2015-10-22
4857
Read and translate the following text:
ECONOMY OF THE USA
The United States has been the world’s leading industrial nation since early in the 20th century. Until the second half of the 19th century, agriculture remained the dominant US economic activity. After the Civil War (1861-1865), great advances were made in the production of basic industrial goods. By World War I, exports of manufactured goods had become more important than the export of raw materials; as manufacturing grew, agriculture became increasingly mechanized and efficient, employing fewer and fewer workers. The most important development in the economy since World War П has been the tremendous growth of service industries, such as government services, professional services, trade, and financial activities. Today, service industries are the most important sector of the economy, employing almost three-quarters of the workforce. Manufacturing employs approximately 17 per cent of the labor force and agriculture less than 3 per cent of the workers. Beginning in the 1930s, the government of the United States played an increasingly active role in the economy. Even though the US economy in the 1990s was based on free enterprise, the government regulated business in various ways. Some government regulations were drawn up to protect consumers from unsafe products and workers from unsafe working conditions; others were designed to reduce environmental pollution.
National Output
The US economy consists of three main sectors - the primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary economic activities are those directly involving the natural environment, including agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining, and usually contribute about 4 per cent of the yearly GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Secondary economic activities involve processing or combining materials into new products, and include manufacturing and construction, this sector accounts for approximately an 23 per cent of the GDP. Tertiary economic activities involve the output of services rather than goods. Examples of tertiary activities include wholesale and retail trade, banking, government, and transport. The tertiary is the most important sector by far and accounts for almost 73 per cent of the annual GDP.
Labor
Primary occupations in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining engage only about 3 per cent of the employed population, and secondary occupations in manufacturing and construction employ about 23 per cent. The service activities in the large tertiary sector employ 79 per cent of the workers. The sphere of tourism is a striking instance of this. Each year in the late 1980s travelers in the United States spent over $300 billion on transport, food and drinks, various kinds of amusement, and motel and hotel accommodation. Travel and tourism have contributed substantially to the growth of such businesses as motels, restaurants, rental-car agencies, amusement parks, and various retail specialty shops. In recent decades visitors from overseas have become an increasingly important part of the US tourist business.
Agriculture
Farming accounts for about 2 per cent of the annual GDP and employs fewer than 3 per cent of US workers. Farmers produce not only enough to meet domestic needs, but also enough to enable the United States to export more farm products per year than any other nation in the world.
Manufacturing
The United States leads all nations in the value of its yearly manufacturing output. About 19 per cent of the annual GNP (Gross National Product) are accounted for by manufacturing, which employs more than one-sixth of the nation’s workers. Although manufacturing remains a key component of the US economy, it has declined in relative importance since the late 1960s.
Manufacturing Regions: Perhaps the most important change in recent decades has been the growth of manufacturing in regions outside the North-east and North Central regions. The nation’s industrial core developed in the North-east. This core is still the location of the greatest concentration of industry, but it has become relatively less significant than in the past. Within the North, manufacturing is centered in the Middle Atlantic and East North Central states. The greatest gains in manufacturing in the South have been in Texas, and the most phenomenal growth in the West has been in California, which in the early 1990s was the leading manufacturing state.
Principal Products: Ranked by value of manufacturer’s shipments, the leading categories of US manufactured goods are chemicals, transport equipment, processed foods, industrial machinery, and electronic equipment. Industrial machinery includes engines, farm equipment, various kinds of construction machinery, office machines, and refrigeration equipment. Transport equipment includes passenger cars, trucks, airplanes, space vehicles, ships and boats, and railway equipment. Michigan, with its huge car industry, is a leading producer of transport equipment. California is a leader in the aerospace industry. Texas and Louisiana are leaders in chemical manufacturing. The petroleum and natural gas produced and refined in both states are basic raw materials used in manufacturing many chemical products. Food processing is an important industry in several states noted for the production of food crops and livestock. California has a large fruit-and vegetable-processing industry. Meat packing in Illinois and dairy processing in Wisconsin make both states leaders in food manufacturing. The electronic equipment industry includes the manufacture of electric industrial apparatus, household appliances, radio and television equipment, electronic components, and communications devices. California, Illinois, Indiana, and Massachusetts are all leaders in the production of electronic equipment - one of the fastest growing sectors of US industry. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan are leading states in the value of primary metal output. Ohio, which has a large concentration of tyre-manufacturing plants, has long been a leader in the rubber and plastics industry. Printing and publishing is a widespread industry, with newspapers published throughout the country. New York, with its book-publishing industry, is the leading state, but California, Illinois and Pennsylvania are also important. Other major US manufactures include textiles, clothing, precision instruments, timber, furniture, tobacco products, leather goods, and stone, clay, and glass items.
Currency and Banking
The US decimal currency consists of coins and paper money. According to federal law, only the US Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System may issue all coins and a kind of paper currency known as United States notes. The Federal Reserve issues paper money called Federal Reserve notes. Banks in the United States are chartered under the laws of either a state or the federal government. State-chartered banks are regulated by officials of the state in which they are located. National banks are under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Federal Reserve System is the central banking organization of the United States. All national banks are required by law to belong to the Federal Reserve System. State banks may voluntarily become members if they meet certain requirements. Each member bank operates within the district of 1 of the 12 Federal Reserve banks. About 60 per cent of all commercial banking offices belong to banks affiliated with the Federal Reserve System.
Foreign Trade
The United States is the world’s leading trading nation. The major imports include electrical and non-electrical machinery, basic manufactures, petroleum and petroleum products, clothing and footwear. Non-agricultural products usually account for approximately 90 per cent of the yearly value of exports and agricultural products for about 10 per cent. Machinery and transport equipment make up the leading categories of exports, amounting together to over 40 per cent of the value of all exports. Other leading exports include manufactured goods, such as textiles and iron and steel; processed foods; inedible crude materials, such as cotton, soya beans, and metal ores; cereals; chemicals; and mineral fuels and lubricants. Canada and Japan are the country’s most important trade partners; they provide the markets for about 32 per cent of total annual US exports and are the source of about 37 per cent of the nation's imports. Other leading trade partners include Mexico, Germany, China, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.
Exercise 1. Give Russian equivalents of the following:
Free enterprise; Gross Domestic Product; financial activities; labor force; Gross National Product; dairy products; meat packing; per year; decimal currency; state-chartered banks; footwear; affiliated with; tertiary economic activities; was designed to; under the supervision of; unsafe working conditions; to protect consumers; hotel accommodation; to reduce environmental pollution
Exercise 2. Find in the text and give English equivalents:
Oптовая и розничная торговля, ведущий производитель, пищевая промышленность, в соответствии с федеральным законом, торговые партнеры, различными путями, некачественные товары, отвечать определенным требованиям, внести весомый вклад в, приблизительно 15% от объема импорта, основываться на, в последние десятилетия, сельскохозяйственные продукты, наполнять (обеспечивать) рынки, ежегодный объем экспорта.
Exercise 3. Paraphrase the following sentences using the words and expressions from the above text:
1. Some government regulations were aimed at reducing environmental contamination.
2. In the 19th century agriculture took the first priority (was prevailing) in the economy of the USA.
3. Travel and tourism made a major contribution to the growth of servicing industries.
4. During the last 10-20 years tourists from abroad have become important
for the US tourist business.
5. Food processing is an important industry in several states famous (known)
for the production of food crops and livestock.
Exercise 4. Questions and tasks:
1. What were the government regulations of 1990s aimed at?
2. Characterize the status on the US agriculture/manufacturing vis-à-vis the annual GDP.
3. What are the key components of the US GDP? How is it graded and which sector is the most important? Why? What activities are involved within each group?
4. Which businesses proved the most significant to the US economy within the tertiary sector? Give your own reasoning.
5. Under which regulations are the US banks chartered?
6. What are the main articles of the US exports and imports?
7. Why is the political and economic situation in Canada and Japan of special importance to the US economy?
8. Specify the main parameters of advanced economy as achieved by the US A in the 20th century.
