|
UNIT 3
Text A
PRE-READING TASK
Exercise 1
Before reading the passage, try to match the Main Products （主要产品）on the right with the Countries on the left.
COUNTRIES MAIN PRODUCTS
Belgium jet planes （喷气式飞机）
Canada nickel （镍）
France coffee
Iran rubber
Malaysia cocoa （可可）
Colombia carpets （地毯）
the United States lace （花边）
Ghana wine （葡萄酒）
Now read the passage to check your matching.
Why Nations Trade
1. International trade is the exchange of goods and services produced in one country for goods and services produced in another country. In most cases, countries do not trade the actual goods and services. Rather, they use the income, or money, from the sale of their products to buy the products of another country.
2. Trade among countries allows people in each country to use their energies in doing what they do best. That is, it lets them specialize. Trade and specialization go hand in hand and enable each of us to have more products to use and more different kinds of products at the lowest possible cost.
3. Nations trade for many reasons. First, they trade because there are differences in natural resources in different parts of the world. The plants that can be grown are different. The mineral resources are also different. For example, Canada has nickel mines but is too cold to grow oranges. The United States has only a few small nickel mines but produces large crops of oranges. So the United States buys nickel from Canada, and Canada buys oranges from the United States. (We say that the United States exports oranges and imports nickel. Canada exports nickel and imports oranges.)
4. The second reason nations trade with one another is that it pays to specialize. Specialization makes the best use of a country's productive resources -- its natural resources, the skill of its workers, and its factories.
5. When a country specializes, it can make some goods that are of better quality than goods made elsewhere. Carpets woven in Iran and wine produced in France are examples of these special goods.
6. Specialization also enables one country to produce some goods more cheaply than another country. For example, the United States has factories, machines, and tools for manufacturing jet planes. Belgium has artisans who are skilled at making lace. So the United States sells jet planes to Belgium. Belgium sells lace to the United States. If the Belgians built factories and trained engineers for the few jets they need, those jets would be very expensive. If the United States began to train people to make lace, that, too, would be expensive. By trading, both countries get a good product from abroad for less than it would cost if made at home.
7. It pays a country to specialize even if it can produce everything cheaply. Within each country there are some things that are produced more efficiently than other things. This is called comparative advantage.
8. Suppose there is a person in town who is an excellent teacher and who also is a skilled carpenter. Suppose, too, that there is another person in town who is a skilled carpenter and who is a below-average teacher. If the second person could devote full attention to carpentry and the first person full attention to teaching, then the town would be making the best use of the skills and talents it possesses. If, instead, both persons taught for half the week and did carpentry the other half, the town might not suffer from the quality of the carpentry. But the town would lose some of the benefits of better education, because the carpenter is a person of lesser teaching skills. In teaching, the carpenter does not have an advantage compared to the teacher. Towns, countries, and people are better off when they specialize in producing those things in which they have a comparative advantage.
9. Many countries get a large part of their income from selling one or two primary products. Primary products are the raw materials from which manufactured goods are made. They may be farm products, such as wool, cotton, beef, or wheat. They may come from beneath the surface of the earth, as do copper, iron, coal, and crude oil. Or they may come from forests, as do wood and natural rubber.
10. For example, the majority of Colombia's trade comes from selling coffee. Ghana depends heavily on cocoa exports. Malaysia depends on tin and rubber. These countries have "all their eggs in one basket." If anything happens to the sales of their primary products, they are in trouble. Such countries will not be able to count on stable economies until they have more products to trade.
New Words
exchange
n. 交易，交换，交流
v. to give and receive (sth. in return for sth. else) 交易，交换
sale
n. act of selling 出售，销售
product
n. sth. useful that is made in a factory, grown, or taken from nature 产品，产物
specialize
v. 1. 使专门化
2. 限定（意义、范围等）
specialization
n. 专门化，特殊化
enable
v. to give someone the power, methods, or right (to do sth.) 使能够，使成为可能
resource
n. [常用复数]资源
mineral
n. 矿物，矿石
nickel
n. 镍
import
v. to bring in (sth.), esp. from a foreign country 进口，输入
n. 1. sth. brought into a country from a foreign country 进口商品
2. the action of importing 进口，输入
productive
a. 1. 生产的，生产性的
2. that produces well or much 丰饶的，多产的
quality
n. 1. the degree of goodness 质，质量
2. 品质，特性
elsewhere
ad. at, in or to another place 在别处，向别处
carpet
n. 毯，地毯
weave
v. (wove, woven) 织，编（制）
manufacture
v. （大量）制造，加工
jet
n. 喷射，喷射器
plane
n. 飞机
artisan
n. 手艺人，工匠
skilled
a. having or needing skill 熟练的，有技能的，需要（专门）技术的
lace
n. 花边
abroad
ad. to or in another country 在国外，到国外
efficiently
ad. 高效率地
efficient
a. 效率高的，有能力的
comparative
a. 比较的，相对的
advantage
n. 优势
carpenter
n. 木匠
average
a. of the usual or ordinary kind 通常的，平常的
carpentry
n. the art or work of a carpenter 木工业
talent
n. 才能，才干
possess
v. to own; have 占有，拥有
benefit
n. 利益，好处
lesser
a. not so great or so much as the other (often two) in worth, degree, size, etc. 较小的，次要的
primary
a. chief; main 首要的，基本的
raw
a. in the natural state; not yet treated for use 未加工的，处于自然状态的
wool
n. 羊毛
beneath
prep. below, directly under or at the foot of, and often close or touching 在（正）下方，低于
copper
n. 铜
crude
a. in a natural state, untreated 天然的，未加工的
cocoa
n. 可可粉，可可树
stable
a. not easily moved or changed; firm 稳定的，不变的
economy
n. 经济
Phrases and Expressions
that is
也就是说
hand in hand
密切关联地，连在一起地
one another
互相
make use of
利用
devote ... to
把...用于
suffer from
遭受...损失
compare to
与...相比，比作
better off
境况好起来，生活优裕起来
(be) made from
制成
depend on
依靠，依赖
in trouble
处于困境中
count on
指望，依靠
Proper Names
Canada
加拿大（国名）
Iran
伊朗（国名）
Belgium
比利时（国名）
Belgian
比利时人
Colombia
哥伦比亚（国名）
Ghana
加纳（国名）
Malaysia
马来西亚（国名）
Text B
PRE-READING TASK
Exercise 1
Before reading the passage, try to answer the questions to see how much you know about the stock market（股票市场）.
1. How many stock markets have been opened so far in China?
2. Do you know how the stock market works?
Now read the passage and compare your answers with those of the author's.
Stocks and Shares
1. In order to start a business a man must have money to buy or rent a factory or shop, to buy machinery and goods and to pay his workpeople. A man may sometimes be able himself to supply all the money he needs for this; but often he cannot do so, and then he may ask others to help him by making contributions. Money supplied in this way is called capital, and the people who supply it to him become members of this company.
2. Of course they hope, when they lend their money in this way, that the man's business will make a profit; and when the company does begin to make a profit they all share in its profits -- and the share each one gets is in proportion to the amount of capital he has supplied. Thus if Smith has supplied ￡1000 and Jones ￡2000, Jones's share of the profits will be twice as big as Smith's share.
3. Another way of saying that Smith and Jones supplied money to found the company is to say that they bought so many shares in its profits. Shares are usually divided into units of 25p, 50p and ￡1. Let us suppose that in this company they are in units of ￡1. As the company was just being founded it probably happened that with ￡1000 Smith was able to buy 1000 shares. However, when a company has grown and prospered and people start to sell their shares to others who want to buy them, a ￡1 share often costs more than ￡1. This is because people have great faith in the company and they think that, because the profits of the company are likely to increase, it will be worthwhile to pay more than ￡1 for a ￡1 share. On the other hand, if a company is not doing very well its shares may sell for their stated value -- or very near it -- and if it is doing badly its shares will sell for less than the stated value.
4. It is obvious that people supply money to a company because they think it will make profits. These are paid out to shareholders at least once a year and are called dividends. If the company is doing well it may pay a dividend of, say, 10p for every ￡1 share. This is often expressed not in pence per pound but as a percentage -- in this case it would be 10%.
5. The government -- which also wants to borrow money from the public -- almost always does so. Government stocks are called "gilt-edged", originally because the certificate on which the loan was recorded had a gold edge like those found on the pages of old books. Later the term "gilt-edged" came to have a wider meaning, standing for safety and security, the government being the one institution that would never fail to pay its debts. Normally the government promises to repay the money borrowed within or at a certain specified time. This often applies to other kinds of stock, but hardly ever to shares.
New Words
stock
n. the money owned by a company, divided into shares 股票，公债，证券
rent
v. to pay money for the use of 租用
machinery
n. machines in general （总称）机器
contribution
n. 贡献，捐款，捐献（物）
company
n. a firm 公司
profit
n. 1. money gained by trade or business 利润，收益
2. advantage gained from some actions 益处，好处
proportion
n. 比例，比率
amount
n. 数量，数额
found
v. to start the building or development of 创立，创建
prosper
v. 繁荣，昌盛
likely
a. 很可能的
worthwhile
a. worth doing; worth the trouble taken 值得的，值得做的
obvious
a. easy to understand; clear 明显的，显面易见的
shareholder
n. an owner of one or more shares in a business 股东，股票持有人
dividend
n. 红利，股息
per
prep. for each; during each 每，每一
percentage
n. 百分比
gilt-edged
a. （证券、股票等）金边的（意指高度可靠的）
originally
ad. in the beginning 最早，起初
original
a. 原来的，原先的
certificate
n. 1. 证券，单据
2. 证明书
loan
n. 贷款
later
ad. 以后
security
n. the state of being safe 安全
debt
n. 债务
institution
n. 机构
normally
ad. 在正常情况下
normal
a. usual or average 正常的
specify
v. 指定
apply
v. 1. to be directly related 适用
2. to bring or put into use 应用
Phrases and Expressions
in order to
为了，以便
in this way
用这种方法
of course
当然，很自然
make a profit
获利
share in
分享
in proportion to
与...成正比，与...相称
be divided into
分成
have (great) faith in
相信，对...抱有（极大的）信心
be likely to
很有可能，很有希望
on the other hand
另一方面
pay out
付（款）
stand for
代表
apply to
适用于
Proper Names
Smith
史密斯（人名）
Jones
琼斯（人名）
|