The UK takes an important place in export and import of loans and the flight of the capital.

LONDON

London is the capital of England. In London you can find some
of the best theatres, cinemas and museums. There are many beautiful
old churches in London too. There are about 10 thousand streets in
London. Most of the streets are not very wide. You can see many shops
in London. Oxford Street is London's main shopping center. You can
buy ciothes, shoes and toys in it. Peopie from all over the worid shop in
Oxford Street. You can find many old and new beautiful narks in the
city. The largest park in London is Hyde Park. It is one of the most
popular places of Londoners on hot summer days. There are many other
pleasant parks and green squares there too.

Tourists in London always want to visit Westminster and see Big
Ben. They want to see the clock in its tower and to hear the bells. Big
Ben is really a bell. You hear it every hour. It is a big bell and you can
hear on the radio: "This is the BBC. The time is six o'clock".

The most interesting historical place is the Tower of London.
The Tower of London was a fortress, a palace, a prison and the King's
Zoo. Now it is the museum. You can see a lot of interesting things in the
halls of the White Tower. Its square walls are white and very tall.

William the Conqueror built it in the eleventh century. There are
always black ravens in the Tower of London. People keep them in the
Tower of London and look after them very well as they believe that
London will be rich while ravens live there.

One of the greatest English churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, is not
far from the Tower of London. The famous English architect Sir
Christopher Wrem built it in the 17th century after the Great Fire. It
took Sir Christopher Wren 35 years. It is a beautiful building with many
columns and towers. In one of its towers there is one of the largest bells
in the world.

The centre of London is Trafalgar Square. Some people say it is
the most beautiful place in London. In the middle of the square stands a
tall column. It is a monument to Admiral Nelson. Four bronze lions look
at the square from the monument. There are two beautiful fountains in
the square. They are in front of the National Gallery which is one of the
best picture galleries of the world. Every day many tourists visit this fine building with tall columns.

 

TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

Every nation and every country has its own customs and
traditions. In Britain traditions play a more important part in the life
of the people than in other countries.

Englishmen are proud of their traditions and carefully keep
them up. Foreigners coming to England are struck at once by quite a
number of customs and peculiarities in English life. Some ceremonies are
rather formal, such as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace,
Trooping the Colour, the State opening of Parliament.

To this day an English family prefers a house with a fireplace and a
garden to a flat in a modern house with central heating. Most English love
gardens. Sometimes the garden in front of the house is a little square covered
with cement painted green in imitation of grass and a box of flowers. They love flowers very much.

English holidays are also part of their traditions. Christmas for
instance is a church festival which is kept on December, 25. It is a day of
special gifts and greetings. The usual salutation is "A Merry Christmas
to you" and the reply - "The same to you". There is a custom amongst
English children of hanging up stockings at the foot of their bed on
Christmas Eve. They expect them to be fiiied with toys and sweets in the
morning. Christmas trees are not always seen in English families, but an
enormous fir-tree stands every winter in Trafalgar Square, in front of the
National Gallery. It is brightly decorated. At home rooms are decorated
with holly, ivy and misletoe. The Christmas festivities and tea-parties go
on until January, 6, known as Twelfth Night.

Another traditional holiday is February, 14 known as St.
Valentine's Day. It is customary on the day to send a Valentine, a card to
someone you love, or to your best friend. You don't sign your name and
for a person whom you send this card it is interesting to guess who has
sent the card. Of course young people look forward to Valentine's Day,
because they hope to receive many cards.

 

NABEREZHNYE CHELNY

Naberezhnye Chelny is second in size only to Kazan. Its
population is half a million. People of more than sixty nationalities live
here. The city has two parts: the old and the new. The history of
Naberezhnye Chelny is interesting and romantic. In the sixteenth centuries
these territories belonged to the khan. In 1552, Kazan was conquered
by the army of Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible. As time passed the bank of
the River Kama became covered with settlements of Russian migrants.
Many of those settlements were called Chelny, which means "canoes" -
"Canoes on the Bank". Now we see a modern whitestoned city.

Naberezhnye Chelny is a large industrial, cultural and educational
center. As an industrial centre it has a lot of factories, they produce
many things: food, clothing, building constructions motor-cars and so
on. About half of its population is engaged in industry.

The cultural life of the town is rich. Some museums, clubs,
cinemas, the Russian and Tatar Drama Theatres, Puppet's theatre open
their doors to all those who want to visit them. Many famous singers,
actors come to our town with their shows.

In Naberezhnye Chelny there are many colleges, institutes where
you can receive professional training.

The town is very nice, especially in summer, when there are many
green trees, a great deal of flowers. In the town there are some parks.
Here you can see some monuments. There is the Cenotaph and Eternal
Flame in memory of those who were killed in Great Patriotic and Civil
Wars, the memorial to Musa Jalil, the famous Tatar writer, Phoenix, a symbol of eternity and revival, which personifies the Mother land.

People living in the town are friendly and hospitable. The average
age of the inhabitants is 38.

 

GLOBALIZATION

Nowadays millions of people from all over the world feel themselves how our world is becoming global. And they see how globalization interferes with economics, societies, goods and cultures. And thus it is so it, of course, has it’s own advantages and disadvantages.

Some people think that globalization is very good for them and for their country. It means that there are several major factors of good affect of it. Firstly, the Internet has become spread around the world and that is why it is possible nowadays to talk to an American, Italian or Japanese friend. Besides the Internet saves time, energy and helps to study. For example, with the help of computers you can get a lot of knowledge because computers are connected to libraries, universities and major research institutions. Secondly, now it is easier to make different operations with money because in today’s world there is a universal currency called Euro. You can easily use it in any European country and every bank or shops will take it. And finally, globalization makes it easier to communicate with each other, because everybody learn one international language. I think it is very important because it makes our life easier, for example you can speak English in every country and everybody understand you, it means that you shouldn't learn a lot of other languages.

Other people believe, that in today’s world there is enormous pressure on culture and traditions. It is impossible to say that traditions can be global. But speaking about people’s values nowadays, I can say that they are humanistic. It is very difficult to persuade nations to live together in peace. And though it is so, there are organizations which try to solve such problems because they don’t need the Third World War.

As for some other problems of globolization there are, of course, problems with education, diseases and politics, but the most important ,of course, is economic one. Anti-globalisation protestors are protesting about the dominance in the world economy of large multi-national companies. They consider that these companies spread their own western culture at the expense of other cultures, and that they exploit developing countries and the enviroment in general.

Protestors can show their protest by different ways, but usually it is,of course, demonstarion. For example in 1999, a collection of 50,000 environmentalists, students, anarchists and ordinary members of the public gathered in Seattle to protest against a meeting there of the World Trade Organisation. The demonstration began peacefully, but by the end of the day, protestors had smashed shop windows and destroyed property, the police had fired plastic bullets and gat into the crowd. The “Battle of Seattle” is now seen as the start of a world-wild anti-globalisation movement. The next demonstarion was in Genoa in 2001. It was the largest protest, where 300,000 demonstrators clashed with police in violent conflict, at which one person died and hundreds were injured.

So, globalisation plays an important role in my life and in life of everybody in this world not only because that it helps to make a global language but also because it simply unites people from all over the world.

 

A SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP

A business may be privately owned in three different forms. These forms are the sole proprietorship, the partnership and the corporation. The sole proprietorship is the most common in many western countries. For example, more than 80 per cent of all businesses in the United States are sole proprietorships.

But it is evident that sole proprietorships do not do the greatest volume of business. They account for only 16 per cent of all business receipts, for example, in America. What kind of business is likely to be a sole proprietorship? First of all, service industries such as laundromats, beauty shops, different repair shops, restaurants.

 

PARTNERSHIPS

A partnership is an association of two or more persons to carry on a business for profit. When the owners of the partnership have unlimited liability they are called general partners. If partners have limited liability they are limited partners. There may be a silent partner as well – a person who is known to the public as a member of the firm but without authority in management. The reverse of the silent partner is the secret partner – a person who takes part in management but who is not known to the public.

Any business may have the form of the partnership, for example, in such professional fields as medicine, law, accounting, insurance and stockbrokerage. Limited partnerships are a common form of ownership in real estate, oil prospecting, quarrying industries, etc.

Partnerships have more advantages than sole proprietorships if one needs a big capital or diversified management. Like sole proprietorship they are easy to form and often get tax benefits from the government.

Partnerships have certain disadvantages too. One is unlimited liability. It means that each partner is responsible for all debts and is legally responsible for the whole business. Another disadvantage is that partners may disagree with each other.

 

CORPORATIONS

A business corporation is an institution for the purpose of making profit. It is operated by individuals. Their shares of ownership are represented by stock certificates. A person who owns a stock certificate is called a stockholder.

There are several advantages of the corporate form of ownership. The first is the ability to attract financial resources. The next advantage is that if the corporation attracts a large amount of capital it can invest it in plants, equipment and research. And the third advantage is that a corporation can offer higher salaries and attract talented managers and specialists.

The privately owned business corporation is one type of corporation. There are some other types too. Educational, religious, charitable institutions can also incorporate. Usually such corporation does not issue stock and is nonprofit. If there is a profit, it is reinvested in the institution rather than distributed to private stockholders.

In some western countries cities, states, federal government and special agencies can establish governmental corporations. A few examples of these governmental corporations are state universities, state hospitals and city owned utilities. Governmental corporations are nonprofit as a rule and usually they do not issue stock certificates.

 

ACCOUNTING

Accounting is frequently called the «language of business» because of its ability to communicate financial information about an organization. Various interested parties such as managers, potential investors, creditors, and the government depend on a company's accounting system to help them make informed finan­cial decisions. - An effective accounting system, therefore, must include accurate collecting, recording, classifying, summarizing, interpreting, and reporting of information on the financial status of an organization.

In order to achieve a standardized system, the accounting process follows accounting principles and rules. Regardless of the type of business or the amount of money involved, common procedures for handling and presenting financial information are used. Incoming money (revenues) and outgoing money (expen­ditures) are carefully monitored, and transactions are summarized in financial statements, which reflect the major financial activities of an organization.

Two common financial statements are the balance sheet and the income statement. The balance sheet shows the financial position of a company at one point in time, while the income statement shows the financial performance of a company over a period of time.

 

British economy.

The United Kingdom has the fourth largest economy in the world.

 

The UK economy is one of the strongest in Europe: inflation, interest tax and unemployment remain low.

The administrative and financial center is Greater London.

Insurance, and business services, account for the largest proportion of GDP and employ around 70% of the working population.

Britain lives by its industry and trade.

The largest industries include machine tools, aircraft, electronic and communications equipment, textile and clothing.

Glasgow is a famous center for shipbuilding, marine engineering and chemicals production.

Britain’s population is about 63 million, some 31 million form the nation’s workforce.

There are many big cities with manufacturing and service industries in Britain.

The energy consumed in Britain comes from coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power and wind energy.

Over 90 percent of the gas and oil used in Britain is natural gas from under the North Sea.

Agriculture is intensive mechanized and efficient by European standards.

The UK takes an important place in export and import of loans and the flight of the capital.

The largest companies of Great Britain are: British Petroleum, The British Land Company, Anglo American, Associated British Foods, Barclays.

Mainstreams of the economy of Great Britain is the export of cars and military equipment.

 

10. WHAT IS BUSINESS?

Business is a word which is commonly used in many different languages. But exactly what does it mean? The concepts and activities of business have increased in modern times. Traditionally, business simply meant exchange or trade for things people wanted or needed. Today it has a more technical definition. One definition of business is the production, distribution, and sale of goods and services for a profit. To examine this definition, we will look at its various parts.

First, production is the creation of services or the changing of materials into products. One example is the conversion of iron ore into metal car parts. Next, these products need to be moved from the factory to the marketplace. This is known as distribution. A car might be moved from a factory in Detroit to a car dealership in Miami.

Third is the sale of goods and services. Sale is the exchange of a product or service for money. A car is sold to someone in exchange for money. Goods are products which people either need or want; for example, cars can be classified as goods. Services, on the other hand, are activities which a person or a group performs for another person or organization. For instance, an auto mechanic performs a service when he repairs a car. A doctor also performs a service by taking care of people when they are sick.

Business, then, is a combination of all these activities: production, distribution, and sale. However, there is one other important factor. This factor is the creation of profit or economic surplus. A major goal in the functioning of an American business company is making a profit. Profit is the money that remains after all the expenses are paid. Creating an economic surplus or a profit is, therefore, a primary goal of business activity.