Comprehension and Discussion Questions. 1. What characterizes the world economy at the end of the 20th century?
1. What characterizes the world economy at the end of the 20th century?
2. What is typical of world trade at the present time? How has it been developing during the last two decades?
3. What influences relations between the developed and developing countries?
4. What are the specific features of foreign trade relations of industrially developed countries?
5. Why is the weight of developing countries in the world trade gradually declining?
6. What new forms of enslavement of the former colonies have advanced countries created?
7. What measures have Western countries taken to diminish their dependence on developing countries?
Ex. 1. Read the text and do the tasks:
a) Find the terms characterizing the world economy in the 90s.
b) Give the terms which are used to show changes in world trade.
c) Describe the way the Western countries diminish their dependence on developing countries using the economic terms of the text.
Ex. 2. Translate the following sentences into English in writing. Make use of the Vocabulary notes, if necessary.
a) Мировая экономика все больше становится единым экономическим целым. Страны развивают тесные связи через торговлю, инвестиции капитала и финансовые институты.
b) За последние два десятилетия практически во всех промышленных отраслях увеличилась доля экспорта и импорта.
c) Растущую долю в мировой торговле занимает внутриотраслевая и внутрифирменная торговля.
d) Внутрифирменное международное разделения труда влияет на отношения между развитыми и развивающимися странами главным образом потому, что ТНК осуществляют передачу трудоёмкого производства в развивающие страны, где есть дешёвый и достаточно квалифицированный труд.
e) Более тесная интеграция развитых стран ускорит дальнейшее разделение труда и будет способствовать его лучшей организации.
f) Доля развивающихся стран в мировой торговле постепенно снижается.
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g) Индустриальные страны создали новые формы порабощения бывших колоний: технологические, продовольственные и финансовые. Им удалось интегрировать экономику развивающихся стран в мировую капиталистическую экономику и таким образом сделать их более открытыми для колебаний мирового рынка.
h) Рост цен на сырьё заставил западные страны предпринять меры по экономии сырьевых материалов, по развитию ресурсосберегающих технологий и по переработке промышленных отходов. Это снизило зависимость Запада от стран Азии, Африки, и Латинской Америки.
Text III. The History of World Trade
The earliest trade we do know something about is the caravan trade across the deserts of Asia around 2500 BC to and from cities in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Arabia. These caravans had to carry fodder for the animals and food for the drivers and merchants. Not much space was left for the cargo. As a result, the goods carried were light but valuable, things such as gold and precious stones – that is, luxuries and not necessities.
After this, trade by sea started to become more common. The Phoenicians on the coast of Syria are thought to have been the first to develop commerce by sea around 1000 BC.
The Phoenicians lived at the same time as Greeks and the Romans. Athens was the first big commercial city in Europe, and it was the first community to import and export necessities in large quantities. Grain was imported for the increasing population from the shores of the Black Sea, and exports included figs, olive oil, wine, honey, pottery, metalware, and textile.
The Roman Empire (27 BC – 476 AD) was the next big trading community. Increasing quantities of luxuries were imported from the East and North Africa. Imports included tin, slaves, cloth, and jewels. The Romans also traded with China, and brought back silkworms to start a silk industry in Europe.
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In the fifth century AD, Byzantium (later called Constantinople and now Istanbul) became the political capital of the Roman Empire, and remained the world’s commercial capital until the 12th century.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice and Genoa became the world’s leading trade centres. In 1271, the Venetian, Marco Polo, went by land and sea to China and helped establish trading links. Venice was well placed to be the main European commercial centre.
The modern World began as the “Age of Discoveries”. The great voyages of Spanish and Portuguese explorers, such as Christopher Columbus (1492), Vasco da Gama (1498), and Ferdinand Magellan (1519), opened up new trade routes to Africa, and India. This was the beginning of ocean travel.
By the 17th century, the Dutch dominated the world’s trade, with the French and the English as their close rivals. All three nations opened up the tropical lands of the East and West Indies, and imported sugar, tobacco, tea, and coffee into Europe.
During the 19th century, the industrial revolution led to greater production, and the pattern of World Trade started to become what it is today.
Today, we seem to witness the globalization of world trade. We move toward a system in which national markets are merging into one huge global marketplace. Thus, in many industries we are not talking about “German market”, “American market”, Ukrainian market”, but about the global market.
Companies such as Coca-cola, McDonald’s, Levi’s jeans are the vivid examples of this trend of development.
Task 1. What do you think:
- When did people first start trading?
- What were the earliest goods to be traded?
- Can you give the names of great explorers who opened up new trade routes?
- What does Ukraine export and import? What countries does Ukraine trade with?
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