Ex. 3. The extracts below describe the early stage of the development of transport. Read them and make a comparison with the development of transport in Africa
Britain was the first country in which a reasonably comprehensive railway system was created. By the end of 1850, 6,621 miles were in operation, and these included most of the main routes. Subsequent expansion went on through the construction of many branch lines, cross links, and short cuts, by a great increase of suburban lines, and by the addition of one or two more main routes between major towns. There was at first no conception of a national railway system, and railway were built and operated by a multitude of independent enterprises.
In some other countries railway development was more systematic partly because it was possible to benefit from British experience. Wherever they were built, railway widened the range of possibilities in economic activity.
Ex. 4. Basing your answer on the text speak on the Japanese car industry, what factors favoured its development and what made it so successful and competitive.
Looking at the fleets of varicoloured cars, lorries and buses rushing from traffic lights to traffic lights, from one jam to another, it is hard to imagine that Japan entered the automobile age only some 30 years ago.
The first car appeared there at the turn of the century. It was brought from abroad as a present to the Emperor. In 1902 a Japanese firm assembled a 12 h.p. car from imported components and it took another five years for the first all-Japanese car to be produced at the Tokio Motor Works. Throughout the first quarter of the century cars remained expensive toys. By 1923 the country had 12,700 cars of which only one in thirteen was Japanese-made.
On September 1, 1923, an earthquake hit Tokyo and dozens of other big cities in the Kanto Valley, destroying almost all houses and roads. There was an acute need for buses and lorries. In the mid-1930s, the government took over the motor industry, orienting it towards the manufacture of lorries.
By the time of Japan’s capitulation in World War II the motor industry (like almost all other industries) was virtually non-existent. Acute shortages of fuel and other raw materials led to a ban on the manufacture of motor vehicles. In 1946 a few were allowed to be produced, and in 1947, 300 cars. The restrictions were not lifted until 1949.
1955 is considered the beginning of the automobile age. It was then that the Japanese engineering industry absorbed billion in American military orders placed during the Korean war. Motor works were able to new equipment and technology. The demand for cars rocketed. By 1970 their output had reached 3,2 million a year. Today Japanese firms sell about 2 millions cars in the US every year. All in all, exports amounted to 7 million cars. No wonder five Japanese firms are on the list of the world’s top car producers. Toyota ranks second, just behind General Motors, Nissan is third, Matsuda ninth, Honda tenth, Mitsubishi eleventh, and Suzuki fifteenth.
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In looking for explanations to Japan’s “motor miracle” on must say that the situation which took shape in the early 1970s favoured the car companies. Cuts in oil supplies in 1973 and growing fuel prices forced the manufacturers of uneconomical cars to adjust to the changed conditions and start developing new models. Meanwhile consumers did not want to and could not wait. And then the Japanese came along and offered a whole range of cheap and economical cars. Now Japan accounts for almost one third of world automobile output. Since 1980, the car industry has been affected by the general economic stagnation in Japan and other capitalist countries. In 1981 car firms had to introduce “voluntary” quotas on their exports to the US, Canada, Western Europe, South Korea and Taiwan. As for the domestic market, it is not just saturated but oversaturated. The automobilization that got under way in Japan in the mid-1950s became something of an epidemic in the next decade.
Ex. 5. Read the following texts and discuss the situation in the car markets of Europe and Asia. Use current press material.
Sales of new cars in Great Britain slid last year to just 1.6m, from the record 2.3m in 1989. So the motor industry cried for help – and was answered. The rate of car tax has been cut by half to 5%; taxi operators, car-hire firms and driving schools get relief from VAT on their vehicles; and capital-allowance limits on business cars have been raised. Many in the industry reckon all this could boost new car sales this year by 70,000.
Britain is obsessed with company cars. They account for about 60% of all new cars sold, a far higher proportion than in any other country. The benefit of a company car for private use has been taxed more heavily in recent years. This year tax would rise only in line with inflation.
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There will no longer be a VAT penalty on companies that offer employees a cash alternative to a company car. With an increasing number of two-and three-car households, thousands of employees may prefer to do without yet another car and take the money instead. Or they might use the cash to buy their own car – not the new Ford or Rover offered by most firms, but a second-hand model.
A recommendation has also been adopted taxing company cars on the basis of their price. At present company cars costing less than $33,000 are taxed on engine size. This encourages employees to order cars with lots of expensive gadget. Taxing cars on their value will make company-car drivers a little more fastidious – if they bother to have a company car at all.
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