Практический курс английского языка - Камянова Т.
ISBN 5-85550-177-9
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Notes
1. security - (зд.) обеспечение
2. a financial assistance - финансовая помощь
3. to be obliged - быть обязанным
4. a contribution - взнос
5. an insurance [in'fuarens] - страхование
6. a tax I taxation - налог I налогообложение
7. a charge - цена
8. wage - заработная плата
9. a benefit - пособие
10. a consequence ['konsikwans] - следствие
11. redundancy [n'dvndansi] - излишек рабочей силы
12. a labour market - рынок труда
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TEXT
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (THE USA)
I. ECONOMY. SOCIAL SECURITY
The United States is the world's greatest economic power in terms of gross national product (GNP). The nation's wealth is partly a reflection of its rich natural resources. With only 5 % of the world's population, the United States produces nearly one-fifth of the world's output of coal, copper, and crude petroleum. The agricultural sector produces nearly one-half of the world's corn (maize), nearly one-fifth of its beef, pork, mutton, and lamb, and more than one-tenth of its wheat. The US owes its economic position more to its highly developed industry than to its natural resources or agricultural output.
The US have the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and government buys needed goods and services in the private marketplace. The US business firms enjoy considerably greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant and develop new products. At the same time, they face higher barriers to entry in their rivals' home markets than the barriers to entry of foreign firms in the US markets. The US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers and in medical, aerospace, and military equipment, although their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II. The onrush of technology largely explains the gradual development of a «two-tier labor market» in which those at the bottom lack the education and the professional technical skills of those at the top and, more and more, fail to get comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. The years 1994-2000 witnessed solid increases in real output, low inflation rates, and a drop in unemployment to below 5%.
The first example of social insurance in the USA was workers' compensation at the beginning of the XX century when most states provided a system of insurance for workers who lost income because they were injured in the workplace. The further important step came in 1935 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act which became the cornerstone of the modem American welfare state. The social security system of the USA provides economic assistance conditioned on unemployment, disability, or old age. Social insurance benefits are distributed to recipients without regard to their economic status. Old-age benefits, for example, are paid to all people - rich or poor - who reach the required age. In most social insurance programs, employees and employers contribute to a fund from which later money will be distributed to recipients. About half of every dollar of government spending is to one of social security programs.
In 1962 the Senate of the USA considered extending social benefits to provide hospitalization and medical care for the elderly. Three years later the Social Security Act was amended to provide Medicare, health care for all people of sixty-five and over. Part A of Medicare is compulsory insurance that covers certain hospital services for elderly people. All working citizens pay a tax (about 1,5% of wages) for Medicare program. In 2000, 35,6 million people were enrolled in Part A, and the government paid 65 billion dollars in benefits.
The USA government requires that national standards should be kept at a definite level. The distribution of resources to each state is based on the proportion of the population living in poverty in that state. The poverty level is calculated as three times the cost of a market basket of food that defines a living minimum of a person. The largest public assistance program is Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which monthly pays benefits to more than 5 million families all over the country.
Notes
1. GNP (gross national product) - ВНП (валовой национальный продукт)
2. an output - выпуск, выработка, продукция
3. a counterpart I a rival - противная сторона / противник, конкурент
4. a two-tier labour market - двухярусный рынок труда
5. an income - доход
6. to distribute, a distribution - распределять, распределение
7. a recipient - получатель
8. to amend, an amendment - вносить поправку (в законопроект) / поправка (к законопректу)
9. Medicare - (амер.) правительственная программа медицинской помощи
10. a market basket - потребительская корзина
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EXERCISES
28.1 Образуйте с помощью суффиксов -ful или -less производные прилагательные от данных существительных и переведите их на русский язык:
