Government

The London Government Act (1963) authorized the creation of a two-tiered government consisting of 32 borough councils and the Greater London Council. The borough councils are locally elected and are responsible for local functions. Until its abolition in 1986, the Greater London Council administered broad functions for the metropolitan area as a whole, such as overall planning, the coordination of transportation systems, and the management of parks. The council comprised 100 councilors, locally elected, and 15 aldermen, elected by the councilors.

The historic Corporation of the City of London is equivalent in function to a borough council. Since the reign of King John in the 13th century, citizens of the City of London have had the right to elect their own mayor. The corporation government is composed of the Lord mayor, who is elected annually by members of the livery companies (guilds); 25 aldermen, who are elected for life; and 153 council members, who are elected annually from 25 wards.

(From an Encyclopedia)

Unit 2

1. Practise the fluent reading and correct intonation:

Good bye! `Bye bye! `So long! `See you soon! `See you later! `See you tomorrow! I `hope we'll `see some more of you! Good night! Good day! Re`member me to...

`May I intro`duce `Mr. N.? `How do you do? `Glad to meet you. `Pleased to meet you. Please, intro`duce me to your friend. `Let me intro`duce you to `Doctor M. `Meet `Mr F. `Meet my friend, `Doctor M.

`Many thanks. `Thanks a lot. `That's nice of you. `Not at all! `That's all right! `Don't mention it!

2. Listen to the speaker; read and memorize the following words and phrases:

a buyer - покупатель

a seller - продавец

private property - частная собственность

to own - владеть

means of production - средства производства

incentive - стимул

to earn profits - получать прибыль

cost - цена, стоимость

cost price - цена производства

selling price - продажная цена

to charge a price - назначать цену

polling booth - кабина для голосования

to undersell - продавать по сниженной цене

Text. The Market Economy

A Market, or free enterprise economy is one in which the decisions of many individual buyers and sellers interact to determine the answers to the questions of What, How and Who.

In addition to buyers and sellers, there are several other essential elements in a market economy. One of these is private property. By «private property» we mean the right of individuals and business firms to own the means of productions. Although markets exist in traditional and command economies, the major means of productions (firms, factories, farms, mines, etc.) are usually publicly owned. That is, they are owned by groups of people or by the government. In a market economy the means of production are owned by private individuals. Private ownership gives people the incentive to use their property to produce things that will sell and earn them a profit.

This desire to earn profit is a second ingredient in market economy. Often referred to as the profit motive, it provides the fuel that drives sellers to produce the things that buyers want, and at a price they are willing to pay.

The profit motive also gives sellers the incentive to produce at the lowest possible cost. Why? Because lower costs enable them to (1) increase their profit margins, the difference between cost and selling price, or (2) reduce prices to undersell during the competition, or (3) both.

Economists often compare markets to polling booths. However, unlike the booths in which people vote for politicians, markets provide a kind of economic polling booth for buyers to cast their votes (in the form of purchases) for the goods and services they want. Producers who interpret the votes correctly by producing the things that buyers demand can earn profits. Those who interpret the voting incorrectly, producing too much or too little, or charging a price that is too high or too low, do not earn profits. In fact, they often lose money.

Consumer votes can be a matter of life and death to business in a market economy.

II. Exercises on the Text:

3. Give Russian equivalents to:

the decisions of many individual buyers and sellers interact; essential elements; the right to own the means of production; to exist in traditional and command economies; publicly owned; the incentive to use their property; the desire to earn profits; often referred to; to drive sellers to produce the things; the lowest possible cost; to increase their profit margins; unlike the booth; to vote for politicians; to cast their votes; to interpret the voting incorrectly; too much or too little; to lose money; a matter of life and death to business.

4. Answer the following questions:

What is a market, or free enterprise?

Are there several other essential elements in a market economy?

What do we mean by «private property»?

Who own the major means of production?

What does private ownership give people?

What is the profit motive?

Why does the profit motive give sellers the incentive to produce at the lowest possible cost?

To what do economists often compare markets?

What is the difference?

When do producers lose money?

III. Grammar Exercises

Формы притяжательных местоимений

6. Put in the missing verbs and possessive forms:

Pronoun Verb Possessive

1. I come from Russia ... language is Russian.

2. He ... from Poland ... language is Polish.

3. You come from Sweden ... language is Swedish.

4. They ... from Norway ... language is Norwegian.

5. We come from Denmark ... language is Danish.

6. I come from Greece ... language is Greek.

7. He ... from Holland ... language is Dutch.

8. She ... from Germany ... language is German.

9. They come from China ... language is Chinese.

10. We ... from Spain ... language is Spanish.

11. He ... from Japan ... language is Japanese.

12. We come from England ... language is English.

7. Make ten questions, using these question words:

Who? What? Where? Why? How many? What kind of? What is the difference? Is there? Are there? Have you?

8. Read the text and retell the contents in Russian:

Keynes

Keynes, John Maynard, 1st Baron Keynes of Tilton (1883-1946), British economist.

Keynes was born in Cambridge, England, and educated at Eton College and the University of Cambridge. He began his career in the India Office of the British government and wrote a highly regarded book, Indian Currency and Finance (1913). During World War I he worked in the treasury, which he represented at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). During the next decade he made a fortune speculating in international currencies, taught at Cambridge, and wrote Treatise on Probability (1921), a mathematical work, and A Treatise on Money (1930). In the latter, he sought to explain why an economy operates so unevenly, with frequent cycles of booms and depressions. Keynes closely examined the problem of prolonged depression in his major work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936). This book, which provided a theoretical defense for programs that were already being tried in Great Britain and by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the U.S., proposed that no self-correcting mechanism to lift an economy out of a depression existed. It stated that unused savings prolonged economic stagnation and that business investment was spurred by new inventions, new markets, and other influences not related to the interest rate on savings. Keynes proposed that government spending must compensate for insufficient business investment in times of recession.

Shortly after Great Britain entered World War II, Keynes published How to Pay for the War (1940), in which he urged that a portion of every wage earner's pay should automatically be invested in government bonds. In 1942 he was made a baron, and two years later he headed the British delegation to the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, the Bretton Woods Conference. There he promoted establishment of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund.

Keynes's ideas have profoundly influenced the economic policies of many governments since World War II, and many consider his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money one of the most significant theoretical works of the 20th century.

Unit 3

Grammar: 1. Past Simple.

I. Language Practice

1. Read the sentences given below. Mind the stress and intonation in them:

There are `nineteen `large `lecture `halls in the `central `building. There are `one `hundred and `forty audi`toriums for `groups to `study.

There is `no `newspaper on the table. There is `nothing on the  table.

Is there a `computer `centre in the `college? There were some scien`tific la`boratories `here last year. `What is there on the floor?

`How `many `parks are there in this `city? There are `many of them.

2. Listen to the speaker; read and memorize the following words and phrases:

to involve - вовлекать

producer - производитель

to be responsible for - быть ответственным за

consumer - потребитель

manufacturer - производитель, изготовитель

pervasive - обширный

to determine - определять

needs and desires - нужды и желания

with regard to - относительно, что касается

to persuade - убеждать

purchase - покупка

product line - ассортимент изделий

promotion - стимулирование, продвижение товара

in addition - в дополнение

to supervise - наблюдать за чем-либо

warehouse - товарный склад, оптовый магазин

Text. Marketing

Marketing, activities involved in getting goods from the producer to the consumer. The producer is responsible for the design and manufacture of goods. Early marketing techniques followed production and were responsible only for moving goods from the manufacturer to the point of final sale. Now, however, marketing is much more pervasive. In large corporations the marketing functions precede the manufacture of a product. They involve market research and product development, design, and testing.

Marketing concentrates primarily on the buyers, or consumers, determining their needs and desires, educating them with regard to the availability of products and to important product features, developing strategies to persuade them to buy, and, finally, enhancing their satisfaction with a purchase. Marketing management includes planning, organizing, directing, and controlling decision making regarding product lines, pricing, promotion, and servicing. In most of these areas marketing has complete control; in others, as in product-line development, its function is primarily advisory. In addition, the marketing department of a business firm is responsible for the physical distribution of the products, determining the channels of distribution that will be used and supervising the profitable flow of goods from the factory or warehouse.

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