Less developed countries

Read the text

April Spring is coming

The poem to enjoy. Try to learn it by heart.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

Birdies, build your nest,

Weave together straw and feather,

Doing each your best.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

Flowers are coming too;

Pansies, lilies, daffodilies,

Now are coming through.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

All around is fair;

Shimmer and quiver on the river,

Joy is everywhere.

Unit 16

Pre-text exercises

1. Find the transcription of new words in a dictionary
expectancy, individual, privilege, disaster, drought, flood, disease,

available, corruption, climate, reluctant, hamper, debt, escape, grant. Try to read them fluently.

2. Word-building
Compile and translate:
disaster n. + -ous →
in + stable a. + -ility →
to corrupt υ. + -tion →
to develop υ. + -ed →
to develop υ. + -ing →
poor a. + -est →
inter + nation n. + -al →

What do we mean when we say a country is developed? The United Nations use three measures: life expectancy, education and real individual income. If we use these measures to describe the world we quickly understand that only a privileged few live in developed countries. Poverty, for instance, causes the deaths of about 30,000 children every day. Over a billion people cannot read or write. Half the world earns less than $2 a day. Clearly, most of the world’s population lives in less developed countries. But why is development so difficult for these nations?

There are many reasons. Some countries lack the raw materials and capital needed for growth. Others regularly suffer from natural disasters such as droughts and floods. Diseases such as cholera and AIDS are widespread in many less developed countries. This causes suffering to millions of individuals and families, but it is also disastrous for the economies of these nations. Lack of education also holds back development. This may be because governments cannot afford to provide schools and colleges. However, millions of families in these nations are caught in a poverty trap. This prevents their children from getting a basic education even when it is available. Without quality human capital, these economies cannot grow.

Political insecurity is another reason for underdevelopment. Many of these countries belonged to colonies in the past. When the foreign powers finally left, these countries often fell into years of political instability and war. Even when peace comes to these countries, political corruption makes development difficult as there is still a climate of political instability. Foreign companies do not want to invest in a country which suffers from corruption. Similarly, foreign governments are reluctant to give aid when they see that their money is spent badly or simply disappears.

All of these problems make it very difficult for less developed countries to improve their economies. However, there are other more complex issues which hamper development. The first of these is debt. The second is unfair trading. Many people believe that these two problems are the cause of all the other problems that developing countries face.

Many of the world’s poorest countries are trapped in a cycle of debt. This is because they need to borrow money in order to pay the interest on debts they already have. The poorest 60 countries owe many hundreds of billions of dollars. However, they spend more money paying off debts than they receive in aid. Unless these debts are cancelled, these countries will never escape the cycle.

Words:

insecurity — ненадежность under-developed — слабораз­витый to belong — принадлежность reluctant — неохотный to hamper — затруднять debt — долг to face — сталкиваться to pay off — расплатиться unless — если … не to cancel — аннулировать

life expectancy — продолжитель­ность жизни to cause — вызывать to suffer — страдать to lack — испытывать недоста­ток

drought — засуха flood — наводнение AID — applied immune deficit — СПИД

disease — болезнь to hold back — сдерживать

Post-text exercises

Working on the text

I. Find answers in the text:

I. What do we mean when we say a country is developed or developing? 2. What are measures of country development? 3. How many children die daily in the world? 4. What is the level of illiteracy in the world? 5. What in the income of people in under-developed countries? 6. From what do people in under-developed countries suffer? 7. What does it mean «to be caught in a poverty trap»? 8. Can economies grow in less developed countries? 10. Foreign companies do not want to invest in these countries. Why?

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