Economic systems. Modes of production

Для правильного выполнения Задания №2 необходимо усвоить следующие разделы курса английского языка по любым учебникам:

1. Видо-временные формы глагола:

а) активный залог (the Active Voice) для форм Continuous (Present,

Past, Future) и Perfect (Present, Past, Future)

б) пассивный залог (the Passive Voice) для форм Indefinite,

Continuous, Perfect (Present, Past, Future). Особенности перевода пассивного залога на русский язык.

2. Модальные глаголы и их эквиваленты:

а) модальные глаголы can (could), may (might), выражающие возможность, и эквивалент глагола can - to be able to

б) модальный глагол must, выражающий долженствование, и его эквиваленты to be to, to have to.

3. Простые неличные формы глагола: Participle I (Present Participle),

Participle II (Past Participle), Infinitive в функциях определения и обстоятельства.

4. Основные правила согласования времен в английском языке. Перевод на русский язык главных и придаточных предложений при согласовании времен.

5. Функции и значение слов if, that, since, for, as. Выделение отдельных членов предложения при помощи оборота it is (was).,....... that (when, how, who, where). Функции глаголов to have, to be, to do.

После изучения материала можно приступать к выполнению задания.

READING MATERIAL

Text 2 (A) Economic Systems

Different economic systems answer the "what", "how" and "for whom" questions differently. The main economic systems today are capitalism, socialism, communism, mixed economies and traditional economies.

Capitalism - is an economic system characterized by private ownership of most resources, goods and services. Capitalism relies on the market system to allocate resources, goods and services to their most highly used value. Property is privately owned, businesses compete to earn profits, and resources are allocated by the market according to the laws of supply and demand. In capitalist economy what to produce is determined by consumers, how to produce is determined by profit-seeking entrepreneurs, who maximize profit by producing in the most sufficient manner, and for whom to produce is determined by income and prices. In a capitalist system workers are generally paid according to how productive they are, and the distribution of income is unequal because people differ in their abilities.

Socialism - is an economic system characterized by government ownership of resources other than labour and centralized economic decision-making. The principal means of production are owned by te state, and resources are allocated according to a plan. How much property is owned by the state and how much planning is used to allocate resources vary enormously from one socialist country to another. Under socialist system government authorities answer the "what", "how" and "for whom" questions. In a socialist system government planners set wages and though wages are not equal for all workers, incomes tend to be more evenly distributed than in capitalist countries.

In centrally planned economies government planners decide what goods will be produced and set the prices at which they are sold.

Communism - is an economic system in which all resources (including labour) are commonly owned and economic decisions making is centrally planned. According to communist theory, people contribute what they are able to the economy but receive what they need. In theory, this means that goods are produced for use rather than to earn profits and that everyone's needs are met. Communist countries have central planning boards that set prices. Communism is the form of socialism based on the writings of Karl Marx practiced in the Soviet Union, China and other countries.

 

Text 2(B) Mixed Economies

Mixed economies - are economies that have characteristics of more than one system. There may be both private and public ownership of property. There may also be common ownership of resources that are provided by government. Mixed economies answer the basic economic questions partly through the market and partly through government, with some decisions based on tradition as well.

It has been found necessary in many countries to control or regulate national economic conditions. Even the most dedicated free enterprise systems, such as the USA, have felt this need.

The under-developed countries of the world are usually interested in control and long-term planning.

Such countries as India have had a number of plans guided by the government. India makes a distinction between the public sector of the economy on the one hand and the private sector, on the other hand.

Britain today has a mixed economy. In the public sector of British economic life are the nationalized industries like coal and steel, British Rail and British Overseas Airways Corporation.* In the private sector are the majority of the nation's industries, both large and small.

The private sector includes giant companies like Imperial Chemical Industries** and British Petroleum*** and a great number of small family businesses.

In 1962 the government set up an official planning body to guide national economic policies. This body is called National Economic Development Council.

The members of this council are representatives of the employers, the employees and other interested people.

NOTES: * BOAC - British Overseas Airways Corporation - Британская корпорация зарубежных авиалиния

** ICI - Imperial Chemical Industries - "Империал кемикал индастриз" - Имперский химический трест (крупнейший в Великобритании и Западной Европе химический концерн)

*** BP - British Petroleum - "Бритиш петролеум" - Британская нефтяная компания

Text 2 (C) First Socio-Economic Formations

The first socio-economic formation was the primitive-communal system, which covered the period of many hundred years. At first people were in a semi-savage state, powerless against nature. They gathered nuts, wild fruit and berries, roots and plants. Man's first instruments were roughly chipped stones and sticks. Later people learnt to make the simplest tools.

The basis of production relations was communal ownership of the primitive labour instruments and production means. People lived together in communes. With the advance of cattle breeding and agriculture there arose a social division of labour: animal husbandry* separated from agriculture. This led to higher productivity and productive forces growing.

Productive forces continued to expand and man began to produce more. It became possible to use workmen obtained through warfare.**Captured prisoners became slaves. There followed the first division of society into classes known as slavery. Slave-owners possessed both the means of production and the people engaged in production. The ancient world achieved considerable progress in economy and culture. But time passed, and the necessity to replace the slave-owning relations arose: the new feudal mode of production began to take shape.

NOTES: *animal husbandry – скотоводство; **through warfare - в войнах

 

Text 2 (D) Feudalism

The feudal system existed in almost all countries. The epoch of feudalism covers a long period. In China the feudal system existed for more than two thousand years. In the West-European countries feudalism spread over some centuries, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the bourgeois revolutions in England and France. In Russia it lasted from the 9th century to the abolition of serfdom in 1861.

The production relations of feudal society were based on the private landed property of the lords and their incomplete property rights over the serf. He was not a slave; he had his own holding. The peasant holding was the means by which the landlord secured his labour force.

The towns, inhabited mainly by craftsmen and traders, were subjected to the authority of the feudal lord on whose land the town was built.

Under feudalism the productive forces reached a higher level than those under the slave system. Production technique in agriculture was improved; new branches of field cultivation arose, market gardening developed considerably.

But the feudal system acted as a brake on the productive forces development, so capitalist relations of production began to appear. The abolition of feudalism became a historical necessity.

NOTES: * holding – хозяйство

 

Text 2 (E) Capitalism

The development of capitalism dealt a crushing blow* to natural economy. Under capitalism everything, including man's labour power, took the form of a commodity. Commodity production became dominant and universal.

Once commodity production under capitalism had become the prevailing form of production, the relations between people in the process of production, i.e. their production relations, took the form of commodity relations. To exploit the worker the capitalist has to hire him while the worker has to sell his labour power, which is not a commodity. The worker receives a wage with which he buys his means of subsistence** - commodities.

NOTES: * dealt a crushing blow - нанесли сокрушительный удар; ** means of subsistence - средства существования

ВАРИАНТ I

1. Перепишите предложения. Подчеркните глагол-сказуемое в каждом из них и определите его видо-временную форму и залог. Переведите предложения на русский язык. Например: will be said – Future SimplePassive. В разделе (B) обратите внимание на особенности перевода пассивных конструкций.

А). 1. In centrally planned economies government planners decide what goods will be produced. 2. Many nations of Eastern Europe are undergoing transition from communism to capitalism. 3. Before 1988 Hungary had taxed successful companies in order to provide subsidies for inefficient companies. 4. Some nations of Eastern Europe took steps to join the ranks of Western developed nations in becoming mixed economies.

B). 1. Such economies are called traditional economies. 2. Some countries exhibit elements of traditional economies in their tendency to make economic decisions according to how things have been done in the past. 3. Profitable companies are allowed to keep a large share of their profit. 4. In centrally planned economies government planners set the prices at which goods are sold. 5. The work people do is called economic activity. 6. Once the simple tools of labour were made, the need arose among the primitive men to communicate with one another. 7.1 have just been told I shall get better wages next month. 8. Nothing more will be said about the matter. 9. This door must be kept shut. 10. The market is being investigated.

Перепишите предложения; подчеркните Participle I, Participle II и установите функции каждого их них, т.е. укажите, будет ли оно определением, обстоятельством или составной частью глагола-сказуемого. Предложения переведите.

1. People, working in fanning, take a great risk if they decide to use untried new techniques. 2. The transition from a system of common ownership to a system of private ownership has never occurred before' on a wide scale. 3. So far the experiment in farming is doing well in Poland. 4. Shifting from communism to capitalism many countries have to overcome serious economic problems. 5. Producing in the most sufficient manner entrepreneurs get high profits.