Task 1. Read and translate the text

Контрольная работа для студентов 2 курса заочного отделения. Направление подготовки «Экономика».

Задание № 1

Basics of Economics

Task 1. Read and translate the text

E conomics is the scientific study of the way in which wealth is produced and used. It also studies the choices people make to satisfy their wants and needs. Contrary to popular opinion, economics does not normally include such things as personal finance, personal income, ways to start a small business, etc. The range of problems considered by economists is relatively narrow. They deal with employment, expenditure, interest rates, consumption, transportation, and trade. In relation to everyday life, the economist is more like an astronomer than a weather forecaster, more like a chemist than a pharmacist, more like a professor of hydrodynamics than a plumber.

The basic problem of economics is scarcity created by unlimited wants of society and limited resources. To achieve this goal, economists must find the most efficient ways to distribute and use these limited resources called the factors of production. They include natural resources, human resources, capital and entrepreneurship. Each factor of production has a place in economic system.

1. Natural Resources or “Land” are the things provided by nature that go into production of goods and services. They include such things as minerals, animals, forests, even the sun, wind and rain (but only when these things are used to produce goods and provide services).

2. Human Resources or «Labor» are the physical and mental effort that people put into the creation of goods and services. The price paid for the use of labor is called wages. Wages represent income to workers, who own their labor.

3. Сарital is something created by people to produce other goods and services. A factory, tools and machines are capital resources because they can be used to produce other goods and services. The term “capital” is often used by business people to refer to money they can use to buy factories, machinery and other productive resources. We can also see an important distinction between capital goods and consumer goods. Capital goods are the manufactured resources that are used in producing finished products. Consumer goods are the finished products – the goods and services that consumers buy.

4. Entrepreneurship is the managerial or organizational skills needed by most firms to produce goods and services. The entrepreneur brings together the other three factors of production. When they are successful, entrepreneurs earn profits. When they are not successful, they suffer losses. The reward to entrepreneurs for the risks, new ideas and efforts that they have put into the business, is the money that remains after the owners of land, labor and capital have received their payments.

Vocabulary

wealth – благо, богатство

to produce goods – производить товар(ы)

to provide services – предоставлять услуги

to satisfy wants and needs – удовлетворять нужды и потребности

popular opinion – общественное (расхожее) мнение

to include – включать

income – доход

to deal with – иметь дело с

employment – занятость

expenditure – затраты

interest rates – процентные ставки

consumption – потребление

trade – торговля

scarcity – дефицит

goal, aim, purpose, objective – цель

efficient (efficiency) – эффективный (эффективность)

to distribute – распределять

natural resources – природные ресурсы (земля)

human resources – людские резервы (труд)

capital – капитал

entrepreneurship – предпринимательство

wage(s) – заработная плата

to own (owner) – владеть (владелец)

capital / consumer goods – средства производства / потребительские товары

skill – навык, умение

successful – успешный

to earn profits – получать прибыль

to suffer losses – терпеть убытки