Text Comprehension Exercises

I. Listen to the text “What is Economics? “ and answer the following questions:

1. What is the reason for the constant process of making choice by individuals,

companies, governments?

2. What is economics about?

3. What is the role of economists in the development of modern societies?

4. What are the parts of standard economics?

II. Listen to the text again and say which of the following replies is correct.

1. Economic issues have occupied people’s …

a) minds, b) hands, c) heads.

2. There is a limit to the resources used to produce goods and services available to … people's wishes and needs.

a) sacrifice b) make c) satisfy

3. Economy is a careful or thrifty use or management of resources, such as … , materials or labour.

a) fees b) income c) salary

4. Economic … also influence decisions in the world of business.

a) strengths b) powers c) forces

5. The study of economics will help us to deal with such subjects … .

a) carefully b) intelligently c) thoroughly

Text Exercises

I. Read the text and find in it English equivalents of the following words and word combinations:

Производство, распределение, потребление, управление ресурсами, факторы экономики, предметы по потребления, размер прибыли, задействовать ресурсы, доступные экономические ресурсы, спрос и предложения

II. Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. What do people discover when they grow older? 2. What are the year’s most important political debates focused on? 3. What did economists notice about people? 4. What definitions can we give to the term “economics”? 5. Why should we study economics? 6. What problems does economics deal with? 7. Where can we apply our knowledge of economics? 8. What for do large corporations and governments need economists? 9. What major fields can be standard economics divided into? 10. What is microeconomics? 11. What is macroeconomics? 12. Who was the first to write about macroeconomics? 13. What was his book about?

III. Agree or disagree with the following statements

1. Nowadays all young people know they can have everything. 2. Every year politicians argue on how to spend their taxpayers’ money. 3. Is you seek the production of one thing you should reduce your consumption rates. 4. Economics is a political science as it reveals and analyzes the government policy. 5. We live in the society, so there’s no escaping economics. 6. One of the common definitions of economics is “the study how people make money”. 7. The development of modern economics dates back to the 17^th century. 8. Microeconomics operates on a national level, while macroeconomics is an international science.

IV. Extend the following statements, use your text for reference

Everyone goes through life having to make choices.

To increase the production of one thing means to reduce production of something else.

Economics deals with production, distribution and consumption of commodities.

We should study economics a) to know how people make living, b) to make better career decisions, b) to perform our duties as citizens.

Since the 17^th century economists have developed methods to study various economic issues.

Standard economics can be divided into two fields.

V. Speak on:

1. The definitions of economics,

2. The reasons to study economics,

3. The role of economists in the development of modern societies,

4. The role of microeconomics and macroeconomics.