchuk", etc.
VOCABULARY
outlook – взгляд, мировоззрение
to coin – придумывать
assembling – сборка
a binary code – бинарный код
vital – жизненно важный
MY SPECIALITY
From the times I was a pupil I got interested in sciences and most of all in physics and mathematics. My teachers recommended me the right books to read and supplied me with different bits of equipment to set up my own experiments, let alone the participation in different competitions in Physics and mathematics. Later on I got interested in engineering and after leaving school I firmly decided to enter the faculty of general engeneering of the Ufa Oil University and become an engineer. Now I am a first-year student of the mechanical department. Our University is one of the major centres for training engineers for different branches of our industry.
In five years I shall graduate from the University and shall become a mechanical engineer. I like my future speciality and study with great interest. During the first two years we are taught general subjects, such as, Physics, Mathematics, Strength of materials, theoretical me chanics, English. In a year we shall begin specializing in one or another field we like best. I am deeply interested in Engineering. Engineering demands a sound training in general sciences particularly in physics, mathematics and chemistry. So I work hard. At the last examination session I passed all my exams with good marks. A friend of mine is also interested in engineering and looking forward to become a mechanical engineer. It is our future speciality. Our work will deal with designs, constructions and operation of structures, machines, engines and other devices used in industry and everyday life. By the way my friend is very good at English and often helps me with it since I'm only a beginner.
VOCABULARY
to get interested – заинтересоваться
a sound training – глубокая подготовка
By the way - кстати
My speciality
I am a first (second) - year student of the Ufa Oil University. I study at the faculty of "Chemical Technology of Organic Substances and Compounds". I am very fond of chemistry. I wish to become a specialist in petroleum refinery engineering. Students entering our faculty may specialize in various branches, such as organic synthesis, reception of rubber and other compounds of petroleum.
I wish to become a specialist in petroleum refinery engineering. Those who will choose the branch of petroleum and refining engineering will deal with designing and operating various plants with work at research institutes and laboratories. Besides practicing in the Institute laboratories students of our department are to get some practical training at various refineries of the country.
A refinery is a huge chemical enterprise. Distillation units are the heart of the refinery, every distillation unit consists of at least two distillation towers, a tube still, heat exchangers, pumps, etc.
One of the distillation towers is operated at atmospheric pressure, the other one is operated at vacuum. Pumps deliver preheated crude oil to the tube still where it is heated to 360°C at atmospheric pressure. Heated oil is then passed through the distillation tower. Lighter hydrocarbon vapours flown up the tower, are removed at different levels and condense in specials coolers.
Heavier fractions are accumulated at the bottom as residue, which undergoes further dissipation in the vacuum tower.
Within the refinery one may see many other installations for cracking, dehydrogenation, refining and alkalizing huge storage vessel pumping stations, etc. All the units are remotely controlled from a single centre.
The whole process of obtaining valuable products from crude oil is called refining. As a result of refining a great variety of products is obtained, such as gasoline, kerosene, gas oil, lubricating oils, fuels, coke, paraffin and gas for synthesis of petrochemicals and many others.
VOCABULARY
petroleum refinery engineering – нефтеочистительное производство
a huge chemical enterprise – огромное химическое предприятие
distillation units – дистилляционное оборудование
a tower – башня
a tube still – труба
heat exchangers – теплообменники
a pump – насос
to deliver – доставлять, передавать
to condense – оседать
residue – осадок
dissipation – рассеивание
remotely – отдалённо
lubricating oils - смазочные масла
My speciality
Environmental Protection and Rational Use of Nature Resources
I am a first-year student of the Ufa Oil University. I wish to become a specialist in environmental protection and rational use of nature resources.
Environmental protection attracts keen and apprehen sive attention all over the world now. Engineers can not stay apart when there is a dangerous evolution of the environment. The ecological crisis which takes place all around is the result and price which man has to pay for scientific and technological progress. At the same time it should be noted that ecological disbalance is determined by social, historical, natural and economic specifics, by the level of development in the economy, science and technology. And to go on, some economic managers are passive, negligent or simply reluctant to abide by the scientifically substantiated nature protection measures. So our task as engineers in ecology is to control their actions in this respect, first, and in more wide sense, to master modern scientific basis of links between enterprises and environment.•In 4 years I will become a fullfledged specialist and I will try to do my best to care about protection of the atmospheric air, health, mineral wealth, forests, waters, land, animal and plant kingdoms.
After graduation from the University I can work in research and desing offices, plants, practically in all fields of industry, and first of all, in chemical and petrochemical ones.
In order to become a highly qualified specialist I must work hard and perfectly know the fundamental engineering disciplines, I should have sound knowledge of special subjects such as ecology, ecological monitoring of environmental surroundings, foundations of chemical toxicology, desing and ecological analysis, economics, technology of industrial ecology.
13. OIL AND OIL INDUSTRY
Petroleum is the name of a mineral oil. Oil comes from under the ground. Crude oil comes from the wells or boreholes. Boreholes are often very deep. The steel framework over the well is the derrick. From the derrick the machinery drills holes through rock, earth or sand. Oil usually flows freely but men control its natural flow. The natural flow of oil is the result of the pressure of the natural gas in oil or the result of the pressure between the petroleum and the roof of the rock above it.
Crude oil contains various materials, liquids. By the process of refining we obtain petrol, paraffin, and other products from crude oil. We obtain various fuels from it too. Fuels drive ships, planes, buses and so on. Diesel engines burn oil fuel. Many tractors burn diesel oil. Jet engines burn kerosene (paraffin oil).
Nowadays oil industry is an advanced, highly mechanized and reliable sector of the economy. It has highly productive rigs that can drill down to oil and gas deposits lying at depths of more than six kilometers. Today more than 2,000 products are made from oil: fuel for aircraft and for internal combustion engines, fuel for boilers and furnaces, lubricants, bitumen for the manufacture of asphalt, lacquers, solvents, and so on. Oil byproducts are used in making plastics and synthetic substances.
Work is in progress to set up a major oil industry center in Western Siberia, to raise oil extraction, to contract gas pipelines to deliver gas to the Urals and the European part of the Russia and also pipelines to oil refineries in Siberia, Kazakhstan and the European part of the country.
Regular oil prospecting throughout the country began in the thirties. Geologists discovered deposits in the Ural-Volga area. In 1932 discoveries followed one after another in this large area. A new oil center “The Second Baku” arose between the Volga and the Urals in 1939.
The rapid development of the Ural-Volga resources made it possible to supply the Russian Army with fuel and lubricants in the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War.
The Ural-Volga field comprises more than 350 deposits and accounts for over half of the Russia oil production.
The expansion of the Ural-Volga extraction industry was particularly rapid in the post-war years.
In the sixties, geologists discovered rich deposits of oil on the vast area of West Siberia, in the Tyumen and Tomsk regions.
Despite the rigorous climate, the oilmen and builders harnesses the West Siberia deposits to the national economy in a short space of time.
Dozens of big research institutes and design organizations appeared to solve important scientific problems, to plan and analyse the exploitation of the deposits, and to improve drilling and pumping techniques. The oil districts have their own research institutes and design offices.
VOCABULARY
14. ROLE OF AUTOMATION IN TECHNOLOGY
Automation plays an important part in the great advances in techno logy. Automation, properly coordinated with other phases of technology, can substantially contribute to high productive efficiency. In Russia, mechanization of production operations and their automation is one of the most important problems and that is being done in this sphere at present greatly exceeds what has been close in the past,
Advanced automation is impossible without computers. Computer science is a relatively new and exciting field of study and research. It is a broad discipline, covering logic design, hardware, and the theory of computation, numerical analysis, programming and computer application.
There are different kinds of computers. Some do only one job over and over again. These are special — purpose computers. One such compu ter automatically controls the movements of anti-aircraft cannon. It was built for this purpose alone, and cannot do anything else. But the re are some computers that can do many different jobs. They are called general-purpose computers. These are the "big brains" that solve the most difficult problems of science. They answer questions about rockets and planes, bridges and ships long before these things are even built.
Today there are computers small enough to carry in one's pocket or about the size of a typewriter. These new computers are called perso nal computers. Computers help our space programme, our armed forces, our business and industry, sports and medicine. Computers are the most efficient servants man has ever had and there is no limit for their explication in improving our lives and saving time for leisure (rest and recreation).
Computers are capable of doing extremely complicated work in all branches of learning. They can solve the most complicated mathematical problems or put thousands of unrelated facts in order. As computers work accurately and at high speeds, they save research workers years of hard work. This whole process, by which machines can be used to work for used to work for us, is called automation. Automation will have important social consequences.
Robots can perform an almost infinite variety of tasks. ln the research laboratory, the office, and the factory, thousands of robots are already at work.
Now assume that somebody develops a robot to coordinate the activi ties "of all the robots in a factory. It would be a sort of super-robot, whose special function would be to see that all the lesser robots did their job correctly. If you took a robot like that and put it in charge of a factory, you would have "automation". as a matter of fact, automa tion is not just a thing of the future. Super robots have already been developed and put into operation in a number of places. The result of the idea to connect all the robots together with one control system is the automated assembly line.
From the automated engine shop.
In the engine shop, rows and rows of machines can be seen. They grind, drill, ream, polish, and perform dozens of other operations. But not a machine operator can be soon.
They can't be seen because there aren't any. These machine tools are all robot-run. A roughcast engine, fresh from the foundry, enters the machine shop on a belt. The belt moves it under one machine. Reamers drop down and clean out the cylinders' holes, cutting and grinding the metal to the exact size. The engine moves on. Drill presses drop down, bore holes where they are needed, and withdraw. As the engine moves down the line, tappets, cylinders, crankshafts and spark plugs are added. Then generator, carburetor, and other parts are added. At the end of the line a robot crane picks up the engine and puts it on a belt for transfer to the main assembly line.
In another part of the factory great sheets of metal are put into giant rollers. The rollers twist, bend doors and bodies. These, too, are automatically assembled, then moved to the main assembly line. Each machine must be set so that it will co-operate with all other machines in the factory.
Automation starts as the result of months and years of planning by engineers (using computers, by the way). Automation begins with a team of highly skilled men, automation experts, programmers. They consult with the people who run a factory about the type of operation desired. They prepare a master plan. After the green light is given on the master plan, there are months of detail planning. A medium or large computer is brought in to help solve some of the complicated problems. One of its tasks will be to keep track of production scheduling and inventory control. When you have hundreds of machines working on thousands of items every day, it becomes impossible for human clerks to keep things under control. In the first place, you would have to have too many clerks. In the second place, even with enough clerks, they could not possibly get together and intergrate - combine their information fast enough to do any good. What is needed is a controller robot. It can receive masses of information in a short time and come up with new requirements - parts, machines, raw materials, and men.
VOCABULARY
15. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE
A business letter.
There are certain rules of writing letters. The paper for a letter must be absolutely pure, with even edges. It is desirable to have the firm form of the letter with an emblem of the firm, with its complete name, the post and telegraphic address, with a telephone number, fax and bank properties.
The business letters are printed on a computer on a face side of the sheet. The pages are numbered in the Arabian figures, except for the first. Width of a field from the left side of a sheet must be not less than 2 cm. The text is printed through 1,5-2 intervals. The paragraph begins with a red line, with a deviation of 5 intervals from the edge. It is desirable to avoid division. In the right top comer under the address of the organization, which sends the letter the date of departure should be put.
If it is not the first letter to your partner, it must begin with the polite reference to the last letter, received from him.
If you write to the partner for the first time, it is necessary to begin with the performance of the firm, its purposes and tasks. The text of mis material must be in the language of your partner or in English. The letter ends with the words of gratitude for the cooperation. And of course with: "Sincerely yours", etc.
The signature is put on the right party under the formula of politeness. The surname of the signing man is printed under his hand-written signature.
About envelopes. Abroad all large firms have envelopes, on which the same items of information as on the form are repeated. The firm envelope relieves you of the necessity to inform the return address. Abroad the order of writing of an address is as following: first comes "whom", then "where". The first position of the address is the surname of the addressee with the initials before it and one of reductions: Mr (if it is a man) or Mrs (if it is a woman). The second position of the address is the post of your addressee. It indicates that the letter was not accepted as personal. If the addressee at the given moment is absent, the letter will be opened by his assistant. If you want to keep the content of the letter in a confidence, after the surname it is necessary to specify: private (personal, confidential). The following position of the address is name of the firm. Here it is possible to apply the following reductions:
Company - Co.
Corporation - Corp.
Department - Dept.
Incorporated - Inc.
The number of the house and the name of the street, the name of the city, the name of the state (for the USA, India, etc.) come after. The address end with the postal index and the name of the country.
The letter to a foreign partner has some canons. For example, the letter begins with recurrence in the left top comer of the address written on an envelope. From the right side and a little below of the address they write the date of departure of the letter. For example: 12 December 1997 December 12, 1997
12th December 1997
December 12th, 1997
Reductions of dates such as 12/XII1997 or 12.12.1997, which are accepted by us, in the international correspondence, are not used. Here and in the text of the letter only the reductions of some months are accepted:
January - Jan.
February - Feb.
April - Apr.
September - Sept.
October - Oct.
November - Nov.
December - Dec.
From the left side they write an appeal Dear Mr or Dear Mrs and the surname of the addressee. After the introductory reference in the English correspondence comma is put, and in the correspondence with the addressee from the USA colon and hyphen are put (Dear Mr ..., / Gentleman : -).
By the following line after a designation "Re" (Reference) in business correspondence briefly the theme of the letter is designate, for example:
Re: 1997 Moscow Book Fair In business letters it is accepted to write with the large letter:
• proper nouns, and also adjectives designating the national and state accessory (Russian, English, French etc);
• words in the names of firms and organizations, departments of organizations; words in a designation of a borrowed post (Chief Engineer, Director etc);
• words designating names of cities, republics, streets, areas, areas, hotels, and also numeration of floors, apartments, rooms (12 Wall Street, London, Hotel International, Room 346 etc);
• the complete and reduced names of months and days of week (Saturday, March, Dec. etc);
• the names of the goods, trade marks and some documents (Iron, Coal, Bills of Lading, Charter Party etc).
To write long letters in the business correspondence is not accepted. If your letter is not located in one page, at the end of the sheet it is necessary to put: (continued over) or (see overleaf),
Usually letters end by words Sincerely Yours or Yours and signature with the indication under it of your surname and post.
If you are, for example, on nonresident business trip and have dictated the answer to the urgent letter to your assistant on the phone, he must put the letters pp (per procurationem) against your surname, sign the letter himself and attribute below: Dictated by Mr <... > and signed in his absence.
A BUSINESS LETTER
Mr. A. Green,
Manager,
Co. British Telecom,
109 Kingsway st, London,
126783 UK.
4 February 2002 Dear Mr. Green,
We would like to inform you that Mr. Petrov is arriving in Little Rock on the 14th February to begin talks with you.
Please make the necessary hotel reservation for him and let us know the name of hotel.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Yours faithfully, Mr.Ivanov.
A REPLY
Mr. Ivanov,
Manager,
Co. Mobile Tele Systems
14 Peace st, Moscow,
456321 Russia,
5 February 2002 Dear Mr. Ivanov,
We regret to inform you that we cannot reserve the hotel
accommodation for Mr. Petrov for the week of the 14th February. Our three hotels are completely booked up for the week. They have no rooms available because the National Word Processors Association will be holding their convention in Little Rock during the week of the 14th February. As you will surely understand they have to reserve as many rooms as possible for the members of the Association.
We propose to postpone your visit for a week. We can safely book a room for Mr. Petrov for the 21st February. We hope mis will suit you and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully, Mr.Green.
With the development of industry, technology, trade and economic ties among the countries and ordinary people a great volume of business is done by mail. It is true that the telephone telegraph, telex and fax do speed transactions, but they also run up expenses to such an extent that practical businessman and economic people use these modem means of communication for mailers requiring immediate action or messages which can be expressed briefly.
Business letters concern us in our daily living, especially those of us who live abroad and deal with foreigners.
People write business letters in many situations: concluding contracts, booking i seat in an airplane, reserving hotel accommodation, booking theatre tickets, writing order - letters, letters of inquiry and claim letters (letters of complaint) covering letters, letters of confirmation, letters of guarantee. A business letter, like a friendly or social letter, should make a favorable impression. In order that a letter may create this impression, it should be neatly written or typed, properly spaced on the page and correctly folded in the envelope.
The parts of a business Letter. The basic outline for a business letter is that of any letter: the heading, the inside address, the salutation, the body of the letter, the complimentary close and the signature. If you forget something you mean to say in the letter, put it in a PS at the bottom of the page.
Vocabulary
developmenl of industry -paзвитиу промышленности
volume -объем
a great volume of business - большой объем дел
to speed -ускорять
to speed transactions -ускорять дело
to run up expenses -увеличивать расходы
to a great extent -в значительной степени
to concern -касаться
letter - письмо, буква
order-letter -письмо-заказ
inquiry letter -письмо-запрос
claim letter -письмо-жалоба
covering letter -сопроводительное письмо
letter of confirmation -письмо подтверждение
letter of guarantee -гарантийное письмо
to type -печатать на машине
to space -размещать
to fold
-сгибать
envelope -конверт
heating - заголовок
inside -адрес получателя
salutation -приветствие
16. THE WORLD AROUND US
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Nature is everything we can see around us: the Sun, the Moon, the stars, our Earth, the plants that grow on it the animals that live on it. Nature is a nice storybook and those who are attentive can find in it a lot of interesting things to learn. If you keep your eyes open, you can see a lot of won ders: blue sky, shiny stars, bright sunshine, green trees, deep seas and oceans.
The planet where we live, the Earth, is round like a ball. It is turning all the time but you can't feel it. It moves around the Sun during twelve months. Twelve months make a year. The Earth is covered with water and land. There is more water on the Earth then anything else. You can find wa ter in rivers, ponds, lakes, seas and oceans. Water in the seas and oceans is salty. Only three per cent of Earth's water is fresh. Three-fourths of it is fro zen in glaciers. Some water falls to the Earth as rain and snow. Water is in the plants, animals and in the air. For example clouds are made of millions of raindrops. They are so small that float in the air like little balloons.
Our planet is big. There are mountains and hills, fields and meadows on the Earth. Animals and plants live almost everywhere. They can live on the Earth because it is just the right distance from the sun. If the Earth were too close to the sun it would be too hot for living things. If the Earth were too far from the sun it would be too cold for anything to live. No one knows how many kinds of animals live on the Earth, but you can enjoy the beauty of the planet everywhere.
For the next decade the world's population may rise by 97 million people a year. Scientists predict that by the year 2025 the population will rise 8, 5 billion, and by the year 2050 it will dou ble.
Most people find these figures alarming, they are afraid that we will run out of land, energy and minerals.
But optimists are sure that new generations will find a way out. Exploration and new technology open new reserves of minerals like coal and oil. Some scientists think that these reserves will go on forever.
But such confidence is deceiving. If we go on using our natural resources as quickly as nowa days we will use up all the resources of copper, natural gas and oil by the year 2054.
On the other hand the problem of what we waste is more important. This includes not only all the resources but also our attitude to forests and species of animals and plants we destroy carelessly. Thus, we are facing a pollution crisis.
We pollute the air we breathe. Everybody sees smoke coming out of tall factory chimneys. Eve rybody can smell the gas from the back of a bus.
In big cities thousands of automobiles and fac tories may add tons of poison to the atmosphere every day.
Another problem is our sewage systems. Do you know where the sewage from many houses of a big city goes? It pollutes rivers and lakes and may even make them die. Fish can't live in them, and people can’t swim in them.
The seas are in danger as they are also pol luted. Even the ocean is falling ill. If nothing is done about it, fish and sea animals will disappear.
Do you know where the poison goes when we spray it on our plants to kill insects and weeds? Onto the things people and birds eat. This way we kill ourselves and birds and animals around us.
If we don't stop spoiling the world around us, our life will not be nice.
But there is much that we can do. Factories can clean their smoke. Cars and planes can be done so that they do not pollute the air. The dirty water from the factories and sewage can be made clean again.
Our beautiful planet must be covered with for ests because trees supply us with oxygen, neces sary for our life. So we must take control of cut ting down forests and trees. We must plant again where we have cut.
For SupplementaryReading
The poisoning of the world's land, air, and water is the fastest-spreading disease of civilization. It probably produces fewer headlines than wars, earthquakes and floods, but it is potentially one of history's greatest dangers to human life on earth. If present trends continue for the next several decades, our planet will become uninhabitable.
Overpopulation, pollution and energy consumption have created such planet-wide problems as massive deforestation, ozone depletion, acid rains and the global warming that is believed to be caused by the greenhouse effect.
The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial and nuclear waste, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following. The Aral Sea is on the brink of extinction. If nothing is done about it, one day nothing will be able to live in the seas.
Every ten minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect dies out forever. If nothing is done about it, one million species that are alive today will have become extinct twenty years from now.
Air population is a very serious problem. In Cairo just breathing the air is life threatening- equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. The same holds true for Mexico City and 600 cities of the former Soviet Union.
Industrial enterprises emit tons of harmful substances. These emissions have disastrous consequences for our planet. They are the main reason for the greenhouse effect and acid rains.
An even greater environmental threat is nuclear power stations. We all know how tragic the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are.
People are beginning to realize that environmental problems are not somebody else's. They join and support various international organization and green parties. If governments wake up to what is happening- perhaps we'll be able to avoid the disaster that threatens the natural world and all of us with it.
VOCABULARY
to keep one's eyes open - зд: внимательно смотреть
to be just the right distance - находиться на нужном расстояния
17. ETIQUETTE
We live in the society and have to deal with other people all the time. That is why it is neces sary to remember about it every day. Not every person is easy to get along because each of us has his own interests and manners. To make every body comfortable there exist special rules of be haviour for every person. These rules are called etiquette.
The idea of such rules goes back to the times when people began to live in groups and under stood that it was better to get along with one an other than to quarrel or fight. The first rules for proper social behaviour were developed in an cient Greece and Rome. Much of today's formal etiquette is originated in the French royal courts in the late seventeenth century. For example shaking hands is one of earliest forms of etiquette. Giving somebody his hand a warrior wanted to show that he didn't have any weapons and came in peace.
Today many of us worry about etiquette: we need to know what to say and how to behave in a particular situation. Our language and our manners must be appropriate to the situation.
Each culture has its own system of etiquette and they are sometimes very different. Behaviour that is proper in one culture may be improper in another one.
The basic rules of introducing people in Eng lish-speaking countries are:
a man is introduced to a woman;
a young person is introduced to an older per son;
- a less important person is introduced to a
more important person.
The purpose of greeting in all languages is the same: to establish a contact with another person and show friendliness. It is very important to use the correct form of greeting. "Hello" is the univer sal form and is acceptable in any situation except a very formal introduction.
When British people talk to each other for the first time it is usually considered impolite to ask personal questions such as "How old are you?" or" Are you married?". It is not polite to ask people how much they earn or how much their flat, house or clothes cost. It is better to wait for the person to tell you about it.
Very often it is difficult to stop a conversation and leave a party. Usually people do not stop talking to say good-bye and leave unexpectedly. It is quite normal to say some time before you leave that you are going to do so. If you want to leave a large party early, you should find your host and say good-bye without attracting more attention to your going away.
Speaking about table manners we must say that they are not very strict in Britain, but it is con sidered rude to eat or to drink noisily. At formal meals the cutlery is placed in the order in which it will be used. The dessert fork or the spoon is laid at the top of your place setting. After each course the knife and the fork should be laid side by side in the middle of the plate. This shows that you have finished and the plate can be removed.
If you want to behave mannerly at table you should follow some simple rules. Here they are:
Keep your mouth closed when you eat.
Use a knife and a fork. Hold them correctly.
Don't take bread with a fork.
Don't read at the table when you eat.
Keep your elbows off the table.
Don't say you don’t like food.
It is considered impolite to smoke between courses unless your host says otherwise. It is polite to ask for the permission before you smoke in other people's homes. Today in Britain smoking is forbidden in many public places: on the under ground; on stations, in shops and in cinemas.
VOCABULARY
to get along - ладить, находиться в хороших отношениях to quarrel -ссориться
behaviour – поведение
to quarrel or fight – ссориться или драться
to originate – возникать
shaking hands – пожатие рук
warrior - воин
to came in peace - приходить с миром
to be appropriate to the situation – соответствовать ситуации
strict - строгий
acceptable - приемлемый
table manners - правила поведения за столом
side by side - рядом
to keep elbows off the table - не класть локти на стол
unless – если не
otherwise – по другому, иначе
smoking is forbidden – курение запрещено
RULES OF COMMUNICATION
It is important and necessary to learn to be a good speaker and an attentive listener because if a person speaks well and listens well, he can explain the facts in a simple way. A good listener under stands the people better, makes friends and mixes with the surrounding people easily. People under stand a good speaker better and more willingly be come friendly. So the majority of people want to learn to be a good speaker and an attentive listener. There are some rules for them to follow and we must always keep them when we talk or listen.
7. Don't interrupt the people when they are talking. Say "Excuse me", "Pardon me", I’m sorry".
Speak about the things that happened first, then about the things that happened next.
1.0. Be attentive when you listen to a speaker and follow his or her story.
VOCABULARY
to explain in a simple way - объяснить просто (доступно)
to mix with people - сходиться с людьми
to take turns - соблюдать очередность
to hurt the feelings - оскорблять чувства
to keep to the topic-придерживаться темы.
18. APPLYING FOR A JOB
Time flies, and one day I will have to look for the job. It is very difficult to find the job you like. The job people usually look for should be well paid and suit them. To find a proper job one should be able to write a letter of job application, curriculum vitae (CV) = resume (American version), a short written account of your education and past employment.
To write a job application you should know some job-winning tips from professionals:
1. Put your address, telephone number and date in the top right-hand corner and the name of the person you are applying to on the left, level with the date. Write the company name and address below.
Leave a line between paragraphs.
2. First paragraph — a polite one-sentence opening explanation of why you are writing.
JOB APPLICATION.
Person
Company (name)
Date
30 Henry Court
Meadows
Nottingham
Dear Sir/Madam
No. 92
Tel.
I am writing to enquire about the possibility of employment with your company. I can offer a variety of skills from practical to clerical, any role would suit at present time. I enclose my CV for your attention.
For the past two years I have been engaged in casual voluntary work at Queens Medical Center. This has kept me busy and has led to meeting new people. A position at your company, however, would allow me to resume a working role.
I am adaptable, reliable and willing to retrain. From packing to office work, my past experience may be useful to you, given the opportunity.
If there is a position available at this time, I can be contacted on (telephone No) in the afternoons and would be more than willing to come down for an interview. If not then would you please keep my details to hand for the near future.
Yours faithfully
YOUR CV
(CURRICULUM VTTAE).
Always type it on unlined white paper, preferably a single sheet.
Write your name, address and telephone number.
Put your health record, date of birth and marital status.
In the next section, note down your education. Put any qualifications on the next line.
Next, detail your work history, starting with your most recent job. Give dates, employers and describe your duties.
List hobbies and interests and put extra information in a separate section.
End by saying that two referees are available on request - not naming them leaves you free to choose the best ones for particular jobs. Remember the longer an application, the less chance it has of being read.
Never send a photo-copied letter - it looks as though you don't care.
Always be positive and never apologize for being You.
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CURRICULUM VTTAE (CV). |
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NAME |
Robert Edward Bateman . |
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ADDRESS |
28 Grow Road, West Clapham |
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UK |
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DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH |
9th September 1968, London |
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NATIONALITY |
British |
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EDUCATION |
Ripton County School |
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Grant College of Further |
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Education |
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University ofEverton |
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LANGUAGES |
English. French |
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PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE |
2 years of a translator for |
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publisher of dictionaries |
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3 years of teaching English in |
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France |
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INTERESTS |
Reading, travelling, art. |
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RESUME |
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1. NAME/SURNAME |
Mariana Smirnova |
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2. AGE |
14 October, 1974 |
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3. MARITAL STATUS |
Single |
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4. CONTACT TELEPHONE |
412 70 81 |
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5. LANGUAGES |
English (fluent) - translating. |
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interpreting and negotiating skills |
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German (basic) |
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6. EDUCATION |
A fourth-year student at the |
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evening department of the Institute |
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of Foreign Relations (MGMO) |
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International Economy |
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7. COURSES AND PROFES- |
1994-1995 |
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SIONAL TRAINING |
Typing and computer courses |
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1994-1995 |
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Interpreting courses |
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8.WORK EXPERIENCE |
1992-1995 - JSC, Poliphondis |
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Securities |
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Assistant General Director 1995 - |
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MADI Institute (Automobile |
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Institute, Economics department) |
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Translator/Interpreter, Office |
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Assistant |
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9.SALARY HISTORY |
$ 700 per month including lunch |
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10. COMPUTER SKILLS |
Word for Windows, EXCEL, |
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Norton Commander |
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11. PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE |
1. Oral and written translation |
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2. Travel arrangement |
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3. Meetings and negotiations |
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arrangement |
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4. Business letters and contracts |
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making |
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5. Carrying out administrative |
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duties about the office |
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6. Working with clients, marketing |
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experience |
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12. INTERPERSONAL |
Good communication skills, |
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QUALITIES |
energetic, well-organised, flexible, |
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friendly, honest, responsible, |
HOW TO BEHAVE DURING AN INTERVIEW.
It’s evident that getting a job depends on many factors, among them writing a strong job application and CV or resume. Your behavior during an interview, however, is often the best and often the most important stage in getting a job.
During an interview you might be asked about yourself your family your education, your friends, your hobbies, your previous job, your interests and talents, business you plan to have, your strong and weak points, adaptability, flexibility, responsibility, ambition, your failures and experience of overcoming them.
Your possible questions to the interviewer may concern your future job, your coworkers, your salary, your promotion, your duties, possible difficulties (problems).
If you get an invitation for an interview you should try to choose the proper clothes and colour. Remember that your personal appearance sends a message even before you have an opportunity to shake hands with your interviewer.
Interviews may be conducted by one or by several people.
The interview is an opportunity for the applicant to project his/her personality and convince the interviewers of his/her suitability for the job.
1. Pay attention to the way you are dressed.
When you are properly dressed you demonstrate respect and consideration for those with whom you interact.
Your hairstyle, nails and choice of cosmetics will contribute to your appearance.
Your doming should meet the requirements of business style, it's very important that you should feel comfortable in your suit.
2. Be ready to speak about yourself. Your words should contain something to make people take notice of you. Describe briefly your experience at previous jobs and the good results you achieved there.
3. A standard question you may be asked - "Why are you looking for a job?" You should be ready to offer reasons which sound convincing.
4. You should organize your thoughts logically, have self-confidence, and never distort facts or try to persuade people to your way of thinking.
5. You must be ready to answer some unexpected questions: "What are your strong points?" and "What are your weak points?"
Your speech should be illustrated with clear examples. When speaking about your failures or mistakes be sure to emphasize the conclusion you have drawn after analyzing your failures and what they taught you.
Just remember that the capacity to overcome failures and analyze mistakes is valuable to any company.
6. You may be asked what you can do for the company or how you see your future duties. You should learn as much as possible about the company you are dealing with. If possible quote concrete figures or examples so that the interviewer will appreciate the extent of your contribution.
7. What salary are you expecting?
Think of concrete figures - you should base your answer on the average salary of other employees with your qualification.
8. Be ready for practical tests - if you apply for a job as a sales manager you may be asked to sell something or to express your opinion about how to settle a conflict in a hypothetical situation.
9. At the end of the interview you may ask some questions. You should enquire about what your future job will entail, what possible difficulties there are in store for you, and what the other staff members are like.
10. Some more advice:
4) Much attention should be paid to eye contact. You should not look at the floor or at the ceiling. Look into the eyes of the people you are talking to.
Your speech is certain to be enthusiastic and lively.
Now think what kind of person you are.
You may use the following words to describe yourself and other people:
VOCABULARY
to be well-organized – быть хорошо организованным
to be reliable – быть надёжным
to be adaptable – быть адаптивным
to be energetic – быть энергичным
to be hardworking – быть трудолюбивым
to be experienced – быть опытным
to be modest – быть скромным
to be practical – быть практичным
to be punctual – быть пунктуальным
to be flexible – быть гибким
to be friendly – быть дружелюбным
to be honest – быть честным
to be responsible – быть ответственным
to be patient – быть терпеливым
to be independent – быть независимым
to be sociable – быть общительным
applying for a job – подавать заявление о приёме на работу
a letter of job application – письмо-заявлениемо приёме на работу
curriculum vitae (CV) = resume (American version) – автобиография (обычно пишущаяся при поступлении на учёбу или работу)
a short written account of one’s education – краткий письменный отчёт об образовании
past employment – прошлая трудовая биография
job-winning tips – советы для получения работы
to be worthy of smb’s time – быть достойным того, чтобы занимать чье-то время
casual voluntary work – случайная общественная работа
to resume a working role – возобновлять, продолжать роль рабочего
to distort – искажать
salary – зарплата (заработная плата)
to be alert – быть внимательным, бдительным
19. MANAGEMENT
All organizations, whether small or large, have to be managed.
Management means the planning, controlling, directing and co ordinating of various ideas, activities and programmes in order to achieve a stated objective.
This means that there is a need for people with special abilities and skills.
The main responsibility of the senior managers of any business is decision-making. These decisions are connected with planning, organizing, directing and controlling the work to be done.
Planning has to be undertaken at all levels of management. An organization without proper plans is like a ship without a rudder.
Managers have to decide what to produce, how it should be produced, and for whom. This is at the centre of the planning process. The operation also involves:
Long-term plans.
Plans may be long-term or short-term, depending upon the time period they are designed to cover. How long a period the 'long-term' plans should cover depends very much on the type of business organization concerned and the nature of its objectives. In some (such as small retail shops), it may be as little as a year or even less; in others (such as oil exploration enterprises) it may be as long as twenty or thirty years.
Long-term plans are mainly concerned with the main broad objectives which a business or a department hopes ultimately to achieve. These plans take the form of either strategic or tactical plans.
Strategic plans are concerned with what objectives an organization should try to achieve. They are primarily the responsibility of top management.
Tactical plans deal with how they should be achieved. They are prepared in much more detail and are usually the responsibility of senior management.
Short-term plans.
These are concerned with the specific activities necessary to achieve the long-term aims. They are usually 'operational' plans prepared by departmental managers and senior supervisors. They set out in detail, for each department, the working plans for the immediate future.
The ultimate responsibility of management is to direct. This means making decisions and issuing the necessary commands through the management structure.
If the directions issued by management are to be effective, there must be a proper communication system within the organization since, obviously, the orders must reach those who are to carry them out. It is equally important that there should be an effective 'reporting back' system - communication is a two-way issue.
Decision-making is a characteristic of management at all levels. The more important the matter is, the higher up the management ladder the decision is made. In large organizations - particularly in the public sector - it is often difficult to identify exactly where decisions are made. The point at which they are apparently made is often different from the point at which they are actually made.
Organization and personnel charts.
A business is usually divided into a number of departments, each being responsible for a specific range of work (such as production, finance, personnel, marketing). The structure of the departments and sub-departments can be shown in an organization chart. This shows the departments how they are related to each other, and the lines of communication between them.
Organization charts differ from personnel charts. These show the posts held by individuals, their job titles and, sometimes, the span of control. The charts, therefore, indicate how responsibilities are divided between different individuals, and who is responsible to whom.
Despite their advantages, the charts have three serious limitations.
The amount of work involved in running a large business is usually too much for the senior managers to cope with entirely on their own. This means that responsibilities, authority and duties have to be passed 'down the line' to others - i.e. to middle management and first-line management. This is known as delegation. One of the arts of management is to know to whom particular tasks can be delegated - and to whom they should not. Proper delegation means the spreading of the workload. It also means that particular tasks can be delegated to those who have special experience or qualifications to deal with them. However, there is always the risk that the person a task is delegated to will prove to be incompetent. There is also the risk that unless there is proper 'reporting back', the senior manager will not know what is going on.
Plans are pointless unless there is a periodic check - a control - on what is being achieved. Whereas planning is concerned with the future, control is concerned with the (immediate) past. Problems can arise at any point during the implementation of a plan. Furthermore, unless a specific check is made on them, they can go unnoticed for so long that they become impossible to remedy. The controls should therefore be carefully planned so that they spotlight the problems which are likely to arise. Also, they should take place regularly.
There are several different types of control. Some can be measured in specific 'quantity' terms. With these, an actual figure proposed in the plan (often known as the budgeted or standard figure) can be compared with the figure actually achieved. For example, the planned quantity of raw material expected to be used, together with its anticipated cost, can be compared with the actual quantity used and the actual cost. Similarly, the 'standard' (i.e. anticipated) wage rates and the time a job is expected to take can be compared with the actual.
VOCABULARY
a stated objective – поставленная цель
decision-making – принятие решения
a rudder – руль
to undertake – брать на себя (обязательство), предпринимать
estimate – оценивать, предварительно подсчитать
long-term or short-term – долгосрочный или краткосрочный
to cover – охватывать
to concern – вовлекать, касаться чего-л.
a retail shop – магазин розничной торговли
ultimately – в конце концов
the immediate future – ближайшее будущее
ultimate – конечный, окончательный
issuing the necessary commands – издание необходимых команд
a two-way issue – двустороннее (общение)
an organization chart – карта организации (полномочия отделов)
personnel charts – обязанности персонала
the span of control – размах контроля
entirely on their own - полностью самостоятельно
a delegation – передача
the spreading of the workload - распределение трудовой нагрузки
pointless – бессмысленный
whereas – тогда, в то время как
an implementation – осуществление (проведение плана)
to remedy – исправлять
to spotlight – освещать (выявлять)
anticipated cost – ожидаемая стоимость
20. WHAT A BUSINESSMAN SHOULD KNOW
The First Four Minutes
When do people decide whether or not they want to become friends? According to Dr. Leonard Zunin during their first four minutes together in his book, "Contact First Four Minutes", he offers this advice to anyone interested in starting a new friend ship. "Every time you meet someone in a social situation, give him your undivided attention for four minutes. A lot of people's whole lives would change if they did just that".
When we are introduced to new people, the author suggests, we should try to appear friendly and self-confident. In general, he says, "People like people who are like themselves". On the other hand, we should not make the other person think we are too sure of ourselves. It is important to appear interested and sympathetic, realize that the other person has his own needs, fears and hopes... That is not the time to complain about one's health or mention faults one finds in other people. It is not the time to tell the whole truth about one's opinions and impressions.
Dr. Zunin suggests that these first four minutes together be treated with care. If there are unpleasant matters to be discussed they should be dealt with later.
Tell your friend:
1) what are the five rules that a businessman should keep in mind when he meets someone in a social situation;
2) which of the rules you find especially useful;
3) which of them you follow.
One of the most important skills of a businessman is the skill of negotiating. Most negotiations are conducted with a view to reaching a compromise agreement. Both parties together move towards an outcome which is to mutual benefit.
This is a range of tactics which can help conduct negotiations.
It's no use immediately discussing business matters. The to pic at the outset of negotiations should be neutral, non-business» It could be immediate experiences, the sort of journey the visitor has had; football, ice-hockey, the morning's newspaper headlines, common interests, etc.
Five per cent of the negotiating time is devoted to breaking the ice. The two parties adjust their thinking and behaviour to one another.
If you want to follow the reaction of your visitor introduce in your speech the question - "Agree?"
At the very beginning of the talks get agreement covering the purpose, plan, agenda of a meeting.
Here is some advice to a negotiator.
1. First discuss major items, then minor items.
2. Follow the headlines of the plan one by one.
3. Come over to the* next point after you have resolved the previous one.
There are always differences of view between the parties. Here is some advice on problem-solving tactics.
1. Present a problem in general and obtain the other party's view on it.
2. Look together at the possibilities of joint advantage.
3. Suggest practical actions to resolve a problem.
If negotiations are difficult and you are in a deadlock, take time-out. It'll help you build bridges between yourself and your partner when you resume negotiations.
Words and expressions to be learned by heart
to become friends - подружиться, стать друзьями
to start a new friendship – начать новую дружбу
to give smb undivided attention for some minutes – уделить кому-либо
неподдельное внимание
to be introduced to – быть представленным (кому-либо)
self-confident - самоуверенный
in general – в общем
on the other hand – с другой стороны
to complain about one’s health – жаловаться на здоровье
to mention faults – упоминать ошибки
to be treated with care – обращаться заботливо
skills of negotiating – навыки при переговорах
to conduct negotiating – проводить переговоры
with a view to reaching – с целью достичь …
an outcome – результат, исход
to mutual benefit – к взаимной выгоде
a range of tactics – ряд ходов, тактика
at the outset – вначале
immediate experiences – свежие события
to break the ice – сломать лёд, нарушать молчание
agenda – повестка дня
adjust – приспосабливать
a negotiator – участник переговоров
major items – главные вопросы
to come over to – переходить (к следующему вопросу)
problem – solving tactics – тактика решения проблем
to obtain one’s view on smth. – узнать чью-то точку зрения на что-либо
joint advantage – общая выгода
to build bridges – строить мосты
a dead lock – тупик, безвыходное положение
to resume – возобновлять, резюмировать
expertise – опыт
TEXTS FOR SELF-READING
A BRIEF HISTORY OF STATISTICS
Statistics has a long and venerable history. Perhaps the earliest use of statistics was when an ancient chief counted the number of effective warriors that he had or the number he would need to defeat his enemy, or when he figured how much might judiciously be collected m taxes. In later times, statistics were used to report death rates in the great London plague and in the study of natural resources. These uses of statistics, which encompass a broad field of activity referred to as "state arithmetic", are purely descriptive in nature.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries mathematicians were asked by gamblers to develop principles that would improve the chances of winning at cards and dice. The two most noted mathematicians who became involved in this, the first major study of probability, were Bernoulli and de Moivre. In the 1730s de Moivre developed the equation for the normal curve. Important work on probability was conducted in the first two decades of the nineteenth century by two other mathematicians, Laplace and Gauss. Their work was an application of probability principles to astronomy.
Through the eighteenth century statistics was mathematical, political, and governmental. In the early nineteenth century, a famous Belgian statistician, Quetelet, applied statistics to investigations of social and educational problems. Walker (1929) credits Quetelet with developing statistical theory as a general method of research applicable to any observational science. Beyond any doubt, the individual who had the greatest effect upon the introduction and use of statistics in the social sciences was Francis Galton. In the course of his long life he made notable contributions in the fields of heredity psychology, anthropology, and statistics. Our present understanding of correlation, the measure of agreement between two variables, is credited to him. The mathematician Person collaborated with Galton in later years and was instrumental in developing many of the correlation and regression formulas that are in use today. Among Gallon's contributions was the development of centiles or percentiles.
The famous American psychologist Janus Me Keen Cattell studied in Europe in the 1880s and contacted Galton and other European statisticians. On his return to the United States he and his students, including Thomdike, began to apply statistical methods to psychological and educational problems. The influence of these men was great; in a few years theoretical and applied statistics courses were commonly taught m American universities.
In the twentieth century new techniques and methods were applied to the study of small samples. The major contributions in small-sample theory were made by the late Fisher, an English statistician.
TYPES OF BUSINESSES IN THE U.K.
Most businesses in the United Kingdom operate in one of the following ways:
• sole trader
• partnership
• limited liability company
• branch of a foreign company.
The sole trader is the oldest form of business. There are many one-man owners, for example: a farmer, doctor, solicitor, estate agent, garage man, jobber, builder, hairdresser etc. The partnership is a firm where there are a few partners. They are firms of solicitors, architects, auditors, management consultants etc. The names of all the partners of the firm are printed on the stationery of a partnership.
The most common type of company in the United Kingdom is the limited liability company. At the end of the name of such a company the word Ltd. is used. For example: Wilson and Son Ltd.
Many of such companies are joint-stock companies owned by shareholders.
Limited liability companies are divided into public and private ones. Only public companies may offer shares to the public at the stock exchange. The names of such companies end in p.l.c. which stands for public limited company. For instance: John and Michael p.l.c.
Private limited companies may not offer shares to the public. The names of such companies end simply in Ltd.
A branch of foreign company is a part of a company incorporated outside Great Britain but acting under the law of the U.K. Usually these companies act in the U.K. under their normal foreign names.
ENGLISH BANKS
Today the British banking is a complicated tripartite system like a three-layer cake. The system is headed by the Bank of England.
This bank was established under a royal charter in 1694. The head of the Bank is Governor of the Bank appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Queen also appoints Deputy Governor and the Court of Directors, which consists of 16 directors.
The Bank of England is a central bank or a national bank. It controls the British banking system, issues banknotes and mints coins. It lends and borrows money for the government, manages the national debt and is in the control of the nation's gold reserve. The other two layers are:
• the commercial or joint stock clearing banks
• specialized banking institutions such as the discount houses and merchant banks.
The commercial or joint-stock banks deal with the general public. The four large English commercial banks are known as the Big Four. They are Barclays, Lloyds, the Midland, and the National Westminster. Together they have upwards of 10,000 branches. Commercial banks render various services to companies and individuals. Some of the services are:
• to receive or accept from their customers the deposit of money
• to collect and transfer money both at home and abroad against deposit and current accounts
• to provide overdrafts to both personal and business customers
• to lend loans to their customers
• to exchange money
• to supply economic information and to prepare economic reviews to be published
• to make foreign exchange transactions, including spot transactions, forward transactions and swap transactions
• to issue various banker's cards.
Merchant banks and discount houses deal only with special customers providing funds for special purposes. They accept commercial bills of exchange and offer quite a lot of financial services. They provide advisory services about new issues of securities, mergers, take overs and reorganizations. They also arrange financing for their customers and provide fund-management services.
Besides there is a big group of banks in the United Kingdom made up of foreign banks. All the major foreign banks are represented in the U.K. by subsidiary, branch, representative offices or consortium. They provide finance both in sterling and in other currencies and offer a wide range of financial services.
Lombara Street is the symbol of British banking. This is the place where the bankers coming from Italy settled.
FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.K.
In the 19th century Britain dominated international trade, accounting for about one-third of world's exports. Early in the 20th century its position changed. The volume of world's exports increased but the percentage of British exports in world trade declined significantly.
But still foreign trade is vital to Britain's livelihood. With a large population, small land area, and few natural resources, the country must depend on foreign trade, to supply the raw materials for English factories and to provide a market for the sale of the thousands of types of manufactured goods produced by English industries.
The United Kingdom's principal exports are vehicles, machinery, manufactured goods and textiles. Her main exports are foodstaffs and most of the raw materials for industry. Britain imports half the food it needs.
There is usually an unfavourable balance of trade, that is, imports exceed exports, but this is compensated for in part by the so-called invisible trade.
The earnings from invisible trade come in the way of shipping charges, interest payments from foreign investments, interest payments from British enterprises abroad, and tourist expenditure. The earnings from foreign tourist trade make this one of Britain's important industries.
Britain has got very sound economic ties with various countries of the world, especially the Commonwealth countries. The Commonwealth, officially called The Commonwealth of Nations, has grown out of the old British Empire which came to an end with the Second world war. The Commonwealth countries are Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other small countries and territories.
The United Kingdom has been a member of the European Free Trade Association (E.F.T.A.) since 1959, and a member of the European Economic Community (E.E.C.) since 1973.
FORMS OF ACCOUNTING
Every factory, building site, collective farm, institution or organization carries out primary recording or current registration to a definite system of economic phenomena that are either the necessary conditions for or the final results of the activity of these units. The data are then grouped and summed up in one way or another and their totals recorded in special registration documents (register books, cards, reports, etc.). This systematic recording of economic and related phenomena or processes and their subsequent classification and summary is called accounting.
We speak of accounting in the broadest sense of the word. It is not merely a question of recording the results of the economic activity of the enterprises and organizations involved. In social life many phenomena and processes take place which are not the immediate expression of the activity of economic and other organizations. We cannot afford to disregard them, however, we must take account of them if we want, for example, to improve economic activities and carry out social reforms.
Thus, by accounting we mean a systematic recording of social phenomena and processes taking place continuously, their classification and summary with a view to using the accounting data to control and direct these phenomena and processes in the interests of society.
Three forms of accounting are to be distinguished, according to their methods and specific aims, operative technical recording, bookkeeping and statistics.
The main aim of operative technical recording is the prompt supply of technical production information required at a particular enterprise or institution. This type of information is essential for control over current production technology, for an appraisal of the quality of current output, efficiency of equipment, correspondence at any given moment of actual traffic with the fixed timetable.
It goes without saying that this form of accounting also includes registration of the findings of laboratory analyses of the composition and quality of materials and products, the results of tests conducted during the manufacture and operation of machinery and equipment. In other words, all phenomena are registered relating to the organization of production and development of technology.
Bookkeeping is conducted at all industrial enterprises, institutions and organizations. It serves as an instrument of continuous, daily control over the fulfillment of economic plans and the maintenance of material and financial resources.
The subject of bookkeeping is the movement of resources at any given economic unit. It reflects this movement of resources in value (money) form, which makes it possible to compare different types of resources and summarize the relevant data.
Bookkeeping is specific in that it groups data on the resources of economic units in two ways: on the one hand, according to their composition and distribution (fixed assets, raw and other materials, fuel, finished products, financial resources, etc.) and, on the other hand, according to the source of their origin (basic fund, depreciation and other special funds, budget financing, bank credits, debts, etc.). In other words, the same resources are regarded from two points of view, that of their composition and that of their origin.
Bookkeeping is also specific in that it registers everything in money terms. Statistical accounting or statistics registers the quantitative aspect of mass phenomena and processes of social life in their inseparable connection with their qualitative characteristics.
HOW THE MARKETS WORK
Organized markets in primary commodities are an important part of the facilities available in the United Kingdom for the conduct of international trade. Markets in primary commodities are found in many countries abroad, some transacting a far greater volume of business than the corresponding markets in the United Kingdom; but these foreign markets are mainly concerned with domestic demand or domestic supply. The distinguishing feature of the U.K. markets is their international character, in the sphere of international merchanting, that is, buying from one country and selling to another, and in the variety of commodities in which they deal, they are collectively the most important in the world. They have their origins in the history of British exploration and investment overseas and industrialization at home, and in the consequent growth of the United Kingdom's world-wide trading links. Because they are international markets, however, they also benefit the economy in two special respects. Firstly, in attracting business from overseas the U.K. markets play an important part in the use of sterling as an international currency. Their existence has undoubtedly made foreign traders more ready to hold sterling and to settle an important part of their international transactions in it. Secondly, there is the benefit of increased invisible earnings. In addition to the profits and commissions earned by the markets direct, a more significant contribution to the UK balance of payments is made by the banking, insurance and shipping services which are employed by commodity traders in the execution of contracts made in the UK markets.
It is customary for these contracts to be drawn up on c.i.f. terms, in which the charges for insurance and freight to the port of destination are included in the contract price, and it follows that bank credits to finance such transactions undertaken by UK merchants, and other related freight and insurance contracts, will tend to be arranged in the United Kingdom.
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT
Gross Domestic Product or GDP is the amount of money a country makes from goods and services inside the country for a certain period of time, usually for a year.
When GDP is calculated different sectors of economy are analysed.
In the United Kingdom the following sectors of economy are usually analysed: manufacturing, services (financial, professional and scientific services, leisure and tourism), energy (oil, natural gas, coal) and agriculture. In the United States the following sectors of economy are usually analysed when the GDP is defined: construction and manufacturing; trade and finance; transport, communication and services; agriculture; and mining.
Speaking, as an example, about one of the recent year's GDP figures, the following can be quoted.
In the U.K. the services sector accounted for roughly 60 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. Manufacturing sector accounted for a small percentage of gross domestic products. Energy production sector accounted for about 8 per cent of GDP. Agriculture - only for 4 per cent of GDP. But the agricultural sector satisfies two-thirds of the country's needs. And only a small fraction of the total population, about 2 per cent, are engaged in agriculture.
In the U.S.A. the construction and manufacturing sector accounted for 40 per cent of GDP; trade and finance earned 25 per cent of GDP; transport, communication and services sector earned 20 per cent of GDP; agriculture and mining earned 5 per cent of GDP. By the way 10 per cent of the employed population of the United States is engaged in agriculture.
FORMS OF BUSINESSES IN THE U.S.A.
Businesses in the U.S.A. may be organized as one of the following forms:
• individual business
• general partnership
• limited partnership
• corporation
• alien corporation.
An individual business is owned by one person. A general partnership has got several owners. They all are liable for debts and they share in the profits.
A limited partnership has got at least one general owner and one or more other owners. They have only a limited investment and a limited liability.
A corporation is owned by persons, called stockholders. The stockholders usually have certificates showing the number of shares which they own. The stockholders elect a director or directors to operate the corporation. Most corporations are closed corporations, with only a few stockholders. Other corporations are owned by many stockholders who buy and sell their shares at will. Usually they have little interest in management of the corporations.
Alien corporations are corporations of foreign countries. All the corporations are to receive their charters from the state authorities. The charters state all the powers of the corporation. Many corporations try to receive their charters from the authorities of the State of Delaware, though they operate in other states. They prefer the State of Delaware because the laws are liberal there and the taxation is rather low. Such corporations, which receive their charters from an outside state, are called foreign corporations.
All the corporations require a certificate to do business in the state where they prefer to operate.
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM OF THE U.S.A.
Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States of America, set up by the Federal Government in 1913. On account of the vast area of the country, and the greater difficulties of travelling at that time, the country was divided into twelve Federal Reserve Districts, each with its own Federal Reserve Bank.
There are also twenty-five branches of the Federal Reserve Banks to serve particular areas within each district. The activities of the Federal Reserve Banks are coordinated through the Federal Reserve Board of governor's in Washington. The Board exercises general supervision over the Federal Reserve Banks.
The Federal Reserve Banks hold the reserves of the member banks, i.e. the commercial banks which are members of the Federal Reserve System. The FR Banks supply the member banks with currency if necessary and act to them as lenders by rediscounting bills. The Board determines the reserve requirements of the commercial banks. The Board too really determines discount rates. The Board discount rate corresponds in nature to the English Bank rate, though the Federal Reserve Banks do not always have the same discount rate.
The Federal Reserve System, in collaboration with the Government of the U.S.A., determines monetary policy and, aided by the Federal Reserve Banks, carries it out.
All national banks must be members of the Federal Reserve System. Incorporated state banks including commercial banks, mutual savings banks, trust companies, and industrial banks, may also join the System.
Incorporated state banks are those which have a charter from the state to act as an individual.
Mutual savings banks are savings banks owned by their depositors. Industrial banks make loans for the purchase or manufacture of industrial products.
TWO TALES OF TRADE
There is probably never a good time to be unskilled and poorly educated, but the late 20th century has been particularly harsh for those worst equipped to get a job. In America and Britain, the gap between the earnings of university graduates and the less educated has been rising sharply for several years. In other wealthy countries with less flexible labour markets, the rise in age inequality has not been so marked; but the least educated are still less likely, in relation to the best, to be in work than they were a decade ago. Many people see the hand of freer trade, especially trade with developing countries, in all this. It is a common fear that jobs in rich countries are under threat from developing countries where wages are lower.
The widening gap is a fact. Yet a huge amount of economic research has produced scant evidence that trade has had much to do with it. Instead, the wider gap seems to be due mostly to technological advance, which has boosted the productivity and wages mainly of the better educated while leaving the least educated lagging.
The trade economists argue that trade affects wages through the prices of imports and exports. Suppose that a rich country, which has a relatively large proportion of well-educated workers, starts trading with a poor country that has plenty of uneducated labour but relatively few graduates.
Then both countries will specialise according to their relative strengths - the rich country in making things that use more brainpower; the poor country in industries that use relatively less. Both countries are made better off. But the least educated workers in the rich country may lose out. Why? Because the relative prices of the goods they make are forced down by import competition, and this pushes down their wages.
The labour economists, however, argue that trade affects the labour market mainly through the volume of trade, not through prices. The idea is that by importing goods, a country is essentially importing the labour used to make those goods. Imports of goods made by low-skilled workers thus have the same effect as an increase in the supply of low-skilled workers: they drive down wages. Thus changes in a country imports and exports can be used to estimate the effect on the demand for local workers. From that, the impact on wages is worked out.
Each side finds fault with the other's approach. Trade theorists dislike the labour economists' method because, they say, it is not just the number of toys shipped across the border that affects wages in the toy industry. The mere threat of foreign competition may be enough to force down prices and wages, whether or not imports are large. Nor, they say, is it right to assume that imports displace goods made by local workers one-for-one: if America made all its toys at home rather than importing them from China, the price would be higher, and hence fewer toys would be sold.
The labour economists retort that the trade economists' price-based studies also have flaws. Data on the prices of traded goods are often inadequate. And these studies may fail to distinguish trade from other factors that affect wages. As an economy grows and its people get richer, they spend a smaller share of their income on cheap clothes and more on fast cars. That would push down the wages of a textile worker compared with those of a design graduate; but it would have nothing directly to do with trade.
Despite these differing approaches, it is remarkable that both camps broadly agree that trade has done little to increase inequality, and that technology has played a far bigger part. Even so, there is still plenty of research to be done, and plenty to argue about. Faced with increased competition from abroad, firms can cut costs by replacing workers with machines: trade and technology then go hand in hand. Trade's impact is also hard to isolate when considering changes in the composition of an industry's workforce. Clothing firms in rich countries, for instance, now employ a higher proportion of designers and a lower proportion of sewing-machine operators than they used to. In part, this is a response to foreign competition, but it is also a reaction to changing tastes, and to the fact that production processes are easier to automate than design or marketing. But how much of each?
A LITTLE LEARNING
Once, going to university was strictly for the elite. Now, higher education has become a mass-market business. Across 17 OECD countries, the average proportion of those aged 18-21 in higher education has risen from 14,4% in 1985 to 22,4% in 1995. The cost has risen too: finance for higher education accounts for 1,6% of GDP. In most OECD countries, by far the largest share of the cost of university is met by taxpayers. Economists take two contrasting views of all this. On the one hand, they regard higher education as a sort of intellectual sieve, designed merely to identify the brightest future employees, rather than to equip them with productive skills. On the other hand, economists regard education as an investment, which builds "human capital", making individuals more productive and thus benefiting society as a whole.
The sieving theory clearly makes some sense. Job advertisements specify "graduate wanted"; companies trawl campuses to recruit future executives; many countries have rigid academic requirements for particular professions. All this helps to explain two striking facts: everywhere, graduates earn more than non-graduates and everywhere, they are much less likely to be unemployed. The OECD reckons, for instance, that British women graduates earn 95% more than women with only secondary education. And the mean rate of unemployment in OECD countries in 1995 for people aged 25-64 was 7% for people who had finished secondary school but a mere 4% for graduates.
If sieving were all that higher education achieved, there would be little reason for governments to subsidise it. For one thing, many people would willingly pay to study if that brought financial gain (although there might be a case for government loans for those unable to pay their own way). For another, to the extent that the sieving process benefits society as a whole, there are surely cheaper ways to sieve than through universities.
In fact, few students leave higher education without learning something, and what they learn probably makes them better and more skilful workers. The most direct payback, in the form of higher earnings and better employment prospects, benefits individual graduates. Individuals weigh this benefit against the costs, including both tuition fees and the earnings they lose by studying rather than taking full-time work. Society also benefits from those higher earnings, which result in higher tax revenues and lower payments for unemployment benefits and income support. But the gains are much smaller than those to individual students.
What else could justify society's investing in higher education? The common answer is that society as a whole also earns benefits in the form of faster economic growth. Recent economic research has supported the existence of a link by emphasising the role of human capital in promoting growth and innovation. Societies which invest more in education reap long-term rewards. Plenty of evidence suggests that economies, which invest little in education generally, perform poorly. But it is harder to quantify the relationship between growth on the one hand and investment in education, specifically higher education, on the other. If, because a country spends more on higher education, university attendance rises from 20% to 22% of the 18-21 age group, will the economy grow faster as a result? No one knows.
Two conclusions can be drawn from the OECD studies. First, more of the cost of higher education should be borne by individual students. This has been happening in America, where tuition fees have been rising much faster than consumer prices in general, and in Britain, where, starting from September, 1998 most students will have to pay Л ,000 ($1,651) a year in order to study. In America, where students typically pay almost half the cost of a degree, enrolment rates are the world's highest.
Second, some governments can readily cut the cost of university education without harming quality. German universities, which educate young people at an average cost of $8,400 a year, appear far cheaper than Canada's, which cost an average of $11,300. Yet, because young Germans often spend six years at university while young Canadians can choose flexible, high-speed courses, Canada's total cost per qualified graduate is less than half of Germany's. Society should invest in academia, but it should invest wisely.
PLAY IT AGAIN, SAMUELSON
In September 1998 thousands of students throughout the world will begin an introductory economics course. They will probably use only one textbook. For most, that one course will be their only brush with the dismal science. That is why basic economics textbooks are enormously influential. One, in particular, has been extraordinarily so: Paul Samuelson's "Economics", first published in 1948, has taught at least two generations of Americans (and many others) all they know about the subject.
As well as influence, textbooks can also bring their authors riches. Gregory Mankiw, an economist at Harvard University, was paid an advance of $1.4m for a basic textbook*, out in August 1997 that has been named as "the new Samuelson". Fortunately, this claim is only half-true. Like Mr Samuelson's book in its day, Mr Mankiw's book sets a new standard of clarity and liveliness. Like almost all modern texts, it uses many of the basic analytical tools developed by Mr Samuelson. But Mr Mankiw's aim, unlike Mr Samuelson's, is to elucidate rather than advocate. This is a big difference.
It is difficult to exaggerate the worldwide impact of Mr Samuelson's «Economics». Its 15 editions have sold more than 4m copies and it has been translated into 41 languages. Though its popularity has waned somewhat in recent years, many millions of people learned their economics from the textbook's lively prose. The book has great strengths. In microeconomics in particular, the pedagogy Mr Samuelson developed— diagrams of supply and demand, or cost curves, for instance - still set the discipline's standard. More problematic is his approach to macroeconomics. Although Mr Samuelson claimed that he had no great message to impart in his first textbook, he was actually introducing, explaining and advocating the then revolutionary economics of John Maenad Keynes. Hence the book reflected a belief in the need for active government and skepticism about market outcomes. Although it has evolved enormously over 15 editions, that tone remains.
Has this been for the best? In an intriguing recent paper, Mark Skousen of Rollins College in Florida studies the evolution of «Economics» and argues that its approach may have hindered people's understanding. Mr Samuelson's determination to provide a unified approach to macroeconomics created a false sense that there was a single way of thinking about how economies work. Readers of early editions would have the (wrong) impression that there was no longer disagreement about macroeconomics.
More important, the Keynesian basis of «Economics» means that large aspects of macroeconomics have been underplayed, and dubious policy prescriptions advocated. By concentrating principally on short-run aggregate demand, the book understated the importance of the causes of long-run economic growth. Its emphasis on Keynnes's concerns that people might save too much and so shrink the economy led through many editions to an anti-saving tone. Only in the 13th edition in 1998 did Messrs. Samuelson and Nordhaus bemoan the low level of American savings and suggest a close link between saving and economic growth.
Nor are the book's microeconomics beyond fault. «Economics» has remained convinced that government should correct market failures and provide public goods. Every edition since 1961, for instance, cites lighthouses as examples of public goods that markets cannot provide - even though in 1974 Ronald Coase, a Chicago economist and, like Mr Samuelson, a Nobel laureate, explained how many English lighthouses in the 19th century were commercially run. To be sure, some of this criticism is based on hindsight. In the 1950s or 1960s, Mr Samuelson's book would not have seemed as subjective or one-sided as it does today. And it has developed over time with Mr Samuelson's own ideas. But for all that, the book remains rooted in its time and in a single set of ideas.
Mr Mankiw's book, even if it becomes a bestseller, will not radically alter economic teaching in the way that Mr Samuelson's did. This is no criticism, for Mr Mankiw has produced something long overdue: an accessible introduction to modern economics. By writing more in the style of a magazine than a stodgy textbook and explaining even complex ideas in an intuitive, concise way, he will leave few students bored or bewildered. A second innovation is the book's structure and emphasis, which reflect today's economic realities and economists' understanding. International trade, for instance, looms large early on. The discussion of macroeconomics begins with long-run growth and only later moves to short-run fluctuations.
Most refreshing, though, is the book's even-handedness. Mr Mankiw seems to revel in setting out how different schools of thought have contributed to economists' current state of knowledge. Like «Economics», this book also mentions lighthouses. But it asks, «Are lighthouses public goods?» and gives the arguments on both sides. Whether the book's sales will justify Mr Mankiw's huge advance remains to be seen. But if, as it deserves, it becomes popular with the millions of students who take introductory economics; tomorrow's graduated might not only understand economics. They might even enjoy it.
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* «Principles of Economics». Dryden Press.
CAR CRASH AHEAD
There has been something special about cars and the making of them. Henry Ford turned the car-assembly line into an enduring symbol of industrialisation. Later, Alfred Sloan made General Motors into a model for the modern corporation: the inventor of operating divisions and marketing plans. Today the industry seems poised once again to become an example for other businesses, as car manufacturers grapple with the opportunities and challenges of globalisation. In theory, no business better illustrates the great opportunity that the opening up of world markets presents to the mature companies of the rich world. With a turnover of well over $1 trillion, and 10m employees, the car industry is still the world's largest manufacturing business. At present, many carmakers are doing well. The American Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) and Japan's Toyota are rich in cash.
Nonetheless, having powered ahead for so long, the industry as a whole must now execute a death-defying turn. In the rich countries of Western Europe, Japan and North America, where the industry has until now earned most of its money, roads are becoming congested and markets saturated. Luckily for car makers, demand for cars in the developing world is set to grow, at just the right moment to make up for the shortfall in the traditional markets. But to steer in this new direction is harder than it looks. The reason is that it is not just the demand for cars that is growing in these new markets. For a while the supply of them will grow faster still, pushing down prices and profits everywhere.
Such is the rush to capture new markets in Asia and Latin America that on some estimates the industry will by 2000 have the capacity to produce about 22m more vehicles a year than the world wants. In other words, every car plant in America could close, and the world would still have too many cars. The Asia-Pacific region, already the world's biggest producer, will add the capacity to make extra 6m cars a year in the next five years. Worse still for the established companies, new entrants are joining the scramble. South Korea alone is building an industry with capacity about five times greater than the demand for cars in its domestic market. The South Koreans do not intend to confine their competition to the developing world. They will be muscling into Europe as well.
Unless you happen to be a carmaker, there is nothing to lament in all this. On the contrary, when too many cars pursue too few customers, consumers are sure to benefit. And not just consumers. One of the virtues of globalisation is that it will increase productivity and therefore prosperity in general. If they were lift to slug it out on their own, carmakers would in time compete the extra capacity away.
The more efficient firms would prosper and the weak would fall. Factories would be located in places - whether Detroit, Bavarian or Bangladesh - that have a comparative advantage in car making, and investors' capital would be allocated wherever it could earn the best return.
FUN FOR THE MASSES
Are you better off than you used to be? Even after six years of sustained economic growth, Americans worry about that question. Economists who plumb government income statistics agree that American's incomes, as measured in inflation-adjusted dollars, have risen more slowly in the past two decades than in earlier times, and that some workers' real incomes have actually fallen. They also agree that by almost any measure, income is distributed less equally than it used to be. Neither of those claims, however, sheds much light on whether living standards are rising or falling. This is because "living standard" is a highly amorphous concept. Measuring how many people earn is relatively easy, at least compared with measuring how well they live.
A recent paper ("Less of a Luxury: The Rise of Recreation since 1888", June 1997). by Dora Costa, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, looks at the living-standards debate from an unusual direction. Rather than worrying about cash incomes, Ms Costa investigates Americans' recreational habits over the past century. She finds that people of all income levels have steadily increased the amount of time and money they devote to having fun. The distribution of dollar incomes may have become more skewed in recent years, but leisure is more evenly spread than ever.
Ms Costa bases her research on consumption surveys dating back as far as 1888. The industrial workers surveyed in that year spent, on average, three-quarters of their incomes on food, shelter and clothing. Less than 2% of the average family's income was spent on leisure. But that average hid large disparities. The share of a family's budget that was spent on having fun rose sharply with its income: the lowest-income families in this working-class sample spent barely 1% of their budgets on recreation, while higher earners spent more than 3%. Only the latter group could afford such extravagances as theatre and concert performances, which were relatively much more expensive than they are today.
Since those days, leisure has steadily become less of a luxury. By 1991, the average household needed to devote only 38% of its income to the basic necessities, and was able to spend 6% on recreation. Moreover, Ms Costa finds that the share of the family budget spent on leisure now rises much less sharply with income than it used to. At the beginning of this century a family's recreational spending tended to rise by 20% for every 10% rise in income. By 1972-1973, a 10% income gain led to roughly a 15% rise in recreational spending, and the increase fell to only 13% in 1991. What this implies is that Americans of all income levels are now able to spend much more of their money on having fun.
One obvious cause is that real income overall has risen. If Americans in general are richer, their consumption of entertainment goods is less likely to be affected by changes in their income. But Ms Costa reckons that rising incomes are responsible for at most half of the changing structure of leisure spending. Much of the rest may be due to the fact that poorer Americans have more time off than they used to. In earlier years, low-wage workers faced extremely long hours and enjoyed few days off. But since the 1940s, the less skilled (and lower paid) have worked ever-fewer hours, giving them more time to enjoy leisure pursuits.
Conveniently, Americans have had an increasing number of recreational possibilities to choose from. Public investment in sports complexes, parks and golf courses has made leisure cheaper and more accessible. So too has technological innovation. Where listening to music used to imply paying for concert tickets or owning a piano, the invention of the radio made music accessible to everyone and virtually free. Compact discs, videos and other paraphernalia have widened the choice even further.
At a time when many economists are pointing accusing fingers at technology for causing a widening inequality in the wages of skilled and unskilled workers, Ms Costa's research gives it a much more egalitarian face. High earners have always been able to afford amusement. By lowering the price of entertainment, technology has improved the standard of living of those in the lower end of the income distribution. The implication of her results is that once recreation is taken into account the differences in Americans' living standards may not have widened so much after all.
These findings are not water-tight. Ms Costa's results depend heavily upon what exactly is classed as a recreational expenditure. Reading is an example. This was the most popular leisure activity for working men in 1888, accounting for one quarter of all recreational spending. In 1991, reading took only 16% of the entertainment dollar. But the American Department of Labour's expenditure surveys does not distinguish between the purchase of a mathematics tome and that of a best-selling novel. Both are classified as recreational expenses. If more money is being spent on textbooks and professional books now than in earlier years, this could make "recreational" spending appear stronger than it really is.
Although Ms Costa tries to address this problem by showing that her results still hold even when tricky categories, such as books, are removed from the sample, the difficulty is not entirely eliminated. Nonetheless, her broad conclusion seems fair. Recreation is more available to all and less dependent on income. On this measure at least, inequality of living standards has fallen.
So why the pervasive feeling that people are worse off? One reason may be that while lower-income families now enjoy more leisure, technology has created new leisure activities that they may desire but cannot afford. Or maybe the greater variety and quality of entertainment options makes Americans value their free time more than they used to, thereby making the feeling of over-work more onerous. When it comes to well being, perceptions play a large role. People who spend more time and money on having fun do not necessarily enjoy life more.
STRANDED ON THE FARM?
"Economic development" is more a slogan than a term with a precise definition. But in the thinking of politicians and economists around the world, it has long been synonymous with "industrialisation". Today's advanced economies grew rich by shifting resources from agriculture into industry, so it is no wonder that emerging economies from India to Brazil have sought to emulate that trick by fostering manufacturing.
This belief in the importance of industry has come into conflict with one of the fashions of the 1990s, freer trade. In principle, reductions in trade barriers could open new markets for manufactured exports from developing countries. But there is no assurance that this will happen. Under free trade, after all, each country will tend to specialize in those products in which it is relatively most efficient, compared with other countries. This might mean that some countries would end up producing coffee and cattle rather than computers and cars. If they get "stuck" in agriculture, are they condemned to poverty and slow growth?
This is a question that some economists have taken seriously. Kiminori Matsuyama, a professor at Northwestern University in America, showed that under free trade countries richly endowed with arable land and natural resources might grow more slowly than others. Such natural wealth would encourage the growth of agriculture at the expense of industry. This matters because in Mr Matsuyama's model manufacturing is special. He assumes there are economies of scale in manufacturing: the more resources employed in the sector, the faster productivity will grow. But is it not possible that agriculture, too, can have large productivity improvements as more capital and other resources are invested? If this were to happen, agriculture could have a special role in stimulating growth, just as Mr Matsuyama assumes manufacturing does.
The empirical evidence on this point is mixed. As Mr Matsuyama's model assumes, the relative importance of manufacturing in Latin America has been shrinking over the last decade as trade liberalisation has taken hold. However, the consequences may not be as bleak as he expected. This is because, so far, productivity growth in agriculture has been as fast as in manufacturing. Chile provides a good test case. Since the country opened up to trade in 1976, the relative size of its manufacturing sector has declined. Manufacturing accounted for 27% of Chile's GDP in 1973; in 1995 its share was only 168%. Agriculture, on the other hand, has not declined - as traditional models of development would have predicted - but instead has grown modestly as a share of GDP.
The decline of manufacturing has not meant slow growth, however. Chile's economy has expanded at an average rate of 7.2% since 1987. Exports have been the engine of growth and agricultural products have been star performers. Chile went from being a small player in the global fruit market, exporting just apples in the 1960s, to become one of the world's largest fruit exporters in the 1990s. Such exports may not be manufactured, but the businesses that make and export them have been using increasingly sophisticated production technology and management methods. Although grapes are by far the main fruit export, Chile began exporting wines in a significant way in the 1980s and achieving important world market shares in the 1990s. Similarly, fish exports, once produced almost entirely by an ocean-going fleet, are now seeing the growth of salmon farms. This sort of technological advance has meant marked productivity increases in agriculture and higher incomes.
So does agriculture offer an alternative path of economic development? "We used to think that countries would develop by climbing ladders of production that would go from textiles, to clothing, to toys and eventually electronics," says Ricardo Hausmann, chief economist at the Inter-American Development Bank. "Now we know that there are different ladders and countries can grow by going from fruit to wine, furniture, salmon..." Fair enough, say some advocates of industrial policy. But even if agriculture is highly productive, emerging economies need to industrialise because there is a limit to the demand for foodstuffs. This contention is based on the well-established finding know as "EngePs law", which hold that people tend to spend a smaller share of their budgets on food as their incomes rise. EngePs law, however, does not mean that agriculture will, sooner or later, become a slow-growth sector. Rather, it implies that producers must constantly adapt to changing tastes: wealthier societies may consume less manioc and potatoes, but spend more on beef, fruits and oven-ready frozen foods.
There is one final argument against the idea that countries will end up getting "stuck" in agriculture. This worry assumes that a country's comparative advantage is static, so that a country that grows bananas today will inevitably grow bananas in 20 years' time. This need not be the case. If a country does what it does best and sees its incomes grow as a result, it can afford better education and infrastructure. These, in turn, will give an advantage in other products in future.
Just as few could have predicted the dramatic grow spurt of East Asian economies 30 years ago, it is hard to forecast today how open, agriculturally rich economies will continue to develop. It may be that they will move towards a service economy without ever having a large industrial sector. Or they may find new ways to prosper from their natural resources. Although open trade may make it difficult for them to establish certain kinds of industries, this does not necessarily doom them to slow growth. But it does not guarantee fast growth either. Their own economic policies matter, but so do the trade policies of wealthier nations. Many of these are more protectionist towards farm products than towards manufactured goods. No wonder officials in many emerging economies worry about being stranded on the farm.
EASTERN PROMISE
The demolition of the Berlin Wall in December 1989 removed the most potent symbol of Europe's post-war economic and political divisions. More than seven years on, however, the continent is far from united. Not only do huge disparities in living standards between Eastern and Western Europe remain, but eastern countries still face a long wait before they are admitted to the west's economic and political club, the European Union.
Although the easterners are eager to join, the EU's 15 current members are in no hurry to let them in. In part, this is because the EU is preoccupied with economic and monetary union. And with more members, decision-making in the EU would become more complicated. But the 15 worry about the economic costs of expansion as much as the political ones. Perhaps they should not. New research suggests that the net economic effects of eastward expansion on the EU's current members would be negligible - meaning that enlargement is much more a question of politics than of economics.
A paper by three economists, Richard Baldwin, Joseph Francois and Richard Fortes, looks at the costs and benefits of enlarging the EU both for the Union's current members and for seven applicants (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). Not surprisingly, they find that the easterners would benefit hugely from joining the club. As for West Europeans, the authors say that there are small gains to be had from increased trade, to be set against small budgetary costs. The net cost is tiny.
The most obvious economic effect of admitting the eastern countries to the EU' s single market would be to make trade between east and west freer. This effect would not be enormous, because most exports from Eastern Europe to the EU are already tariff-free. But some east European exports, including steel, are subject to EU antidumping duties; quotas limit others, such as textiles and shoes, and trade in agriculture has barely been liberalised at all. On joining, the new members would have to scrap their tariffs on goods from the EU. They would also have to adopt the EU's common tariff on non-EU goods. This would cut their tariffs on most manufactured goods but would mean increased protection on farm products.
Messrs. Baldwin, Francois and Portes estimate that, even in the long run, all this would boost the annual GDP of current EU members by a mere 0.2%. Although the seven entrants' combined GDP would go up by proportionately more, their gains would also be modest: 1.5%. The main reason why the easterners gain relatively more than to the west: four of the seven countries send more than half of their exports to the Union, while the east is a small market for EU firms.
The possible benefits of EU membership for Eastern Europe, however, would be rather more impressive if the region became a less risky place to do business. The authors guess, for instance, that if investors saw the east as no more risky than Portugal, then eventually GDP would rise by more than 18% of its 1992 level. This will be an overstatement if investors think that the east is getting safer anyway. It may be: some countries already have credit ratings better than Greece's.
But the benefits to their eastern neighbours weigh less in EU ministers' minds than what it will cost their own countries. How much is that? The EU gives aid to regions where income per head is less than 75% of the Union average, for which Eastern Europe would qualify - partly at the expense of regions which receive aid now but would be relatively richer in a bigger EU. And the east would have to be brought into the Union's cumbersome system of farm support.
Suppose, say Messrs. Baldwin, Francois and Fortes, that the newcomers received regional and agricultural support in line with current EU rules. Those rules would help keep the bill down. Regional aid has to be matched by payments from national governments: and even existing members, which are richer than the easterners, have had trouble coming up with the money. EU rules and international commitments cap farm subsidies. The EU's total spending would rise by about one-third. That may sound an enormous burden, but it is not. As a proportion of GDP, the net cost to existing members would be little more than the gains from trade.
THE LAW OF THE MARKET
Imagine that you have a little extra money to invest, and that you are choosing between the shares of two different companies. One is in a country where small shareholders have strong legal protections; the other is in a country where shareholders have no such rights, and where the few that do exist to protect them are only weakly enforced. Which do you invest in? No, this is not a trick question. But economists have had difficulty proving what many investors claim: that countries which treat them poorly have a harder time attracting their money. America and Britain, for example, are hailed as bastions of shareholder capitalism. Yet Germany and Japan, who rely heavily on banks and treat lesser shareholders with disdain, have also thrived. Do shareholders' rights really make a difference to economic performance?
The reason this question is so difficult to answer is because it is hard to say definitively which laws are best for investors. In some cases, laws that make it easier for investors to sell their shares or receive timely information may limit firms' freedom to pursue profitable strategies. Moreover, most big firms are riddled with conflicts of interest among managers, creditors and shareholders. Defining the rights of these groups in a way that maximises a firm's value is tricky business, and the right solution will be different for different kinds of firms.
For these reasons, many legal experts argue that it is the strength of a country's stockmarket that determines its company laws, not the other way round. Frank Easterbrook, a prominent American jurist, makes this case in a recent article*. He argues that in countries with deep, liquid capital markets, managers are subject to constant stockmarket pressures. Where such markets are absent, however, investors must restrain managers in other ways, such as by giving more power to banks and other big institutions. Thus, the laws that determine investors' rights may respond to, rather than determine, the economic environment.
A newly published paper**, however, casts doubt on this theory. The authors take a detailed look at the legal systems of 49 countries, and examine the ways in which those laws affect the size and breadth of capital markets. They classify countries into four different types of legal system, based on the origins of their legal codes, their colonial histories and so forth. First, there are those that rely primarily on English common law, basing legal rules on case precedents and judges' opinions. These countries include Britain and its former colonies, ranging from America and Canada to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The main alternative to common law is civil law. Based on the classifications of legal scholars, the economists divide civil law countries into three groups. Indonesia, Mexico and Spain, for example, are classified as French civil law countries. Several East Asian nations, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, are reckoned to have German-type systems. The Scandinavian countries form a third group unto themselves.
The authors then construct several indices of shareholders' rights, and classify every country according to which protections it has. For example, some countries allow firms to issue non-voting shares to small shareholders, or to dilute their voting power in other ways. Only 11 of the 49 countries give equal voting powers to every share. Even if every share carries equal voting power, it is easier to exercise those rights in some countries than others. In Japan, for example, a shareholder must be present at a company's general meeting to exercise his vote. Since around 80% of Japanese firms hold their meetings during the same week, voting rights are practically worthless. Moreover, it is easier for shareholders to demand a general meeting in some countries "than in others. In America, it takes only 1% of shareholders to do so; in Mexico, it takes 33%.
The results of this analysis are stark. First, the economists find, common-law countries are far more protective of shareholders than civil-law countries, those based on the French system are by far the worst. Common-law countries are also more protective of creditors, though the gap over German-law countries is less pronounced, and they do a better job than civil-law countries of enforcing the laws on their books. French-law countries trail the pack on these counts as well. Investors do not take this lying down. In the typical common-law country, the value of the stockmarket is equal to around 60% of GNP. In civil-law countries, the authors find, markets tend to be far smaller. French-law countries, for example, have an average market capitalisation ratio of only 21% of GNP.
This pool of willing investors makes a big difference to firms trying to raise cash. As a result, while common-law countries boast 35 listed companies for 1m members of the population, French civil-law countries have only ten. The ability to raise cash is especially important for new companies. For every 1m people, common-law countries average around 2.2 initial public offerings a year. Countries with a French-style legal tradition average less than a tenth that. The message seems clear. Countries with common-law legal system treat investors well, and their companies have an easy time raising capital. Those with French-law systems, by contrast, fail to protect investors, with predictable results.
Of course, many factors other than the legal environment determine the health of a country's financial system. Growth is an obvious one: as a share of output, America's stockmarket capitalisation is actually below the average for common-law countries, many of which are rapidly growing Asian economies. But to those investors, who have been clamouring for legal reforms in many countries, the evidence in favour of their argument is at last beginning to mount.
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* "International Corporate Differences: Markets pr Law". Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Winter 1997.
** "Legal Determinants of Extrenal Finance". Journal of Finance, forthcoming.
A NEW START FOR EUROPE?
In the American view, Europe suffers from an overgenerous welfare state and an obsession with job security. Companies face too many regulations and too many taxes. The unemployed is paid too well for staying idle. Naturally, joblessness is high. It's 10 percent in Germany, 12 percent in Spain. But a case can be made that Europe's economy is on the verge of a revival that will shatter the American stereotype. The case, plausible though hardly .preordained, deserves examination.
Let's start with the unmistakable signs of Europe's recovery. Its stock markets are buoyant. In 1997 the German market is up about 50 percent and the British 20 percent. Surveys of business confidence show big gains. Economist Thomas Mayer of Goldman Sachs in Franklurt predicts that Europe's gross domestic product will increase 2.3 percent in 1997 and 2.6 percent in 1998, up from 1.7 percent in 1996.
But what really matters is whether the recovery is long enough - and strong enough - to reduce joblessness from the present 11,percent to, say, 6 or 7 percent. Europe's economy ought to be able to expand 3 to 4 percent annually for a number of years through lower unemployment and normal labour-force and productivity growth. But a sluggish expansion would barely affect unemployment. What haunts Europe is the fear that higher growth would trigger higher wages - and then higher interest rates to halt inflation. Can this stagflation be overcome?
Perhaps. One major country has already done it: Britain. Its unemployment has dropped from more than 10 percent in 1993 to less than 7 percent now, reports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The simplest explanation is that Margaret Thatcher broke the unions. A deep recession in the early 1980s - meant to suppress high inflation - raised unemployment and bankrupted many unionized firms. New labour laws made strikes harder.
As job security and union power eroded, wage bargaining became more restrained. Wages no longer automatically rose with prices. Settlements varied more among companies. Workers had to consider that they might price themselves out of a job. "Things like plant productivity and the individual financial performance of companies became more important," says economist Douglas Godden of the Confederation of British Industry.
Something similar needs to happen in the rest of Europe. If workers never fear losing their jobs, there's little reason to restrain wages. Some uncertainty, anxiety and fear are essential. But of course, uncertainty, anxiety and fear are unpopular. The paradox is that the things governments do to minimize these scourges - legal job guarantees, higher minimum wages and various industry protections - weaken job creation. Unemployment drifts up because the young can't find work, and some industries shrink.
The central question for Europe is whether it can use its recovery to pare back self-defeating policies and practices. Let's imagine a virtuous circle. As the recovery accelerates, governments loosen protective policies precisely when their constituents need them less. Unemployment drops, sustaining the recovery and enabling the process to continue. Wages (and inflation) remain tame, because heightened job insecurity - the consequence of past unemployment -prompts wage restraint. In Germany, one poll found that the share of workers worried about their jobs rose from 29 to 42 percent between 1991 and 1995.
Granted, the odds against this are long. Countless politicians who have tinkered with the present system have been hurled from office. France's recent conservative government is the latest example. Even Thatcher's success was a bit of a fluke, says economist David Walton of Goldman Sachs in London. Her early policies were unpopular (unemployment was 12 percent in 1983). What reelected her in 1983 was the victory in the Falklands war the previous year. Finally, there's the stigma of seeming to ditch the "European economic model" for the allegedly cruel "Anglo-Saxon model".
But the odds are not impossible. The debate over rival models is artificial, because the differences are exaggerated. Each mixes government protections and market forces. Even many Europeans see their mix as too protective. Among economists, there's growing disillusionment. Companies are increasingly hostile and more willing to resort to layoffs. The common European currency would require more flexibility to adapt to new competitive conditions. Timing is everything in politics, and an improving economy and a shifting intellectual climate create an opportunity. It gives Europeans a chance for renewal. If they miss it, they can blame only themselves.
Литература
4. Немыкина А.И., Ракова К.И. 120 устных тем по английскому языку. 5-11 класс. К., ГИППВ, 1997. – 272 с.
5. Цибуля Н.Б. Английский язык: Устные темы. Всё о себе: Учеб. пособ. – М.: Ин. язык. – 2002. – 328 с.
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Предисловие…………………….……………………………………………..3
Text 1. LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF……………………………………..4
Text 2. THE UNIVERSITY I STUDY AT……………………………………..7
Text 3. THE ROLE OF EDUCATION FOR MODERN YOUTH……………..9
Text 4. MY MOTHERLAND………………………………………………………….10.
Text 5. OUR DUTIES IN THE HOUSE……………………………………..14
Text 6. FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN THE LIFE OF AN ENGINEER………16
Text 7. PROBLEMS OF THE YOUTH……………………………………….17
Text 8. SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS………………………………………20
Text 9. MY PLANS FOR THE FUTURE……………………………………..23
Text 10. PEOPLE AND THEIR RELATIONS……………………………….24
Text 11. ENGINEERING PROFESSION……………………………………25
Text 12. MY FUTURE SPECIALITY…………………………………………26
Text 13. OIL AND OIL INDUSTRY…………………………………………29
Text 14. ROLE OF AUTOMATION IN TECHNOLOGY………………………30
Text 15. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE………………………………….32
Text 16. THE WORLD AROUND US………………………………………35
Text 17.ETIQUETTE…………………………………………………………37
Text 18. APPLYING FOR A JOB……………………………………………40
Text 19. MANAGEMENT…………………………………………….……..45
Text 20. WHAT A BUSINESSMAN SHOULD KNOW…………………….47
TEXTS FOR SELF-READING………………………………………………..49
Литература …………………………………………………………………..70
Содержание……………………………………………………………………71