Text 3 (G) Markets and Monopolies

The term market, as used by economists, is an extension of the ancient idea of a market as a place where people gather to buy and sell goods. In those days part of a town was kept as a market, and people would travel long distances on special market-days in order to buy and sell various commodities. Today, markets such as the world sugar market, the gold market and the cotton market do not need to have any fixed geographical location. Such a market is simply a set of conditions permitting buyers and sellers to work together.

In a free market, competition takes place among sellers of the same commodity, and among those who wish to buy that commodity. Such competition influences the prices prevailing on the market. Prices fluctuate, and such fluctuations are affected by current supply and demand.

In a perfect market, communications are easy, buyers and sellers are numerous and competition is completely free. There can be only one price for any given commodity: the lowest price, which sellers will accept, and the highest, which consumers will pay. There are, however, no really perfect markets. It can be said that the price ruling in a market indicates the point where supply and demand meet.

In some markets there may only be one seller or a very limited number of sellers. Such a situation is called a monopoly, and may arise from many different causes. It is possible to distinguish in practice four kinds of monopoly: (a) state monopolies, (b) natural monopolies, (c) legal monopolies and (d) sole traders.

State, natural and legal monopolies are distinct from the sole trading which takes place because certain companies have obtained complete control over particular commodities. This action is often illegal in many countries. In the USA anti-trust laws operate to restrict such activities, while in Britain the Monopolies Commission examines all special arrangements and mergers, which might lead to understand monopolies.

 

ВАРИАНТ 1

 

1. Перепишите и письменно переведите следующие предложения, принимая во внимание, что инфинитив в функции определения и особенно Complex Object и Complex Subject часто соответствуют придаточным предложениям.

1. There is no time to be lost with the delivery. 2. The manufacturers expected their goods to be in great demand. 3. Basic human needs seem to be very simple, but individual wants may be very complex. 4. New brands were reported to have been sold well. 5. We believe our people to restore the level of economic development during the shortest time period. 6. Labour power is man's ability to work. 7. Though abolished in America slavery did not disappear.

 

Перепишите и письменно переведите данные ниже предложения, учитывая различия в переводе зависимого и независимого причастного оборотов

1. Launching your own business you should have initial capital. 2. New

business having been launched, they worked day and night. 3. A new Board of Directors was formed, with R. Brown being in charge of finance. 4. The contract having been signed, the partners shook hands. 5. In many underdeveloped countries people suffer most from the rising cost of living. 6. An economy manufacturing products for exchange is called a commodity economy. 7. The total sum of money received over a certain period (a year) is called the country's national income.

Перепишите и письменно переведите следующие предложения, учитывая разные возможности перевода герундия на русский язык.

1. They regretted having lost the cargo. 2. People buy essentials even if this means spending all their money. 3. Britain's industry was protected by prohibiting the colonies from producing certain goods. 4. In primitive times people lived for centuries without exploiting each other. 5. Anarchy in production prevails in a society of individual commodity producers as they all work without planning their production.

Перепишите и письменно переведите следующие предложения, содержащие причастия, герундий и инфинитив или конструкции с ними.

1. Any person engaged in private business is knownto be paid a fixed sum of money. 2. Everyone believes economy to be a rather difficult science. 3. We consider money to be a means of measuring the value of men's labour. 4. Human labour is supposed to produce both goods and services. 5. The activities of a farm worker and a nurse being very different, the payment received by the two should be different too. 6. The work having been finished in time, all the salesgirls got their salaries. 7. Many economists believe the wages to be the price of labour. 8. The report will be discussed at the conference to open in Moscow soon. 9. Known as simple commodity production, this sort of economy is based on private ownership. 10. Saving means not spending income on consumption. Simply leaving money in a current account or in a jar on the mantelpiece, as long as it represents non-spending of current income, is saving.

 

5. Перепишите и письменно переведите данные предложения, содержащие условные придаточные предложения.

1. If the exchange rate changes the parties will renegotiate the price. 2. If the exchange rate changed the price would be renegotiated. 3. If the demand had risen they would have produced more of that commodity. 4. Had there been a license the tax police would not have closed your business. 5. If the president employs an assistant his new employee provides labour in return for payment. 6. If the new employee had received the surplus from the whole business, he himself would have received his wage.7. If we talked about the "national labour force", we would mention all those people who are available for work within the nation. 8. If you fire your bookkeeper, you'll have many difficulties in finding another one of the same qualification. 9. If it is hard work, you should be paid properly.

 

Перепишите и переведите на русский язык предложения, содержащие усилительные (эмфатические) конструкции.

1. And he did maintain himself though he was very young. 2. It is labour that creates the use-value (потребительская стоимость) of a commodity. 3. It is under simple commodity production when the owner of commodities sells his goods to purchase others. 4. It is the worker's ability to create surplus value that the employers are most interested in. 5. It is oil that is becoming too expensive for generating electrical power; therefore the percentage of energy obtained from coal does increase.

 

Прочтите и устно переведите 1 и 2 абзацы текста. Перепишите и письменно переведите З абзац.

 

The Open Market

In addition to being a means of exchange, money is also a means of measuring the value of men's labour. Labour, in economic theory, is any work undertaken in return for a fixed payment. A mother may work very hard for her children, but she receives no fixed wages for her work. It is not therefore labour in the strict economic sense. Economists are interested in measuring the services, which people render to each other. They are not concerned with such services, which people provide for nothing. In economics, money is the standard by which the value of things is judged.

Human labour produces both goods and services. The activities of a farm worker and a nurse are very different, but each is measurable in terms of payment received. If however a farmer is self-employed and does not receive a fixed wage from anyone else, he is in a different category from the nurse and from his own farm workers. His activities are not wholly labour. His workers receive their wages, but he receives whatever surplus (large or small) emerges from his farming. This surplus, like any surplus in industry or commerce, is what we usually call profit.

Employers obtain their net profits only after they have paid all expenses arising out of their business activities: interest, rentals, payments for machinery, wages and overheads generally. The surplus is not usually available only for employers and their families. Normally part of it goes to those who have provided the initial capital needed to start a business. There is always an element of risk in providing capital for new businesses. Such businesses may fail. Both those who have provided the capital and those who run the businesses agree to bear risk, but employees of such businesses are not expected to bear any risk. If the business is successful, the risk-taking has been justified, and invested capital earns part of the profits as a return on the investment and the period during which the capital was at risk.

 

ВАРИАНТ II

 

1. Перепишите и письменно переведите следующие предложения, принимая во внимание, что инфинитив в функции определения и особенно Complex Object и Complex Subject часто соответствуют придаточным предложениям.

1. This is the contract to be signed first of all. 2. They found the advertising campaign to have worked very well. 3. The goods seemed to be of excellent quality. 4. Supply is said to be elastic when it is regulated according to market prices. 5. The entrepreneur wants the wageworker to be skilled and to acquire qualifications on his own expenses. 6. We have no intention to order these goods. 7. Established, at the end of the 14^th century in Italy and in the 16^th century in other countries, the first large enterprises were capitalist manufactories.