European Union

The European Union (EU) is a supranational and intergovernmental union of 27 states. It was established in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (The Maastricht Treaty), and is the de facto successor to the six-member European Economic Community founded in 1957. New agreements have raised its membership to 27 member states, and its competences and goals have expanded.

Considered as a single entity, the European Union has the largest economy in the world, with a nominal GDP of €11.5 ($15.0) trillion. It has a common trade policy, a Common Agricultural/Fisheries Policy, and a Regional policy to assist poorer regions. Significant efforts have been made to create harmonized standards designed to bring economic benefits through creating larger, more efficient markets. It introduced a single currency, the euro, adopted by 13 member states.

The EU's rate of growth is expected to increase - growth for 2007 is expected to be at 2.7% - especially as new member states are poorer than the EU average, and have the capacity to grow at a higher rate.

The European Union is characterized by great regional economic disparities, reflecting the different historical backgrounds of its member states. Even corrected for purchasing power, there is a 12-fold differential between the richest region Frankfurt and the poorest, Romania Nord-Est.

In 1987, the European Commission initiated the ERASMUS programme for higher education. Its name is an abbreviation of "European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students". The aim of ERASMUS is to encourage and support academic mobility of higher education students and teachers within the European Union, and the European Economic Area countries of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Member states of the EU are participants in the Bologna process. This is an attempt to create a European higher education area, by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe. It is named after the place it was proposed, the University of Bologna with the signing, in 1999, of the Bologna declaration by ministers of education from 29 European countries in the Italian city of Bologna.

Based on European Union

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union

Б) Складіть план тексту. Користуючись складеним планом, обсудіть питання, пов’язані з Європейським Союзом. Постарайтесь використати якомога більше неособових форм дієслова.

Вправа 15(контрольна). А) Прочитайте текст і придумайте заголовок до нього.

Б) Визначте всі випадки неособових форм дієслова.

В) Перекладіть текст на рідну мову у письмовій формі.

Barter is trading of goods or services directly for other goods or services, without using money or any other similar unit of account or medium of exchange.

Bartering requires what economists refer to as a “double coincidence of wants.” That is, for a voluntary barter exchange to take place, it is not enough for you just to find someone who has the exact good you want to acquire - he must also happen to want to “buy” the particular good that you have to trade for it at the same time. Finding someone whose immediate needs exactly complement yours in this precise way may take quite a lot of searching, which is costly in terms of time and effort.

The primitive partial solution to this matching problem is to make one or more intermediate swaps with still other people in order to acquire some other item that will be more acceptable to the owner of the item you desire - but this will also tend to be very time-consuming. The more complex the division of labor, the more finely specialized the population's productive roles, and the more numerous the variety of goods and services produced in an economy, the more costly and difficult barter trading will become because the likelihood of any two people having a double coincidence of wants decreases noticeably.

A Glossary of Political Economy Terms by Dr. Paul M. Johnson

http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/barter

Вправа 16(контрольна). А) У поданому нижче тексті порушена логіка викладу. Прочитайте уважно текст і розставте абзаци у логічному порядку.

(1) While it is somewhat more expensive to get into the franchise business than to start an enterprise from scratch, franchises are less costly to operate and less likely to fail. That is partly because franchises can take advantage of economies of scale in advertising, distribution, and worker training. Sales increases by retail franchises between 1975 and 1990 far outpaced those of non-franchise retail outlets, and franchise companies were expected to account for about 40 percent of U.S. retail sales by the year 2000.

(2) Nonetheless, many franchise establishments do survive. Some individual proprietors have joined forces with others to form chains of their own or cooperatives. Often, these chains serve specialized markets.

(3) Successful small businesses sometimes grow through a practice known as franchising. In a typical franchising arrangement, a successful company authorizes an individual or small group of entrepreneurs to use its name and products in exchange for a percentage of the sales revenue. The founding company lends its marketing expertise and reputation, while the entrepreneur who is granted the franchise manages individual outlets and assumes most of the financial liabilities and risks associated with the expansion.

(4) Franchising probably slowed down in the 1990s. Some franchisors sought to consolidate, buying out other units of the same business and building their own networks. Company-owned chains of stores also provided stiff competition. By purchasing in large quantities, selling in high volumes, and stressing self-service, these chains often can charge lower prices than small-owner operations.

Based on Small-Business Structure. In: Outline of the U.S.Economy. -

U.S. Department of State Office of International Information Programs

http://isinfo.statw.gov

Б) Прочитайте текст у правильній послідовності абзаців.

В) Придумайте заголовок до тексту і коротко передайте його зміст у письмовій формі.

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The European footwear industry

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