Translate the sentences from English into Russian, use the active vocabulary from the table.

in the year to March	в годовом исчислении к марту
decline by 2% to 110$	снизиться на 2% и составить 110$
year-on-year (to)	по сравнению с аналогичным периодом предыдущего года, в годовом исчислении
year-to-date (YTD)	за период с начала года по отчетную дату
quarter-on-quarter	поквартально, ежеквартально
revise up/ down	пересмотреть в сторону повышения/ понижения
seasonally adjusted (adjusted for seasonal factors)	пересмотренный с учетом сезонных колебаний
for the year ended in March	в течение года, заканчивающимся в марте
three months in a row (three consecutive/ successive months)	три месяца подряд
since the country began to report quarterly rates	с момента введения квартальной отчетности
between May and September	в период с мая по сентябрь

 

1. Apple’s quarterly profits increased by 47% to $1.7 billion year-on-year, well above expectations.

2. America’s GDP growth in the three months to the end of June was revised down sharply to an annualized quarter-on-quarter rate of 1.6% from the previous estimate of 2.4%. In the three months to the end of March, GDP had risen at an annualized rate of 3.7% from the previous quarter.

3. New housing starts rose by a modest 0,5% but estimates for new buildings were revised up.

4. The Index of Activity in Japan’s service industry rose for the third month in a row.

5. Inflation in Switzerland eased for the third consecutive month, falling by a tenth of a percentage point to 0.4% in July.

6. Industrial production in Brazil declined by a seasonally adjusted 1% in June from the previous month, but was 11.1% higher than a year earlier.

7. The study of Hay Group, a consultancy, compares managers’ disposable income in 51 countries by calculating average salaries adjusted for taxes and living expenses.

8. Greece’s unemployment rate soared to 15.9% for the three months to March, compared with 14.2% in the previous quarter. The first-quarter jobless rate is the highest since the country began to report quarterly rates in 1998.

9. The growth of aquaculture has been startling. In the 1970s, farming accounted for 6% of the fish available for human consumption. By 2006—the most recent year for which figures are available—that has risen to 47%. These figures are subject to revision: there are questions over the reliability of data from China, in particular. Nonetheless what the year-to-date comparisons indicate is that the annual rate of growth of aquaculture is dropping.

10. The economy shrank by 5.6% in the year to the second quarter, the largest contraction since comparable records began in 1955.

11. America’s industrial production rose by 0.9% between June and July, leaving it 3.7% higher than a year earlier.

 

Describe the graph showing the price of gold using the active vocabulary.

 

.

 

 

Section 4 Big Ideas Simply Explained

 

 

Lead in

 

Finance and economics

 

Finance is:

■ money provided or lent for a particular purpose.

■ the management of money by countries, organizations or people.

■ the study of money management.

High finance involves large amounts of money used by governments and large companies. A person’s or organization’s finances are the money they have and how it is managed, etc. The related adjective is financial.

 

Economics is:

■ the study of how money works and is used.

■ calculations of whether a particular activity will be profitable.

Related adjectives: a profitable activity is economic; an unprofitable one is uneconomic. If something is economical, it is cheap to buy, to use or to do. If not, it is uneconomical.

Economic indicators are figures showing how well a country’s economy (economic system) is working.

 

1. Complete these sentences with expressions from above.

1. Eating pasta, potatoes and rice rather than meat and fish is...........

2. Buying your food at a small local shop rather than at a big supermarket is...........

3. Someone who arranges multibillion-dollar loans to governments works in............

4. Someone who is heavily in debt has problematic............

5. If you obtain money for investment in a business project, you raise............

6. Someone who teaches about trade between countries is a teacher of............

7. Pig farming is at present unprofitable and............

2.Notable Quotable. Comment on the following:

It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.

George H. Lorimer

 

3. Read and translate the text. Answer the following questions:

a) Explain in your own words the term Homo Economicus.

b) Who was the first to explain the idea?

c) How is the idea of Homo Economicus related to the notion of costs and benefits? Give examples.

d) Why do you think people mostly take quick decisions based on past experience, habit, and rules of thumb?

e) Why is the idea of "economic man" still useful nowadays?