Labour and capital

employer - роботодавець at a negotiated rate - на договірній основі surplus - надлишок accumulate - накопичувати employee - працівник accommodation - приміщення

bear the risk - ризикувати justified - виправданий, обгрунтований earn profits - заробляти прибуток deliberate policy - обміркована політика plough back - реінвестувати machinery - машинне устаткування

Labour is any work performed for an employer at a negotiated rate while profit is the surplus, which accumulates as a result of productive work. The employer obtains this surplus after he pays the necessary expense of his business and the wages of his employees. He may be required to share the surplus with others who have provided the capital with which he started his business. Most businesses need capital in order to start productive work, and the capital pays for the accommodation, machinery and other items, which the business needs. There is always an element of risk in providing capital and starting a business. The business may not be successful. The employers and the providers of capital bear the risk. If the business is successful, the risk has been justified and the invested capital earns part of the profits as a return on the investment.

The capital which people provide to help new businesses is an accumulation of previous surpluses on previous business activities. In this way the past is used to finance the future. Such capital is accumulated by a deliberate policy of saving surpluses. This policy may be personal and individual, or it may be public and collective. As such, it is common to both the capitalistic and communistic systems. In both systems, a certain part of the profits is ploughed back into the system in order to create capital.

Capital can be defined as a factor of production (for example, machinery or cash) or the assets possessed by a person, a company or a nation. Land, houses and shares in a business are capital. In terms of the state, all railways, docks, roads, airports and state funds of money are part of the nation's capital.

1 What is profit? 2 At what point does an employer obtain surplus? 3 Who may he be required to share it with? 4 What do most businesses need? 5 Why is there always some risk in providing capital? 6 Who bears the risk? 7 What justifies the risk? 8 How is the past used to finance the future? 9 What is ploughed back into the system and why? 10 Give examples of private and public capital.

Complete the sentences:

1) Labour is....

2) Profit is....

3) Most businesses need capital in order to....

4) The employers and the providers of capital bear....

5) The capital which people provide to help new businesses is....

6) A deliberate policy of saving surpluses may be....

7) Capital can be defined as....

Grammar: Passive Tenses – Revision (1)

1 Choose the best way to continue each sentence:

1 He lives in a small house.

a. Somebody built it about forty years ago. b. It was built about forty years ago.

2 English is worth learning.

a. People speak it in a lot of countries. b. It is spoken in a lot of countries.

3 He got a sports car, but he didn't like it.

a. So he sold it again. b. So it was sold again.

4 My niece is an artist.

a. She’s just painted another picture. b. Another picture has just been painted by her.

5 The new Virginia Meyer film is marvellous.

a. They are showing it at our local cinema. b. It is being shown at our local cinema.

2 Write passive sentences:

1 Chinese ……………… (speak) in Singapore. 2 The Taj Mahal ……………… (build) around 1640. 3 The new hospital ……….………… (open) next year. 4 She ………………… (interview) now. 5 I realised I ……………..… (follow). 6 ………………… (you invite) to Andy's party? 7 He found that all his money ………………… (steal). 8 These computers ……………… (make) in Korea. 9 Passengers ………

(ask) not to speak to the driver. 10 Sorry about the noise – the road ……………… (mend). 11 The village church ………………… (burn down) last year. 12 A Roman pavement ……………… (just find) under Oxford Street.

• With a passive, we can use by + nounif we need to say who does the action:

This house was built in 1486 by Sir John Latton.

3 Make the sentences passive. Use by... only if it is necessary to say who does / did the action:

1 Shakespeare wrote 'Hamlet'. ……………………………………………………………………

2 They have arrested her for shoplifting. ……………………………………………………………………

3 They are repairing your car now. ……………………………………………………………………

4 People in Chile speak Spanish. ……………………………………………………………………

5 Has anybody asked Peter? ……………………………………………………………………

6 My mother made this ring. ……………………………………………………………………

7 Electricity drives this car. ……………………………………………………………………

8 Somebody will tell you where to go. ……………………………………………………………………

9 A drunken motorist knocked her down. …………………………………………………………………

10 Liverpool beat Manchester 3-0 yesterday. ………………………………………………………………

11 The Chinese invented paper. ……………………………………………………………………

12 You need hops to make beer. ……………………………………………………………………

13 They don't sell stamps in bookshops. ……………………………………………………………………

14 The directors are still considering your application. ……………………………………………………

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11