Английский язык. Конова М.А. - 64 стр.

      10.4 Read the text and translate it using the dictionary

                                       Text B
                        History of the U.S. Customs Service
    The U.S. Customs Service has a long history. With ratification by the
necessary number of states, the Constitution of the United States went into effect
on March 4, 1789. A bit more than four months later, on July 31 of that year, the
U.S. Customs Service started operating, among the very first of the federal
agencies to come to life. It was given a life-and-death mission.
    The young nation was then on the brink of bankruptcy. The first Congress and
President Washington agreed that the collection of duties on imported goods was
essential if the United States were to survive.
    Only a few days after Customs drew its first breath, on August 5, 1789, the
power of the service went from theory to reality when Captain James Weeks sailed
his brigatine, Persis, into New York harbor with a miscellaneous cargo from
Leghorn, Italy. The duty on the cargo - the first such payment ever made to the
United States Treasury - was $774.41.
     While the payment was modest, it was the initial fiscal prop for a very young
and shaky government. More was to come. In its first year of operation, the service
collected over $2 million in duties. And for the next 124 years -- until that moment
in 1913 when the amendment authorizing the income tax was approved -- customs
remained a major source of revenue for the federal government. Thus the Customs
Service, especially in the early years of the nation, proved the truth of that
profound maxim: "the revenue of the state is the state."
      As described in the strategic plan of the U.S.Customs, the agency faces five
distinct strategic challenges. They are: the continued threat of narcotics smuggling,
terrorists, the growth of world trade, the proliferation of trade agreements and
general public resistance to increasing the budget of the federal government.
                                                                       (1500 symbols)
    10.4.1 What do these numbers and dates mentioned in the text refer to:
    124       $2 million     1913           March 4        $774.41        1789


    10.4.2 Match these statements as true or false:
    1) The Constitution of the USA went into effect on July31, 1789.
    2) The agency faces four strategic challenges.
    3) In its first year of operation the service collected over $2 million in duties.
    4) Customs remained a major source of revenue for the federal government
       until the income tax was approved.