CHAPTER 2: FREE TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
Useful words and concepts
1) trade= the activity of exchanging or buying and selling of goods (commerce)
2) development= planned expansion and modernization of a nation’s economy
(développement)
3) exporters= shippers of goods from one country to another for sale or exchange
(exportateurs)
4) failed= unsuccessful (manqué, raté)
5) lousy= awful, bad (nul)
6) reluctant=hesitant, unwilling (réticent)
7) serious= earnest, sincere, important (sérieux, grave)
8) second-rate= not the best, inferior ( de qualité inférieure, de second ordre, de moins
bonne qualité)
9) products= goods produced by firms to satisfy customer needs (produits)
10) withdrawn= removed (retiré, rappelé, annulé)
11) company= a business organisation; enterprise, firm, business, business concern
(une société)
12) business= commercial and / or industrial activity (une affaire, le commerce=
trade)
13) profits= the income accruing to an enterprise, earnings(bénéfices, profits)
14) tariffs= custom duties (taxes) levied (raised) by a government on imported or
exported goods (taxes de douane) (rates for utilities, taxes, duties (tarif)
15) tough= a) robust, strong (solide, resistant) b) hard to break (dur, coriace)
16) investment= expenditure on assets (property) with the purpose of obtaining a
result. (investissement)
17) bankruptcy= situation in which a company is officially declared unable to pay its
debts; insolvency (faillite, banqueroute)
18) let in= allowed to enter (laissé rentrer)
19) kicked out= evicted, ejected (viré)
20) bailed out=came to the rescue of a company in financial trouble / rescued
financially (renfloué)
21) nurture= training, upbringing (éducation)
22) infant industries= emerging or nascent domestic industries that do not have the
economies of scale that their older competitors from other countries may have
23) trade policy= a government’s policy controlling foreign trade(politique
commerciale)
24) deemed= viewed as (jugé, estimé, considéré)
25) import quotas= a governmental restriction on the quantities of a particular
commodity that may be imported within a specific period of time (quotas
d’importation)
26) imports= goods and services bought from other countries (importations)
27) export subsidies= payments made by the government to encourage the export of
specified products (subventions d’état pour les exportations)
28) gunpowder= powdered explosive (poudre à canon)
29) sailcloth=canvas used for boat sails (toile à voile)
30) privatisation= changing something from state to private ownership or control
31) state-owned enterprises= companies which are funded, run and controlled by the
state (entreprises publiques)
32) set up= established, founded ( installé)
33) household= people in a house (foyer, maisonnée)
34) protection= the imposition of duties or quotas on imports in order to protect
domestic industry against foreign competition
35) trade liberalisation= reducing restrictions to trade such as tariffs and taxes, and
other non-tariff barriers such as legislation and quotas
36) International Monetary Fund= a United Nations agency founded at the Bretton
Woods conference in 1944 to promote trade by increasing the exchange stability
of the major currencies
37) World Bank= a United Nations agency established in 1944 to assist developing
nations by loans guaranteed by member governments
38) loan= money lent at interest(prêt)
39) World Trade Organisation (WTO)= an international organization based in
Geneva that monitors and enforces rules governing international trade (successor
to the General Agreement on tariffs and Trade – GATT- created in 1947)
40) significantly= very very much, importantly (considérablement, de façon significative)
41) banned= prohibited (interdit, prohibé, illégal)
42) Research and Development (R&D)= creative work undertaken on a systematic
basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man,
culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to develop new
applications (recherche et développement)
43) on its own= without any help (seul)
44) self-sufficiency= autonomy (autonomie, indépendence, autosuffisance)
45) involved= concerned (impliqué, concerné)
46) get hold of= obtain (se procurer, trouver)
47) foreign currency= the money of one nation in another nation (devise étrangère)
48) provided= furnished, supplied (fourni)
49) foreign aid= economic assistance provided by one nation to another (aide
étrangère)
50) earned= a) gained income (gagné) b) deserved (mérité)
51) sleight= dexterous skills (dextérité) sleight of hand= manual dexterity in doing
magical tricks (tour de passe-passe)
52) effectively= a) with success (efficacement) b) in effect (en réalité, effectivement)
53) opponents=adversaries (adversaires)
54) benefits= a) advantages, b) profit (avantages, profit) c) financial help (allocation, aide
financière)
55) globalisation=the process of worldwide economic integration (mondialisation)
56) ill= unhealthy, not in good health, sick (malade)
Exercise 1: Comprehension
1) The car failed because (b) potential buyers were unsure about its quality.
2) In the debate that followed, (c) a lot of people contended that there was no future
for home-grown car industry.
3) History has shown that infant industries (c)
require a mix of trade policy measures to develop.
4) Today's rich countries gave export subsidies (a) to all exports at times, to specific
items frequently.
5) State ownership (b) was common in key industries during the early industrialisation
of today's wealthy nations.
6) The rich countries have been advocating policies for developing countries (a) that
contradict their own historical experience.
7) The World Trade Organization (WTO) (c) does allow some subsidies in specific
areas.
8) To develop economically, poor countries (b) require the transfer of advanced
foreign technologies
9) Foreign currency is required by developing nations (a) to pay for technology
transfers.
10) The author argues that (b) globalisation can be beneficial to poor countries.
Exercise 2: Vocabulary
Globalisation
Half a century after the Toyopet debacle, Toyota’s luxury brand (1) Lexus has
become an icon of globalisation (2), thanks to the American journalist Thomas
Friedman’s book The Lexus and the Olive Tree. The book owes (3) its title to an
epiphany (a sudden and important realisation) that Friedman had in Japan in 1992. He
had paid a visit (4) to a Lexus factory, which deeply (5) impressed him. On the bullet
train back to Tokyo, he read yet another newspaper (6) article about the troubles in
the middle- east, where he had been a correspondent (7). Then it hit him. He realised
(8) that “half the world seemed to be intent on building a better Lexus, dedicated (9)
to modernising, streamlining and privatising (10) their economies in order to thrive
(11) in the system of globalisation. And half (12) the world – sometimes half the same
country (13), sometimes half the same person– was still caught up in the fight over
who owns (14) which olive (15) tree.”
GRAMMAR: Determiners
A) The zero article = no article Ø
No article is used
- With most squares, streets, towns, cities , lakes, countries and names of
buildings: Ø Constitution Square, Ø Regent Street, Ø Lake Superior, Ø
Buckingham Palace.
- When we are speaking generally
Ø Love has inspired many great poets.
I like Ø dogs (but I was terrified of the dogs on the farm).
She hates Ø cheese (but: We ate the cheese she had bought for lunch.)
Ø Money can’t buy Ø happiness. (But: I can’t describe the happiness I felt
when I saw him again.)
B) The indefinite article: a / an
We use the indefinite article when we are referring to a singular countable noun
for the first time, or when we are not specifying which one we mean.
A man was waiting outside the house.
C) The definite article: the
The definite article is used
- When something becomes definite or specific because we are mentioning it
again or because we add extra information.
The man waiting outside the house was dressed in black.
Where are the photographs I showed you yesterday?
- When everyone knows which one we mean
Amanda is in the garden. (= our garden)
Where is the dog? (= our dog)
I’m staying at the Bell Hotel (the one in this town).
The Queen is visiting Birmingham tomorrow.
- When there is only one of something: the world, the moon, the Parthenon…
- With adjectives referring to classes or categories of people, including
nationalities when we are considering them as a group: the rich, the
unemployed, the disabled, the English, the Germans….
- For a whole species: The white rhino is an endangered species.
- With the names of most rivers, seas, oceans, mountain ranges, groups of
islands and plural names of countries: the Amazon, the Atlantic, the Alps, the
Gobi Desert, the Middle East, the Seychelles…..
- When we talk about playing a musical instrument: She plays the violin very
well.
- To refer to some public places when we are considering them as particular
buildings: I’m going to the bank, the cinema, the supermarket.
Exercise 3: Supply the missing articles where necessary
The Golden Straitjacket
According to Friedman, Ø (1) countries in the (2) olive-tree world will not be
able to join the (3) Lexus world unless they fit themselves into a (4) particular
set of Ø (5) economic policies he calls “the (6) golden straitjacket”. In
describing the golden straitjacket, Friedman pretty much sums up today’s
neoliberal orthodoxy: Ø (7) countries should privatise Ø (8) state-owned
enterprises , maintain Ø (9) low inflation, reduce the (10) size of government,
balance the (11) budget, liberalise Ø (12) trade, deregulate Ø (13) foreign
investment and Ø (14) capital markets, make the (15) currency convertible,
reduce Ø (16) corruption and privatise Ø (17) pensions. The (18) golden
straitjacket Friedman argues, is the (19) only clothing suitable for the (20)
harsh but exhilarating game of globalisation.
However, had the (21) Japanese government followed the (22) free-trade
economists back in the (23) early 1960s, there would have been no Lexus.
Toyota today would at best be a (24) junior partner to a (25) western car
manufacturer and Ø (26) Japan would have remained the (27) third-rate
industrial power it was in the (28) 1960s – on the (29) same level as Ø (30)
Chile, Argentina and South Africa.
Exercise 4: Assignment: Write 400 words about
1) Global economic competition is a game of unequal players.
2) There are huge benefits from global integration if it is done in the right
way, at the right speed.
DEBATE: GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS: Let’s shake off the shackles of free
trade!
Vocabulary:
1) shake off= get rid of by shaking (secouer, semer)
2) shackles= restraints (des chaînes)
3) economic powerhouses= countries with a powerful economy (puissances
économiques)
4) oversight=supervision (surveillance)
5) downside= disadvantage (inconvénient)
6) untrammelled= infinite (sans borne,ouvert)
7) uncharted= not mapped (inexploré)
8) churn= agitate (bouillonner)
9) to spew out= eject, emit (cracher)
10) ill-suited= inadequate (qui ne convient pas)
11) a tenet= priciple, docrtine (principe, doctrine)
12) primacy= primary importance (primauté, prééminence, suprématie)
13) trillion=un million de billion (trillion)
14) totemic= symbolic, iconic (totémique)
15) ring-fenced= put restrictions on (so something can be used for a particular
purpose) (limité, circonscris)
16) to encompass= include (inclure)
17) to be on overdrive= drive too fast (aller trop vite)
18) to smack of= sound like (sentir)
19) on the sly= secretly, surreptitiously (en douce, en cachette)
20) dissemblance= difference
21) to foster= promote (promouvoir, encourager)
22) a caveat= warning, caution (avertissement, mise en garde)
23) scaremongering= alarming people needleesly (alarmisme)
24) compelling= persuasive (irrésistible)
25) to adjudicate= judge, arbitrate (arbitrer, juger)
26) a swath= path, strip (bande, chemin, sentier)
27) resilience= determination (résistance)
28) rough and tumble (confusion)
29) a sophisticate= sophisticated person (personne raffinée)
Read and discuss or answer the questions:
1) Has neo-liberalism salvaged anything?: No, line 22 :the key tenets of liberalism (
privatisation, deregulation, balanced budgets) have been rejected by all
2) How does the author criticize Gordon Brown? He says he shouldn’t consider free
trade as a gospel. Perhaps, it could be abandoned or at least criticized.
3) Does the author advocate protectionism? Yes and no it may be advocated but
cautiously ( lines 107-113)
4) Does the author argue for a role for the WTO? Illustrate your answer. Yes, as a
judge (lines 114-117)
5) What challenge does the G20 face? It should challenge the supremacy of free trade
(lines 141-144)