Economic activity

Most people work in order to earn their living. They produce goods and services. Goods are either agricultural (i.e. produced on farms, like wheat and milk), or manufactured (i.e. produced in factories, like cars and paper). Services are provided by such things as schools (i.e. education), hospitals (i.e. medicine) and shops (i.e. commerce).

Some people provide goods, some provide services. Other people provide both goods and services. The work which people do is called their economic activity. The economic system is the sum-total of what people do and what they want.

The work which people undertake either provides what they need or provides them with money. People buy essential commodities with money. We need food, clothes and shelter. If we could get all these things without working, we probably would not work.

But even if we have these essential things, we may want other things (like radio or books). If we had them, they might make life more enjoyable. Human beings certainly have a wide and very complex range of wants. Of course, most people hope to earn enough money to buy commodities and services which are non-essential but which provide some particular personal satisfaction, like toys for children, visits to the cinema and records.

Economists study everyday life. The science based upon the facts of our everyday lives is called economics. The economist tries to describe the facts of the economy in which we live, to explain how the system works; this study of the general life of our communities is undertaken in order to understand the whole economic system of which we are part.

The economist’s methods should of course be strictly objective and scientific. The science of economics is concerned with all our material needs: it is concerned with the desire to have a radio as well as basic necessity of having enough food to eat.

II. Read the following words and give their Russian equivalents.

Agricultural, commerce, commodity, community, clothes, essential, certainly, manufactured, necessity, objective, record, shelter, scientific, satisfaction, sum-total, undertaken.

III. Find English equivalents of the following words and expressions in the above-given text.

Зарабатывать деньги, зарабатывать себе на жизнь, покупать за деньги, производить товары, обеспечивать услуги, товары первой необходимости, личное удовлетворение, удовлетворять свои потребности, экономическая деятельность, экономика(система), экономика(наука).

Make up your own sentences with these words and expressions.

IV. Answer the following questions:

1. What do people do to earn their living? 2. Could one get things without money? 3. What things do we call ‘essential commodities’? 4. How do we call such things as toys, records, cinema? 5. Do economists only describe the facts of the economy in which we live? 6. Why should the economist’ s methods be strictly objective and scientific?

V. Ask your friend:

if he/she must work to earn his/her living?

what his/her basic needs are?

which non-essential commodities make his/her life enjoyable?

whether he/she can explain the work of our economic system?

how the science concerned with our material needs is called?

VI Remember the pronunciation of the following words and guess their meaning:

economics method

microeconomics focus

macroeconomics policy

economy portion

geographic resources

microscope nature

VII. Read the following international words and give their Russian equivalents.

Business, industry, model, production, aspects, reality, individuals, examine, nation, positive, total, circulation, special, alternatives, normative.

VIII. Read the following text. Make sure you understand it.

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