Английский язык для студентов, изучающих экономику, 3 курс, сокращенная версия, часть 1 (1 семестр) (стр. 9 )

borrow	purchase
save	loss
short-term	lend
sale	spend
benefit	long-term

D. Word Fields

Which of the words and phrases below are associated with the following: 1) the financial system, 2) what you can do with your money?

Public debt, savings and investment, a wealthy society, insurance markets, bond markets, wages and incomes, stock markets, financial intermediaries, capital, revenue, assets, marginal costs, depreciation, interest payments, extra benefit, to spend, to save, to grow, to borrow, to do, to lend, to earn, to owe, to hoard, to lose, to repay, to waste, to rise, to collect, to purchase, to invest, to decrease, to make, to store, to put aside, to withdraw, to boost, to charge.

E. Word Usage

1. Cross out the verb in column A that cannot be used with the corresponding noun in column B.

A B

dominate / enter / decline / break into a market

make / run / go into / do (a) business

make / earn / boost / do profits

complete / make / conduct / carry out transactions

obtain / acquire / receive / rise assets

consolidate / collect / create / earn debts

reduce / make / do / increase expenditure

have / exert / go down / put into (an) effect

do / invest / spend / accumulate savings

issue / hold / drop / purchase securities

have / assess / cause / consider an impact

plete: use an appropriate preposition where necessary.

for, by (3), on (2), in, of (3), to

1.  The increased revenue was achieved only … heavy expenditure … promotion.

2.  The interest rate … the loan was twelve percent.

3.  Investment is the use … income today … a way that allows … a future benefit.

4.  Most public debt consists … marketable securities issued … a government.

5.  Long-term funds are obtained … the sale … securities … a variety of financial institutions and individuals.

3. Linking: match the first half of each sentence with the most appropriate second half.

1. The two things you can do with your money are to …	a) income not used for consumption.
2. Savings is …	b) savings that are put to use.
3. Investments are …	c) spend it or save it.
4. The financial system allows for …	d) trade credit, bank loans, and commercial paper.
5. When loaned out at interest or invested in equity shares, …	e) business finance, personal finance, and public finance.
6. Financial intermediaries include …	f) savings provide a source of investment funds.
7. Three broad areas in finance are …	g) the transfer of funds between savers and investors.
8. Short-term credit is in the form of …	h) commercial banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations, etc.

plete: use appropriate information from the text to finish the following sentences.

1.  The financial system consists … .

2.  Financial intermediaries are … .

3.  Business finance is … , while personal finance deals … .

4.  Investments are savings … .

5.  Finance is the process of … .

6.  Public debt is created because … .

5. Translate: give the English equivalents for the following word combinations.

Страховой рынок; требования по гарантии, претензии по гарантии; сберегательный вклад; обыкновенные акции, акции с нефиксированными дивидендами; личные инвестиции; фондовая биржа; аккумулировать средства; сберегательный банк; страховая компания; долгосрочный кредит; приобретать средства, имущество, фонды; потребительский кредит; получить закладную, ипотеку; потребительские товары длительного пользования; государственный долг.

6. Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Финансовая деятельность государства – это осуществление им функций по планомерному образованию, распределению и использованию денежных фондов (финансовых ресурсов).

2. Можно говорить о таких результатах действия финансов, как аккумулирование, распределение, стимулирование, регулирование, планирование и контроль. Подобные роли присущи как государственным финансам, так и финансам предприятий.

3. В процессе воспроизводства на разных уровнях, начиная с предприятия и кончая национальной экономикой в целом, образуются и используются фонды денежных средств.

4. В условиях возникновения рыночных отношений государство при управлении обществом активно использует такие экономические рычаги, как финансы, деньги, кредит, налоги и т. д. Получая кредит, следует оговорить все ключевые моменты: сроки, процентную ставку, схему платежей и многое другое.

5. Центральное место в финансовой системе Республики Беларусь принадлежит бюджетной системе, с помощью которой образуются фонды денежных средств соответствующих государственных и административно-территориальных образований.

IV. Reading

A. Reading for the Main Idea

Read the text to understand the main idea of it and try the following tasks.

1. Choose the statement that best summarises the main idea of the text.

1.  The text deals with the problem of saving money.

2.  The text deals with public expenditures.

3.  The text deals with different types of finance and financial institutions.

2. Answer the following questions.

1.  What is economic investment?

2.  What is finance and what are its three broad areas?

3.  What is a financial system?

B. Reading for Details

Read the text again to understand details and try the following tasks.

1. Understanding Expressions: give the best explanation for each of these phrases used in the text.

A savings account; to fuel the nation’s economy; the transfer of funds between savers and investors; to accumulate funds; savings deposits; savings and loan shares; pension and insurance claims; to be loaned out at interest; an estimate of future asset requirements; in an emergency; at designated times.

2. According to the text, mark these statements T (true) or F (false).

1.  Your savings are borrowed and invested by businesses and the government to build factories, offices, roads, etc.

2.  Savings is income used for consumption.

3.  By saving, you make funds available for the bank to lend.

4.  Financial intermediaries are institutions that channel funds from users to savers.

5.  Governments finance their expenditures through taxes.

3. Give the best definition for each of these economic terms.

Financial system, securities, economic investment, personal investment, business finance, personal finance, public finance, financial intermediaries, immediate wants, public debt, credit, loan, tax, a short-term credit, assets.

4. Choose the variant that best explains the idea of the sentence below.

By saving, you make funds available for the bank to lend.

a)  When you put money aside, the bank has an opportunity to give credits.

b)  When you borrow money, you let the bank lend.

c)  When you accumulate funds, the bank has an opportunity to borrow.

5. Give profound answers to the following questions.

1.  How are savings and investment related?

2.  What is the purpose of the financial system?

3.  What is the role of financial intermediaries in the circular flow of the financial system?

4.  Why do businesses and governments often have to borrow or sell equity?

5.  What is business finance / personal finance / public finance?

6.  What creates public debt?

6. Practise reading §3 of the text. Translate it into Russian. Give a short summary of it.

C. How the text is organised

1. What do these words refer to in the text?

1)  these (§3); 2) they (§3); 3) their (§6); 4) which (§7).

2. Find the paragraphs of the text dealing with the following concepts.

1) main areas of finance; 2) the difference between savings and investment; 3) the difference between public and personal finance. 4) finance and financial intermediaries; 5) economic investment and personal investment; 6) finance dealing with family budgets.

V. Speaking

A. Giving your opinion

Explain how you understand the following proverbs.

1.  A penny saved is a penny earned.

2.  Lend only that which you can afford to lose.

What other proverbs and sayings related to the topic do you know? Share them with your fellow students.

B. Discussion

Work in pairs or groups. Discuss your answers to the following questions.

1.  What different spheres do business and public finance operate in?

2.  What is taxation? How does it work?

3.  Why should consumers compare finance charges and interest rates offered by different financial institutions?

4.  Do you agree that people with overdrafts are bad money managers? Why / Why not?

VI. Writing

Write an essay on the following topic.

Compare and contrast factors that consumers should consider when choosing credit lenders for buying clothes versus choosing credit lenders for buying a house or a car. Consider types of credit as well as types of financial institutions.

Unit 9 MONEY

I. Anticipating the Issue

Discuss your answers to the following questions.

1.  What is money to your mind?

2.  What were the last economic transactions you completed using money? Tuition at the university? A bus fare? A cup of coffee at a cafe?

II. Background Reading

Read the following text. Focus on the meaning of the boldfaced words. Determine whether what you anticipated coincides with the information of the text.

Money

1. What do the following things have in common: cattle, corn, rice, salt, copper, gold, silver, seashells, stones, and whale teeth? At different times and in different places, they have all been used as money. In fact, money is anything that people will accept as payment for goods and services. Whatever it is that people choose to use as money, it should perform four important functions. Therefore money is commonly defined in terms of its functions. Professor Walker’s simple definition clearly brings out these functions:

"Money is a matter of functions four,
Medium, Measure, Standard, Store."

Another definition based on its functions can be stated as, 'Money is what money does.'

2. Let’s have a closer look at money in terms of its functions.

Money must serve as a medium of exchange, or the means through which goods and services can be exchanged. Without money, economic transactions must be made through barter – exchanging goods and services for other goods and services. Barter is cumbersome and inefficient because two people who want to barter must at the same time want what the other has to offer. Money allows for the precise and flexible pricing of goods and services, making any economic transaction convenient.

3. Money acts as a common measure of values of all goods and services. In this form money acts as a unit of account. Money also serves as a standard of value, i. e. it determines the economic worth in the exchange process. Finally, money acts as a store of value, i. e. something that holds its value over time. People, therefore, do not need to spend all their money at once and in one place; they can put it aside for later use. They know that it will be accepted wherever and whenever it is presented to purchase goods and services.

4. One situation where money does not function well as a store of value is when the economy experiences significant inflation. Useful money must have the following economic properties:

1. Stability of Value. Money’s purchasing power, or value, should be relatively stable. Rapid changes in money’s purchasing power would mean that money would not successfully serve as a store of value.

2. Scarcity. Money must be scarce to have any value. When the supply of a product outstrips demand, there is a surplus and prices for that product fall. Similarly, when the supply of money outstrips demand, money loses value, or purchasing power.

3. Acceptability. People who use the money must agree that it is acceptable – that it is a valid medium of exchange. In other words, they will accept money in payment for goods and services because others will also accept it as payment.

5. Types of money. Money draws its value from three possible sources. Commodity money derives its value from the type of material which it is made from. Over the course of history gold, silver, precious stones, salt, olive oil, spices and rice have all been valued enough for their scarcity or for their usefulness to be used as money. One problem with commodity money is that if the item becomes too valuable, people will hoard it rather than circulate it, hoping it will become more valuable in the future. Representative money is paper money backed by something tangible – such as silver or gold – that gives its value. One problem with representative money is that its value fluctuates with the supply and price of gold or silver, which can cause problems of inflation and deflation. Fiat money has no tangible backing; it has value only because the government has issued a fiat, an order, saying that this is the case. Fiat money has value because the government says it can be used as money and because people accept that it will fulfill all the functions of legal tender.

III. Vocabulary Reinforcement

A. Vocabulary

Match the words with their definitions.

medium, n	to move around or through something, or to make something move
purchase, n	to give support to someone or something with money or words
surplus, n	a method or way of expressing something
commodity, n	to change or vary
circulate, v	(an amount which is) more than is needed
back, v	to be or become greater in amount, degree or success
outstrip, v	something that you buy
measure, n	to gather or accumulate
store, n	a supply or stock of something
tangible, adj	quantity, amount, or degree of something
money, n	a product that can be traded, bought or sold
hoard, v	having a physical existence
fluctuate, v	a medium of exchange that functions as legal tender

B. Word Families

Complete the chart.

verb	adjective	noun
accept
	representative
value
		fluctuation
		purchase
	measurable
	scarce
		store
		tangibility

C. Word Groups

1. Match the words having similar meanings.

goods	exchange
standard	worth
value	commodity
fiat	medium
means	order
barter	measure

2. Match the words having opposite meanings.

to spend	to lose
to hoard	to demand
to outstrip	to circulate
to supply	to put aside

3. Match the following word partnerships as they appear in the text.

to accept as	demand
to outstrip	money
purchasing	payment
fiat	backing
economic	power
tangible	transactions

D. Word Fields

Which of the words and phrases below are associated with the following: 1) commodity money, 2) representative money, 3) fiat money?

To issue a fiat; gold; salt; olive oil; spices; to share; to circulate; paper money; to store; silver; precious stones; to be backed by smth tangible; to fluctuate; inflation; deflation; government.

E. Word Usage

plete: use an appropriate preposition where necessary.

on, in(3), of(2), for(2), through, as

1.  A market economy is based … voluntary exchange.