Миловидов В.А. Английский разговорный язык. Практическое пособие по развитию устной речи
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constantly –
custom –
defender –
defensible –
define –
differentiation –
distinct – ,
dominate –
effort –
enrichment –
entrust – ,
eventually – ,
giant – ;
homogeneous –
individualism –
innovate –
interventionist –
law –
legal –
legitimate – ,
loyalty –
luxury – ,
mutual –
necessity – , ()
occur – ,
performance – , ,
proof –
protect –
pursuit – ,
restrict –
rival –
rivalry –
security –
sophisticated – ,
term –
warranty –
self-interest – ,
in this case –
to a certain extent –
in terms –
small scale – ;
cost-cutting –
money-back guarantee –
brand name –
flesh-and-blood – «» (.: )
microwave oven –
videocassette recorder –
answering machine –
personal computer –
sophisticated camera –
compact disc player –
in exchange for –
engage in– (), ()
large-scale –
long-range –
Exercise 2
Answer the questions:
1. What assumption is capitalism based on?
2. What is the state's role under capitalism?
3. What decisions are people free to make within the capitalist system?
4. What is «pure» competition?
5. What are companies' aims under real competition?
6. What do competing companies undertake to attract customers?
7. What benefits of capitalism are based on such things as rivalry and product differentiation?
8. What is the main feature of modern capitalism?
9. Who do giant corporations attract funds from?
10. What role does a government play in national economies under capitalism?
How to Make Money under Capitalism
1
A young man asked an old rich man how he made his money.
The old guy fingered his very expensive wool vest and said, "Well, son, it was 1932. The depth
of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel.
"I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of
the day, I sold the apple for ten cents.
«The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing
them and sold them at 5:00 pm for 20 cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of
which I'd accumulated a fortune of $1.37.»
«And that's how you built an empire?» the boy asked.
«Heavens, no!» the man replied. «Then my wife's father died and left us two million dollars.»
2
«My boy decided to go into business on a shoestring,» said George. «He's tripled his
investments, but he's still not satisfied, can you believe it?»
«Why not?» asked his friend.
«He can't think of anything to do with three shoestrings.»
3
A businessman was leaving his office building and saw a little boy sitting on the curb with a dog.
The boy yelled at the businessman, «Hey, how would you like to buy a dog?»
The man was intrigued by this sales approach and asked the boy, «How much do you want for
your dog?»
The boy told him, «Fifty thousand dollars.»
«Fifty thousand dollars!» the man repeated in astonishment. «What special tricks does this dog
do that he can earn enough money to be worth fifty thousand dollars?» the man asked the boy.
The boy replied, «Mister, this dog never made a nickel in his life. Matter of fact, count what he
eats I guess you could say you lose money on him every year.»
The businessman felt this was a good time to explain economics to the young man and
expounded on how an item had to produce more income than it consumed to equal a purchase
price. And he ended saying that the boy might get five dollars from someone who just wanted a
companion. Feeling he had imparted a very valuable lesson to the young man, the
businessman went on his way.
A few weeks later, the businessman came out of his office building and the small boy was again
sitting on the curb minus the dog. The man said to him, «I see you took my advise and sold the
dog for five dollars.»
The boy said, «No, I got fifty thousand dollars for him.»
The businessman was completely flabbergasted. «How did you ever get fifty thousand dollars
for that dog?» he asked.
«It was easy,» said the boy. «I traded him for two twenty five thousand dollar cats.»
:
accumulate – ,
astonishment –
be worth – ,
count –
curb –
depth – ,
empire –
entire – ,
equal – , ;
expound – ,
finger – ; ,
flabbergast – , ,
fortune –
guy –
impart – )
intrigue – ,
item –
mister – .
nickel – , 5
polish –
purchase –
reply – ;
shoestring –
trade – ; ,
triple –
vest –
wool – ;
yell – ,
the Great Depression –
down to the last nickel –
Heavens! – !
on a shoestring – «», ,
sales approach –
matter of fact ( as a matter of fact) – ,
Exercise 3
Answer the questions:
1. When was the depth of the Great Depression?
2. How could the guy sell a five cent apple for ten cents?
3. How many apples did he have to sell to accumulate $1.37?
4. How much did the boy want for the dog?
5. What basic principle of economics did the businessman explain to the boy?
6. In the businessman's opinion, who might the boy get five dollars from?
7. How did the boy get the dog's worth?
Socialism
Socialism is defined as a system of centrally planned economy in which the government
controls all means of production. It was meant to be a remedy for economic and moral defects
of capitalism, but it seems to have surpassed capitalism in economic malfunction and moral
cruelty.
Karl Marx is thought to be the architect of socialism, but in reality he wrote only a few pages
about this system of economic life. It was Lenin, who was the first to put it in practice by trying to
substitute the profit drive and the market mechanism with a pyramid of command as a
cornerstone of the economy.
After Soviet production had fallen to 14 percent of its prerevolutionary level, Lenin in 1921 was
forced to institute the New Economic Policy (NEP), a partial return to the market incentives of
capitalism, which was eventually aborted by Stalin who started the process of forced
collectivization that was to mobilize Russian industrial resources.
At the apex of the socialist pyramid of command was Gosplan, which defined the target rate of
growth of the economy, the ratio between military and civilian outputs, between heavy and light
industry, or among various regions. Gosplan's directives were transmitted to ministries of
industrial and regional planning, and then to particular factories, power centres, and collective
farms. A completed plan was negotiated, and passed into law.
The plan defined all units of national output, as well as the order and technologies by which
those were to be produced. In theory such a plan could provide a good basis for a working
economy. But in reality there was a vast and widening gap between theory and practice.
The number one problem was that the plan specified outputs in physical terms, and managers
maximized tonnages of output, not its quality. So, low-quality Soviet products lost competition to
better products from abroad which the «black market» offered, while the home warehouses and
stores were stuffed with homemade goods. Secondly, the economic flow became increasingly
clogged and clotted due to the fact that planners in Moscow could not efficiently for see all the
situations of the on-site production in the provinces or elsewhere. But the real danger of
socialism was that of a bureaucratization of economic life. A capitalist firm responds to
challenges offered by the economy by changing prices and innovating because failure to do so
will cause it to lose money.
A socialist ministry ignores these challenges because bureaucrats learn that doing something is
more likely to get them in trouble than doing nothing, unless doing nothing results in absolute
disaster.
Absolute economic disaster was reached in the Soviet Union and its Eastern former satellites,
which made President Mikhail Gorbachev announce his intention to reconstruct the economy
from top to bottom by introducing the market, reestablishing private ownership, and opening the
system to free economic interchange with the West. Seventy years of socialism had come to an
end.
:
abort – (.)
apex – ,
architect –
bureaucrat –
bureaucratization – –
centrally –
challenge – «»,
clog – ,
clot – , ),
cornerstone –
cruelty –
directive –
disaster – ,
failure – ,
force – ;
forsee –
gap – , ,
ignore –
institute – ,
interchange –
malfunction –
maximize –
ministry –
mobilize –
partial –
prerevolutionary –
ratio – ,
reestablish –
remedy – ,
stuff – , , ;
surpass – ,
target –
warehouse – ()
put in practice–
profit drive –
pyramid of command –
target rate of growth –
due to the fact –
on-site – «»
is more likely –
from top to bottom –
Exercise 4
Answer the questions:
1. What is the definition of socialism?
2. Who is usually thought to be the architect of socialism?
3. What was Lenin trying to substitute the profit drive and the market mechanism with?
4. What made Lenin introduce NEP?
5. What was the role of Gosplan?
6. What was the number one problem for the socialist planning?
7. What products were the Soviet goods to compete with?
8. Why was the economic flow increasingly clogged and clotted in the Soviet economic system?
9. What was the real danger of socialism for the national economic system?
10. What intention did Mikhail Gorbachev announce?
Communism and Economics
During the days of communism in the Soviet Union, an inspector was encharged with visiting
local chicken farmers and inquiring about the amount of feed they were giving their chickens.
Central planning was still in effect and each farmer was allocated 15 Roubles to spend on
chicken feed.
One farmer very honestly answered that he spent five of the allocated 15 Roubles on chicken
feed. The inspector took this to mean that the farmer stole the other ten and sent the farmer to
prison.
Having heard of this, the next farmer down the road insisted that he spent all 15 Roubles on
food for the chickens. The inspector saw this as a case of deficit spending and the second
farmer too was imprisoned.
The third farmer heard of both episodes and was more prepared for the inspector's arrival.
«How many of the 15 Roubles do you actually spend on chicken feed,» asked the inspector.
Like a true capitalist, the farmer threw his hands in the air and answered, «Hey! I give 15
Roubles to the chickens. They can eat whatever they want!»
Buy Machine for a Socialist Factory
An American manufacturer is showing his machine factory to a potential customer from The
Soviet Union. At noon, when the lunch whistle blows, two thousand men and women
immediately stop work and leave the building.
«Your workers, they're escaping!» cries the visitor. «You've got to stop them.»
«Don't worry, they'll be back,» says the American. And indeed, at exactly one o'clock the whistle
blows again, and all the workers return from their break.
When the tour is over, the manufacturer turns to his guest and says, «Well, now, which of these
machines would you like to order?»
«Forget the machines,» says the visitor. «How much do you want for that whistle?»
:
allocate – ,
blow – , ,
encharge –
escape – ,
potential –
whatever – ,
whistle – ,
amount of feed –
be in effect –
machine factory –
lunch whistle –
Exercise 5
Answer the questions:
1. What was the inspector encharged with?
2. What type of an economic system was still in effect in Russia in the days of the inspector's
visit to the farm?
3. How did the first farmer spend 15 roubles given to him?
4. Why was the second farmer imprisoned?
5. What would you do if you were a chicken given 15 roubles to?
6. What factory was the American manufacturer showing to a potential customer from the Soviet
Union?
7. How many people worked at this factory?
8. Why did the Soviet customer think that the workers were escaping?
9. Why did the workers come back?