VII. Translate the sentences from English into Russian paying attention to participles and Complex Object with the Infinitive.
1. Goods produced by Argentina are very well designed.
2. The equipment purchased last month is of high quality.
3. The enquiry sent by our company today will be received by our partners the day after tomorrow..
4. The discount given by your firm is rather good.
5. Written in a hurry, the letter was difficult to read.
6. He wants the work done immediately.
7. We want the Argentinian company to deliver the goods in May.
8. You expect the contract to be signed today, don't you?
9. Do you want the design of the model to be changed?
10. I don't know why they made the employees show the compressors in operation.
11. I expect the tests of computers to be made soon.
VIII. Translate into English:
1. Бразилия была вынуждена принять плавающий курс национальной валюты, что привело к падению курса бразильского реала на 40% по отношению к доллару.
2. В 1997 году необычайный рост процентных ставок в Таиланде заставил правительство использовать валютные резервы страны в целях поддержания национальной валюты.
3. Аналогичная ситуация сложилась в Малайзии, где правительству пришлось ввести меры контроля за капиталом.
4. Инвесторы разочарованы не столько системой обмена валют, сложившейся в странах с развивающейся экономикой, сколько неумением правительств этих стран проводить политику, способную поддержать ту или иную систему.
5. Стоимость кредитов резко возросла из-за опасений, что страна может отказаться от выполнения своих обязательств по выплате долгов.
IX. Work as one group. Supply details to prove the following statement from the text:
If currency boards bring troubles of their own, so do all the other options.
X. Meet as one group. Speak about the convertibility law adopted by Argentina in 1991. What are its advantages and disadvantages?
XI. Meet as two groups. Argue for or against the following assumptions made by the author:
1. Without a devaluation, Argentina's solvency looks dubious.
2. In many emerging markets, the apparent failure of an exchange-rate system also looks like the failure of the IMF, on whose authority the policy has been followed.
XII. Meet as two groups. Discuss the strong and weak points of:
a) currency board arrangement;
b) "free-floating" exchange-rate systems
Text 4
The European Union and Japan
Pre-reading task.
Read the text, then give a brief description of the Japanese economy's current performance.
Japan's GDP grew at an annual rate of 5.1%. But it then shrank, and the head of the country's Economic Planning Agency has warned that GDP probably fell again. Two consecutive quarters of contraction technically put Japan back into recession. However, Japans GDP figures are notoriously unreliable, swinging wildly from quarter to quarter and subject to large revisions. The official figures probably overstated growth during the first half of the year, and then overstated the slowdown in the second half. Some economists reckon that a better gauge is industrial production.
Household spending has been depressed by continuing deflationary pressures: prices, wages and bank lending are all falling. Despite this, some on the Bank of Japan's policy hoard are talking about raising interest rates. Instead, the bank should be pursuing more aggressive monetary expansion, either through unsterilised foreign-exchange intervention or by buying government bonds. Not only would this help to take some of the strain off fiscal policy, but by adjusting the monetary and fiscal mix.
The 60% rise in share prices since the beginning of last year suggests that investors reckon that these changes are significant. In the short-term, the reduction by firms of excess capacity, labour and debts will admittedly constrain new business investment and squeeze workers' incomes. But eventually the changes will create new investment opportunities and boost growth.
There is no denying that Japan’s structural problems remain severe. And yet, contrary to what some claim, big changes are under way. Financial deregulation is forcing firms to focus on return on capital. Large inflows of foreign direct investment, notably in cars and telecoms are boosting competition. The deregulation of retailing has spawned big, independent retailers able to force manufacturers to be more efficient. The Internet is also starting to spur price competition.
In some ways Japan looks like America in the early 1990s, when businesses engaged in painful changes, and workers' real incomes fell. Japan's task is far bigger, but there is a silver lining round this cloud: the country's potential for gains in efficiency and productivity is also much bigger.
Text-study
I. Learn the following words.
Consecutive – последовательный;
contraction – сокращение, уменьшение;
recession – спад;
to overstate – преувеличивать;
gauge – мера;
hoard – резерв, хранилище;
to pursue – проводить;
to take off the strain – снимать напряженность;
to constrain – ограничивать, сдерживать;
to squeeze – уменьшать;
to boost – стимулировать;
to spur – стимулировать.
II. Answer the following questions:
1. What are the reasons to believe that the Japanese economy is slowly on the mend?
2. What does the author mean by more aggressive monetary expansion?
3. What are Japan's longer-term prospects?
4. Is Japan an attractive destination for inward investments? Why?
5. What makes Japan look like America in the early 1990s?