Surprise upswing in US economy

America’s economy (1) _______________ all expectations in the third quarter of the year, according to Commerce Department figures. Economic growth suddenly (2)_______________ by 4.3 percent in the three months to September. This happened even though there were hurricanes, record oil prices and interest (3) _______________ rises. Economists had only estimated a 3.8 percent rise. It is the strongest growth since (4) _______________ 2004. Analysts said the unexpected swing was “awesome” and was concrete (5) _______________ that the US economy was bouncing back from bad times. Republicans are hoping the good news will (6) _______________ President George W. Bush’s sagging popularity.

Many economists were worried that that hurricanes Katrina and Rita might have (7) _______________ down economic activity. Some businesses did suffer and profits fell by 3.7 percent. However, consumer spending (8) _______________ economic activity. The Federal Reserve reported that during November, “Consumer prices remained (9) _______________ or experienced generally modest increases.” Other figures show that inflation was lower than (10) _______________. The rate used in the Commerce Department’s figures is adjusted to (11) _______________ food and energy prices. The Government raised interest rates a (12) _______________ times since mid-2004 to try to control inflation.

Task 7. Match the synonyms from the listening.

1. expectations 2. figures 3. rose 4. awesome 5. sagging 6. worried 7. suffer 8. lifted 9. modest 10. adjusted

a. increased b. altered c. falling d. boosted e. forecasts f. amazing g. small h. be affected i. statistics j. concerned

Task 8. Mark the statements as true or false according to the information from the audio.

1) New economic figures contained no surprises for the U.S. economy.

2) Economic growth fell to 4.3 percent in the latest quarter.

3) Analysts said the unexpected swing was “awesome”.

4) President George W. Bush is now more popular than ever.

5) Economists had thought the hurricanes would not affect the economy.

6) Consumer spending lifted economic activity.

7) Other figures show that inflation was lower than expected.

8) Interest rates have risen half a dozen times since mid-2004.

 

Task 9. Think over the following situation and try to provide a solution.

Imagine that you are an economist, and that you have been hired by a mid-sized hammer factory to advise the management team regarding how many hammers they should make in one month.

Based on the scenario above, what information or guidelines would you take into account in helping to determine how many hammers the factory should make in a month?

How would you determine whether your recommendations had positive outcomes for the business? How would pricing and materials costs factor into this?

When would you recommend the company revisit these decisions (e.g., to see if you need to make any adjustments)? Why?

 

Task 10. Solve the word search puzzle.

CONSUMERDATADEMANDECONOMISTHOUSEHOLDMARKETMICROECONOMICSNORMATIVEPOVERTYPRODUCTIONRESOURCESSCARCITYSERVICESUPPLYTHEORY S C G W I O R E S R G G H P M Q I J V Y Q C A I B K N P J I N U K P T D P S J L L D I Q E S G A L T D Q E K F Q O A G F D U S M S F A U J U E D H D Q W I P E G O C P M O M R Z A A S K F E T Y X V O U U A L Y I N X T P A N C R M R Z Q U G W D B J Y W M O X S K K C H A E N L F T F K I E G B V D C W I P P A N M C P Q F Y W S I C P G W D E Q M Y R D U J B Z T S H P M K I Z M A Y O B O L A S K R F Q J T R O A E V I T A M R O N U N T C M I I T I Y T I C R A C S H C R O O F R F I J D I V H T E P E J E G S I I C X V X G A B S I E V H V A S C G T O M D E W R O M C G H O H X L U S R C Z M S D Z P H Z B W E P R I Y O S L U I Z O G F J N K X D W L U Y Y H K I D O P W Q B O Z I Z X O S S H G O N Y O E S L P H Q C T J S D Z T L N I P S R R G E W X L O T I Y F K T Y S Y J N P A E N R X N T Y R B N P P Y

 

 

Unit 6

Globalization

Questions for discussion:

1) What do you think of the concept of a global village?

2) Has globalization improved people’s lives?

3) How has popular culture added to globalization?

4) Do you think globalization could end in a world with just one giant country?

 

Task 1. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box.

Expanded Enterprises Trade Expansion Produce Decades Efficient Aimed Consumption Global Market Welfare Globalization Economic Interdependence