Раздел 3. Деньги (Money)

Раздел 3. Деньги

Грамматический материал:

- Прилагательные и наречия

- Сравнительная степень сравнения

-Превосходная степень сравнения

Материал для чтения

Текст. Money and Banking

A. Money and Functions

Although the crucial feature of money is its acceptance as the means of payment or medium of exchange, money has three other functions. It serves as a unit of account, as a store of value, and as a standard of deferred payment. We discuss each of the four functions of money in turn.

The Medium of Exchange

Money, the medium, is used in one half of almost all exchange. Workers exchange labour services, for money. People buy or sell goods in exchange for money. We accept money not to consume it directly but because it can subsequently be used to buy things we do wish to consume. Money is the medium through which people exchange goods and services.

To see that society benefits from a medium of exchange, imagine a barter economy.

A barter economy has no medium of exchange. Goods are traded directly or swapped for other goods.

In a barter economy, the seller and the buyer each must want something the other has no offer. Each person is simultaneously a seller and a buyer. In order to see a film, you must hand over in exchange a good or service that the cinema manager wants. There has to be a double coincidence of wants. You have to find a cinema where the manager wants what you have to offer in exchange.

Trading is very expensive in a barter economy. People must spend a lot of time and effort finding others with whom they can make mutually satisfactory swaps. Since time and effort are scarce resources, a barter economy is wasteful. The use of money - any commodity generally accepted in payment for goods, services, and debts - makes the ' trading process simpler and more efficient.

Other Functions of Money

The unit of account is the unit hi which prices are quoted and accounts are kept. In Britain prices are quoted in pounds sterling; in France in French francs. It is usually convenient to use the units in which the medium of exchange is measured as the unit of account as well. However there are exceptions. During the rapid German inflation of 1922-28 when prices in marks were changing very quickly, German shopkeepers found it more convenient to use dollars as the unit of account. Prices were quoted in dollars even though payment was made in marks, the German medium of exchange.

*Money is a Store of value because it can be used to make purchases in the future. *To be accepted in exchange, money has to be a more of value. Nobody would accept money as payment for goods supplied today if the money was going to be worthless when they tried to buy goods with it tomorrow. But money is neither the only nor necessarilly the best store of value. Houses, stamp collections, and interest-bearing bank accounts all serve as stores of value. Since money pays no interest and its real purchasing power is eroded by inflation, there are almost certainly better ways to store value.

Finally, money serves as a standard of deferred payment or a unit of account over time. When you borrow, the amount to be repaid next year is measured in pounds sterling. Although convenient, this is not an essential function of money. UK citizens can get bank loans specifying in dollars the amount that must be repaid next year. Thus the key feature of money is its use as a medium of exchange. For this, it must act as a store of value as well. And it is usually, though not invariably convenient to make money the unit of account and standard of deferred payment as well.

In war camps, cigarettes served, as money. In the nineteenth century money was mainly gold and silver coins. These are examples of commodity money, ordinary goods with industrial uses (gold) and consumption uses (cigarettes) which also serve as a medium of exchange. To use a commodity money, society must either cut back on other uses of that commodity or devote scarce resources to producing additional quantities of the commodity. But there are less expensive ways for society to produce money.

A token money is a means of payment whose value or purchasing power as money greatly exceeds its cost of production, or value in uses other than as money.

The essential condition for the survival of token money is the restriction of the right to supply it. Private production is illegal.

Society enforces the use of token money by making it legal tender. The law says it must be accepted as a means of payment

In modern economies, token money is supplemented by IOU money. An IOU money is a medium of exchange based on the debt of a private firm or individual.

A bank deposit is IOU money because it is debt of the bank. When you have a bank deposit the bank owes you money. They can write a cheque to you or a third party and the bank is obliged to pay whenever the cheque is presented. Bank deposits are medium of exchange because they are generally accepted as payment.

(a) Многие наречия получаются из прилагательных:

добавлением -ly:

Но не все слова, оканчивающиеся на -ly, являются наречиями. Они могут быть прилагательными.

Например: lovely lonely friendly silly

(b) Прилагательное или наречие? Прилагательное дает нам о СУЩЕСТВИТЕЛЬНОМ

дополнительные сведения. Мы употребляем прилагательные перед существительным после

некоторых глаголов (особенно be): 

- We didn't go out because of the heavy rain.

- Be quiet, please!

- I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad.

Наречие дает нам дополнительные сведения о ГЛАГОЛЕ. Наречие говорит, как кто-то сделал что-то или каким образом что-то случилось:

- They speak friendly to each other.

- He passed the exam brilliantly.

- We didn't go out because it was raining heavily.

Сравните:

- They speak fluent English . (прилагательное + существительное)

- They speak English fluently.(глагол + дополнение + наречие)

(с) Иногда мы употребляем наречие перед прилагательным и другим наречием:

 extremely interesting (наречие+ прилагательное)

awfully sorry (наречие+ прилагательное)

incredibly quickly (наречие+ наречие)

- Your story is extremely interesting.

- I am late again, I am awfully sorry .

Вы можете употреблять наречие перед причастием (restored/injured и т.д.)

- Her knee was badly hurt.

- The building is absolutely restored.

Сравнительная степень сравнения

(a) Рассмотрим следующие примеры:

После сравнительных форм мы употребляем than:

- It's cheaper to go by car than to go by train.

(b) Мы употребляем окончание -er для образования сравнительной формы коротких прилагательных и наречий:

cheap -cheaper hard -harder thin -thinner

- My friend works hard. He must work harder to pass his exam.

- I can't hear you. Can you speak louder?

Окончание -er является предпочтительным для некоторых двусложных прилагательных, особенно если они оканчиваются на -y:

easy-easier healthy-healthier pretty- prettier

и также: narrow -narrower simple -simpler

(c) Мы употребляем more...(но не '-er') c другими двусложными прилагательными и более длинными прилагательными:

more modern more serious more expensive more comfortable

- She is beautiful.

- Madonna is more beautiful.

Кроме того, мы употребляем more...с наречиями, оканчивающимися на -ly:

- Could we walk more slowly, I'm too tired.

- There are very many mistakes in your exercise.

- You should do it more carefully.

Мы также говорим more often:

- Now I see him more often as he works in the same department.

Однако, мы говорим earlier(а не 'more early'):

- He came earlier to finish his work before the lesson.

(d) Перед сравнительной степенью прилагательных и наречий вы можете поставить:

a bit/a little/much/a lot/bar (= a lot).

Например:

- Don't go by train. It's much(или a lot)cheaper.

- Could you speak a bit(или a little)more slowly?

Превосходная степень сравнения

(a) Рассмотрим примеры:

(b) Для образования превосходной степени прилагательных и наречий применяют -est или

most .... Обычно употребляют -est для коротких слов и most ... для более длинных.

Например:

long/longest hot/hottest easy/easiest hard/hardest

но: most famous most boring most difficult most expensive

- Yesterday was the hottest day of the year.

- That was the most boring film I've ever seen.

- `Why did you stay at that hotel?' `It was the cheapest we could find.'

- She is a really nice person - one of the nicest people I know.

Запомните неправильные формы превосходной степени best и worst:

- That was a delicious meal. It's one of the best I've ever had.

- Why does he always come to see me at the worst possible moment?

Не забудьте, обычно мы ставим артикль the с превосходной степенью: `the best', `the most boring' и т.д.

(c) Oldest и eldest

Превосходная степень от old - это oldest:

 - That house over there is the oldest building in the town.

Мы употребляем слово eldest, когда говорим о членах одной семьи:

- My eldest son is 13 years old.

- Are you the eldest in your family?

(d) После прилагательных в превосходной степени, говоря о местоположении (города, здания и т.д.), употребляют предлог in:

- What's the longest river in the world? (но не `of the world')

- We were lucky to have one of the nicest rooms in the hotel.

Аналогично:(the best..) in the class/in the team/in the company и т.д.

Однако: the happiest day of my life, the hottest day of the year.

Отметьте, мы часто употребляем present perfect (I have done) после прилагатель ных в превосходной степени

- What's the best film you've ever seen?

- That was the most delicious meal I've had for a long time.

(e) Иногда мы говорим most + прилагательное (без `the'), что имеет значение very:

- The book you lent me was most interesting. (= very interesting)

- Thank you for the money. It was most generous of you. (= very generous)