ТРЕБОВАНИЯ НА ЗАЧЕТЕ

Вариант № 1

I. Прочитайте и устно переведите весь текст. Перепишите и письменно переведите абзацы 1,3,4:

Opportunity costs

1. All production involves a cost. This cost is not counted simply in terms of money but also in terms of resources used. The various resources used in produc­ing a good or a service are the real costs of that product. In building a bridge, for example, the real costs of the bridge are the human, capital, and natural resources it consumes. The building of a bridge requires the labour of many people, including engi­neers and construction workers. The capital resources these people use include a variety of tools and machines. Building a bridge also requires natural resources, such as iron ore and coal. These natural resources are used to make the steel that is used in constructing the bridge.

2. Since resources are limited and human wants are unlimited, people and socie­ties must make choices about what they want most. Each choice involves costs. The value of time, money, goods and services given up in making a choice is called opportunity cost.

3. When steel is used to make a bridge instead of a hospital, the loss in hospitals is the opportunity cost of making the bridge. In fact, any resources used for the bridge are then no longer available for something else.

4. When people make a choice between two possible uses of their resources, they are making a tradeoffbetween them.

5. To make choices that best satisfy human wants, people must be aware of all the tradeoffs. Then, society will understand the true costs of making one decision rather than another, and can make the decision that best fits its values and goals.

6. How can the concepts of opportunity costs and tradeoffs be used to help to explain how the economy works? One way is to construct a simple plan of the economy called an economic model. The simple plan helps economists to analyse economic problems, seek solutions, and make comparisons between the economic model and the real world. An economic model is a little bit like a model of an airplane. It helps to explain how the real thing works, even if it doesn't fly. When models are used to help to solve economic problems, their usefulness depends on the assumptions made about the world.

7. One of the most important choices a society makes is between producing capi­tal goods and producing consumer goods. If a nation increases its production of consumer goods, its people will live better lives today. However, if a nation in­creases its production of capital goods, its people may live better in the future.

II. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Why must people make choices about what they want? What does each choice involve?

2. In what terms are the production costs counted?

3. What must people be aware of to make choices that best satisfy human wants?

4. Why are economic choices necessary?

5. Why is it important for the society to be aware of tradeoffs when making economic choices?

6. When can a society make the decision that best fits its values and goods?