Great Depression

Ex.9. Прочитайте текст, устно переведите его и выполните упражнения, данные ниже.

Ex.8. Поставьте сказуемые, данные в скобках, в отрицательную форму. Предложения перепишите и переведите.

Ex.7. Перепишите и переведите данные словосочетания, обращая внимание на особенности перевода определений, выраженных существительными.

1) promotion prospects 6) currency exchange bureau

2) labor market research 7) middle-income families

3) safety engineering inspector 8) real estate agent

4) state tax commission 9) service sector growth

5) production technology improvement 10) after-tax company profit

1) Nowadays Russia [belongs] to powerful states: its share in the world gross domestic product is only 2.6%.

2) He [could find] a job because he [was experienced] enough.

3) The shareholders of the company [received] any dividends last year because the company [made] profit.

4) The old equipment at the factory has been replaced, but the workers [have been trained] to operate the new one yet.

5) I [want] to put my money into the current account because its interest is too small.

[1] Beginning in 1929 and lasting for about a decade, the Great Depression was an economic crisis on a global scale. It started in the USA, but it quickly spread to countries throughout the world. The causes of the Great Depression were complex, and to this day economists have not been able to explain them thoroughly.

[2] During the mid-to-late 1920s, many people had invested their money in stocks in companies. For a few years, the value of stocks rose rapidly, making money for the investors. This encouraged people to buy more shares in the hope of making even greater profits. In September 1929, however, stock prices began to fall, and on October 29, the complete collapse of the stock market began. At that day – known ever since as Black Tuesday – more than 16 million shares were sold. The value of most shares fell sharply, leaving financial ruin and panic in its wake¹. There had been financial panics before, and there have been some since, but never a collapse in the stock market had such a devastating and long-term effect that followed the 1929 market crash. Many people who had invested in stocks lost everything they owned. Businesses closed, putting millions out of work. Banks failed by the hundreds. Wages for those still fortunate enough to have work fell sharply. The value of money decreased as the demand for goods declined.

[3] Since the U.S. was the major creditor and financier of postwar Europe, the U.S. financial collapse led to collapses of other economies, especially those of Germany and Britain. Nations tried to protect domestic production by imposing tariffs and quotas, reducing international trade by more than half. This only made matters worse.

[4] By 1932, United States industrial output had been cut in half. Stock values had accounted for about 20% of their previous value. About 11,000 of the U.S.'s 25,000 banks had failed. More than 90,000 businesses closed down. One fourth of the labor force – about 15 million people – was out of work, and there was no such thing as unemployment insurance. The people who managed to keep their jobs were paid only about half of what they had received before. A serious drought in the Great Plains made things even worse, especially for farmers. Prices for agricultural products dropped to their lowest level since the Civil War.

[5] Statistics, however, cannot tell the story of the extraordinary hardships the masses of people endured. Such massive poverty and hunger had never been known in the United States before. Former millionaires stood on street corners, trying to sell apples at 5 cents apiece. Hundreds of pitiful shantytowns² – called Hoovervilles “in honor” of the unfortunate Republican president who presided over the disaster³ – sprang up all over the country to shelter the homeless. Many people slept under ‘Hoover blankets’ – old newspapers – in the out-of-doors. In 1931 alone, more than 20,000 Americans committed suicide.

For anyone with money, depression America was a paradise – a new house could be bought for less than $3,000; a man's suit cost about $10, a shirt less than 50 cents.; milk was 10 cents a quart (=0,95 liter), a loaf of bread a nickel (=5 cents). But not many people had much money to spend after paying rent and buying food.

[6] The Great Depression contributed to political upheaval⁴. Franklin D. Roosevelt won the U.S. presidential election in 1932 by promising to help millions of Americans hit hard by the Great Depression. To recover the economy of the country, the new president immediately put into action a plan known as the New Deal⁵. It combined state regulation of economy and reforms in social sphere.

In the United States, the end of the depression came only with the beginning of a new world crisis – World War II. After the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, U.S. factories were flooded with orders for weapons and ammunition. The growth in manufacturing led to a rapid drop in unemployment. The depression ended completely soon after the United States entered the war in 1941.

Notes: 1) to leave smth. in its wake –оставлять за собой что-л.

2) shantytown – посёлок, застроенный бараками

3) who presided over the disaster – кто во время катастрофы стоял у власти

4) political upheaval – политический переворот

5) New Deal – “Новый курс” ["новый подход", система экономических реформ

президента Ф. Рузвельта, направленная на преодоление Великой Депрессии]

Дата добавления: 2017-02-01