UNIT 1: THREE ECONOMIC ISSUES
TASK1. Understanding a printed text (1)
Remind students that they do not have to read the whole of the
text in order to answer the questions. This activity is reading
for gist, or skimming.
[para 5] as in the 1970s
4. Prepositions:
[para 2] to provide sth for sb
[para 2] to range from… to …
[para 2] in comparison with
KEY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
[para
[para
[para
[para
[para
The three questions what, how, and for whom to
produce.
The oil price shocks.
A sharp increase in the price of oil.
The price of oil, 1970-86.
How society allocates scarce resources between
competing uses.
[para 6] substitute for sth
[para 6] inputs to sth
[para 7] demand for sth
[para 7] an alternative to sth
NOTES ON THE TEXT
[para 8] revenue from sth
[para 8] in exchange for sth
[para 8] answer to a question
Possible vocabulary problems:
Commuters – people who travel regularly from one
Car pool - an arrangement whereby several
participants or their children travel together in one
vehicle, the participants sharing the costs and often
taking turns as the driver.
to economize on sth
a cutback in sth
dependent on sth
to lead to sth
a reduction in sth
[para 5] to respond to sth
Reading the text for detailed understanding may be set as
home work.
place to another, as from suburb to city and back.
3]
3]
3]
3]
3]
5. You may also ask student to find in the text all words
describing trends (increase/decrease) and add their
findings to the list given in Appendix 1.
6. Figure 1-1 is a good opportunity to practice
corresponding vocabulary (summarized in Appendix
1).
Bid up - to cause (a price) to rise by increasing the
amount bid.
TASK 2. Check your understanding
KEY
1. You may wish to ask your students to do some translation
work. The most challenging bits seem to be:
•
Para 7
•
Para 8, beginning from “The world economy was
producing more for OPEC…” to the end of the
1.
2.
Some practical experience.
It fell in comparison with the prices of other
products.
3. To raise the price.
4. Because most other nations were very
dependent on oil.
5. An upheaval in the world economy.
6. They try to use less of it.
7. They make it produce in a way that uses less
oil.
8. There is a shift away from expensive oil-using
products towards less oil-intensive substitutes.
9. They had to give up more of their own
production and it reduced their buying power.
10. When its price rose.
paragraph.
2. Using the examples from the text, you may also draw
students’ attention to the following groups of words and
structures:
[para 4] “Between 1973 and 1974 the price of oil tripled…”
to halve
to double
to treble/triple
to quadruple
[para 6] “When, as in the 1970s, the price of oil increased
sixfold….”
Suffix –fold in adjectives and adverbs means ‘multiplied by’:
to increase sixfold/tenfold/a hundredfold/etc
3. The previous example may also be used to remind students
how to speak of decades:
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY page 5.
Ask students what they know about OPEC. The task may
be set as home work. The students should find out:
- what OPEC stands for (Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries)
- when it was established (OPEC was formed at a
(in) the 1970s; in the late/mid/early 1990s; (the decade of the
2000s lacks an accepted name).
As an extension, you may ask student to find in the text all time
expressions. Some of them are especially useful, for example:
[para 2] Over (much of) this period
[para 4] between 1978 and 1980
The dramatic price increase of 1973-1974
Previously
-
meeting held on September 14, 1960 in Baghdad,
Iraq, by five Founder Members: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.)
where its headquarters are (originally - in Geneva,
Switzerland, but they were moved to Vienna, Austria,
in 1965.)
what is the aim of the organization (officially: OPEC
seeks to ensure the stabilization of oil prices in
international oil markets with a view to eliminating
1
Unit 1
Three Economic Issues
KEYS
harmful and unnecessary fluctuations, due regard being
4.4 A. Explain the difference…
given at all times to the interests of oil-producing nations
and to the necessity of securing a steady income for them; wage - payment for labor or services to a worker, especially
remuneration on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis
an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to
or by the piece.
consuming nations; and a fair return on their capital to those
wages (Economics.) the portion of the national product that
investing in the petroleum industry.)
represents the aggregate paid for all contributing
- country-members (The current Members are Algeria,
labor and services as distinguished from the
portion retained by management or reinvested in
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi
capital goods.
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.)
salary - fixed compensation for services, paid to a
- OPEC collective market share (supply about 40 per cent of
person on a regular basis.
the world's oil output, and possess more than three-quarters
determine - to be the cause of; to regulate; to give
of the world's total proven crude oil reserves)
direction to
- Russia – OPEC relationship
identify - to establish the identity of; to ascertain the
For more information go to http://www.opec.org
origin, nature, or definitive characteristics of
You may also ask student if they know the true causes of
define -to state the precise meaning of (a word or sense
the 1973 oil crisis (It began in earnest on October 17, 1973,
of a word, for example); to describe the nature or
basic qualities of; explain:
when Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), in the midst of the Yom Kippur
War, announced that they would no longer ship petroleum
to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with
Egypt—that is, to the United States and its allies in Western
Europe. At around the same time, OPEC-member states
agreed to use their leverage over the world price-setting
mechanism for oil to quadruple world oil prices).
For more information go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_energy_crisis
TASK 3. PRONUNCIATION
Docendo docimus, i.e make sure you yourself follow the RP
rules!
Note that Longman Pronunciation Dictionary considers
pronunciation [rı`z s] to be RP, adding that BrE 1988 poll
`
panel preference results were as follows: - z
s - 45%, ‘•• - 6%.
s
- 50%, - `s
TASK 4. Vocabulary work – Text 1
4.3 Give English equivalents to the following
economic - economy
~ resources, ~ activity, ~ issue, ~ cycle, ~ incentives, ~
system, ~ variables, ~ efficiency, ~ theory, ~ stability, ~ choice,
~ growth, ~ regulation, ~ policy, political economy, national
economy
production
~ process, means of ~, ~ and consumption, to boost/raise/
increase ~, to expand ~, ~ costs, per head/per capita ~,
commodity ~
regulation
government ~, safety ~, private ~s, customs ~s, economic ~,
currency exchange ~, environmental ~, financial ~s, market ~,
price ~, trade ~s
effective - producing a desired effect
efficient - acting or producing effectively with a minimum
of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort.
B. Now, complete…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
effectiveness… efficiency…
wages
wages… salary
rising
determines
identify
raised
define… identify
efficient
effective
Peter Drucker, 1907-, American economist, b.
Vienna, Austria.
Drucker is best known as an authority on corporate
management; among his ideas in the 1970s was the
shift from traditional assembly lines to flexible
production methods. He also helped found (1990)
the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit
Management. He has written more than 30 books,
including The End of Economic Man (1939), Future
of Industrial Man (1942), Concept of the
Corporation (1946), The Practice of Management
(1954), Management Challenges for the 21st
Century (1999).
4.5 Use words…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
economics
economy
to economise
economist
economic
economical
4.6 Use your dictionary to find derivatives…
Students should come up with the following words:
to consume – consumer – consumption – (consumerism)
2