English for Masters in Economics. Маркушевская Л.П - 51 стр.

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Университет ИТМО | Санкт-Петербург

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162
Practical tasks
Task 1. Put the verbs in the appropriate form.
1.Youlookreallygreat!(you,work)__________________outatthet
-
ness center recently?
2. A: What (you, do) __________________when the accident occurred?
B: I (try) __________________to change a light bulb that had
burnt out.
3. I (have) __________________the same car for more than ten years.
I’m thinking about buying a new one.
4. A: What do you call people who work in libraries?
B: They (call) __________________librarians.
5. I came to England six months ago. I started my economics course three
months ago. When I return to Australia, I (study) _______________
___for nine months and I (be) __________________in England for
exactly one year.
6. Sam (arrive) __________________in San Diego a week ago.
7. Samantha (live) __________________in Berlin for more than two
years. In fact, she (live) __________________there when the Berlin
wall came down.
8. The Maya established a very advanced civilization in the jungles of
the Yucatan; however, their culture (disappear, virtually) _________
___bythetimeEuropeansrst(arrive)______________intheNew
World.
9. Shhhhh! Be quiet! John (sleep) __________________.
10. It (rain) __________________all week. I hope it stops by Saturday
because I want to go to the beach.
11. I have not traveled much yet; however, I (visit) ________________
__the Grand Canyon and San Francisco by the time I leave the United
States.
11. I (see) __________________many pictures of the pyramids before
I went to Egypt. Pictures of the monuments are very misleading. The
pyramids are actually quite small.
12. In the last hundred years, traveling (become) _________________
much easier and very comfortable. In the 19th century, it (take) ___
__________two or three months to cross North America by covered
wagon. The trip (be) __________very rough and often dangerous.
Things (change) __________________a great deal in the last hun
-
dredandftyyears.NowyoucanyfromNewYorktoLosAngelesin
a matter of hours.
51
The reasons for this collective blindness are easy enough to nd. The
modern economy is structurally reliant* on economic growth for its stabil-
ity. When growth falters* – as it has done recently – politicians panic. Busi-
nesses struggle to survive. People lose their jobs and sometimes their homes.
A spiral of recession looms*. Questioning growth is deemed* to be the act of
lunatics, idealists and revolutionaries.
But question it we must. The myth of growth has failed us. It has failed the
two billion people who still live on less than $2 a day. It has failed the fragile
ecological systems on which we depend for survival. It has failed, spectacularly,
in its own terms, to provide economic stability and secure people’s livelihoods.
Today we nd ourselves faced with the imminent* end of the era of cheap
oil, the prospect (beyond the recent bubble) of steadily rising commodity
prices, the degradation of forests, lakes and soils, conicts over land use,
water quality, shing rights and the momentous challenge of stabilizing con-
centrations of carbon in the global atmosphere. And we face these tasks with
an economy that is fundamentally broken, in desperate need of renewal.
In these circumstances, a return to business as usual is not an option.
Prosperity for the few founded on ecological destruction and persistent so-
cial injustice is no foundation for a civilized society. Economic recovery is
vital. Protecting people’s jobs – and creating new ones – is absolutely essen-
tial. But we also stand in urgent need of a renewed sense of shared prosper-
ity. A commitment to fairness and ourishing in a nite world.
Delivering these goals may seem an unfamiliar or even incongruous* task to
policy in the modern age. The role of government has been framed so narrowly
by material aims, and hollowed out by a misguided vision of unbounded consum-
er freedoms. The concept of governance itself stands in urgent need of renewal.
But the current economic crisis presents us with a unique opportunity to
invest in change. To sweep away the short-term thinking that has plagued
society for decades. To replace it with considered policy capable of address-
ing the enormous challenge of delivering a lasting prosperity.
Prosperity consists in our ability to ourish as human beings – within the
ecological limits of a nite planet. The challenge for our society is to create the
conditions under which this is possible. It is the most urgent task of our times.
* pursuit – стремление
reliant – зависимый
to falter – колебаться, слабеть
to loom – разрастаться
deem – полагать, считать
imminent – неизбежный, неминуемый
incongruous – неподходящий

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