Economy of Great Britain

1 During the 18^th-19^th centuries Britain was aggressively expanding its Empire being a powerful and rich country because of its colonial territories and industry. Cheap raw materials, produced by badly paid or unpaid workers, were imported from colonies. The technological changes of the Industrial Revolution allowed Britain to manufacture products cheaply for export. The country entered the period of active capitalist progress and at the end of the 19^th century economic life was dominated by monopolies.

2 Now the UK is a modern and prosperous European nation. It has large coal, natural gas and oil reserves; energy production accounts for 10% of gross domestic product.¹ Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. Britain’s branches of industry produce machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment, aircraft, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals, textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods.²

3 Britain had many manufacturing industries, but since the Second World War its service industries, especially banking and retailing, have expanded. The number of people working in service industries has grown in comparison with people working in manufacturing industries.

4 Heavy industries, including steel manufacture and shipbuilding, have been replaced by high-technology manufacturing industries. The large companies often invest a lot of money in research and development (R& D) to find new and better, usually high-technology, products. BP³ now is the second-largest company in Europe. It is involved in oil and gas exploration, oil refining and the manufacture of petrochemical products. The government has invested a lot of money in Scotland to develop it as an important European centre for computer production. Many of large American and Japanese electronics companies have set up factories there. Now many smaller Scottish companies specialize in computer equipment.

5 In general the economy of the UK is one of the strongest in Europe: inflation, interest rates⁴, and unemployment remain low. It is a leading trading power and financial centre of Western Europe. Its closest trade partners are European countries – members of the EU⁵.

Пояснения к тексту:

¹ Gross domestic product (GDP) – валовой внутренний продукт (ВВП)

² consumer goods – потребительские товары

³ BP (British Petroleum) – Британская нефтедобывающая компания

⁴ interest rate – процентная ставка

⁵ EU (the European Union) – ЕС (Европейский Союз)

VIII. Прочтите 2-й абзац текста и письменно ответьте на следующие вопросы.

1. Why do large companies often invest money in research and development?

2. Can we say that British government does nothing to develop the economy of Scotland?

Вариант №5

I Перепишите следующие предложения. Определите по грамматическим признакам, какой частью речи являются слова, оформленные окончанием -s(-es) и какую функцию это окончание выполняет, т.е. служит ли оно: