1、新编研究生综合英语教程新编研究生综合英语教程Advanced English for Graduate Students:Advanced English for Graduate Students:General Skills&Academic LiteracyGeneral Skills&Academic LiteracyUnit FourUnit FourEconomyEconomyText A Text A Opportunity CostOpportunity CostText B Text B Economic OutlookEconomic OutlookShould I go
2、to work today?Should I go to college after high school?Should the government spend money on a new weapon system?These are decisions that are made everyday;but,what is the cost of our decisions?What is the cost of going to work,or not going to work?What is the cost of college,or not going to college?
3、Finally what is the cost of buying that weapon system,or the cost of not buying that weapon?In economics it is called opportunity cost.Preface PrefaceOpportunity cost is the cost we pay when we give up something to get something else.There can be many alternatives that we give up to get something el
4、se,but the opportunity cost of a decision is the most desirable alternative we give up to get what we want.Lets look at our examples from above.If you have a job,what do you give up to go to work?There are many possibilities.You could sleep in.If it is a nice day,you could take your dog to the park
5、and play all day.Or,you could even spend the day looking for a better job,right?If you choose to go to work,you give up all of these things.What you get from working is a greater benefit than the cost of giving up these things.But,opportunity cost is the most desirable thing given up,not the aggrega
6、te of the things we have given up.Such necessity arises from the inadequacy of traditional individual mentoring in helping learn conventions of science.One aspect of research ethics concerns researchers professional spirit in the pursuit of ultimate truth,that is to say,good science must be conducte
7、d through rigorous,systematic and replicable procedure.In Text B,The Nature of Inquiry,the authors will elaborate on how scientific research distinguishes itself from common-sense knowing,how researchers approach reality differently,and what philosophical assumptions underpin each approach.Backgroun
8、d Information Background Information Pre-reading QuestionsPre-reading Questions Text A Text A Opportunity CostOpportunity Cost VocabularyVocabulary Exercises Exercises Text A Opportunity CostText A Opportunity CostContents1.Information about the author1.Information about the authors s2.Information a
9、bout 2.Information about opportunity costopportunity cost3.3.Examples about opportunity costExamples about opportunity costBackground Information Background Information Text Explanation&TranslationText Explanation&TranslationOrganization of the TextOrganization of the TextText A Opportunity Cost Voc
10、abularyVocabularyCoreCore Vocabulary ListVocabulary ListCore Vocabulary ListCore Vocabulary ListThematic ProgressionThematic ProgressionExpanding the Notion of Theme to Expanding the Notion of Theme to Larger Structures Larger Structures than Clausethan Clause12l.Comprehensionl.ComprehensionII Word
11、StudyII Word StudyIII ClozeIII ClozeV WritingV WritingExercisesExercisesIV TranslationIV TranslationI ComprehensionI Comprehension 1.Answer Questions1.Answer Questions 2.Paraphrase 2.ParaphraseIV TranslationIV Translation1.English Translation1.English Translation2.Chinese Translation2.Chinese Transl
12、ationOpportunity CostOpportunity CostRobert E.Hall&Marc Lieberman1.Information about the authors1.Information about the authors 2.Information about 2.Information about opportunity costopportunity costBackground InformationBackground Information 3.3.Opportunity cost in productionOpportunity cost in p
13、roductionRobert Robert E.E.Hall Hall was one of the worlds most eminent economists.Dr.Hall received his Ph.D.from MIT and has taught there as well as at the University of California,Berkeley.He was the president of the American Economic Association for the year 2010.He is also director of the resear
14、ch program on Economic Fluctuations of the National Bureau of Economic Research,and chairman of the Bureaus Committee on Business Cycle Dating,which maintains the chronology of the U.S.business cycle.BackgroundBackground1.Information about the authors1.Information about the authorsMarc Lieberman Mar
15、c Lieberman is Clinical Professor of Economics at New York University(NYU).He received his Ph.D.from Princeton University.Dr.Lieberman has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in microeconomics,macroeconomics,econometrics,labor economics,and international economics.He has presented his extremel
16、y popular Principles of Economics course at Harvard,Vassar,the University of California at Santa Cruz,the University of Hawaii,and New York University.BackgroundBackground1.Information about the authors1.Information about the authorsThe term OPPORTUNITY COST was coined in 1914 by Austrian economist
17、Friedrich von Wieser in his book Theorie der gesellschaftlichen Wirtschaft.It was first described in 1848 by French classical economist Frdric Bastiat in his essay“What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen.”BackgroundBackground2.Information about 2.Information about opportunity costopportunity costIn microe
18、conomic theory,the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone,in a situation in which a choice needs to be made among several mutually exclusive alternatives of given limited resources.The concept seems a simple one,useful when applied to making everyday decisions abou
19、t how best to spend limited time and money.However,even professional economists have forgotten or had difficulty in applying it.BackgroundBackground2.Information about 2.Information about opportunity costopportunity costOpportunity costs in productionOpportunity costs in productionExplicit costsExpl
20、icit costsExplicit costs are opportunity costs that involve direct monetary payment by producers.The explicit opportunity cost of the factors of production not already owned by a producer is the price that the producer has to pay for them.For instance,if a firm spends$100 on electrical power consume
21、d,its explicit opportunity cost is$100.This cash expenditure represents a lost opportunity to purchase something else with the$100.3.Opportunity cost in production3.Opportunity cost in productionImplicit costsImplicit costs(also called implied,imputed or notional costs)are the opportunity costs not
22、reflected in cash outflow but implied by the failure of the firm to allocate its existing(owned)resources,or factors of production to the best alternative use.For example:a manufacturer has previously purchased 1000 tons of steel and the machinery to produce a widget.The implicit part of the opportu
23、nity cost of producing the widget is the revenue lost by not selling the steel and not renting out the machinery instead of using them for production.3.Opportunity cost in production3.Opportunity cost in productionOne example of opportunity cost is in the evaluation of foreign(to the USA)buyers and
24、their allocation of cash assets in real estate or other types of investment vehicles.With the recent downturn(circa June/July 2015)of the Chinese stock market,more and more Chinese investors from Hong Kong and Taiwan are turning to the United States as an alternative vessel for their investment doll
25、ars;the opportunity cost of leaving their money in the Chinese stock market or Chinese real estate market is too high relative to yields available in the USA real estate market.Take another example,the opportunity cost in going to the movies could be buying takeaways,as long as that is the next best
26、 use of the money used to buy the movie ticket.3.Opportunity cost in production3.Opportunity cost in productionQ1:Q1:1.Are you perfectly content with what you have?If not,what would you like to have?Q2:Q2:Life is full of choices.Should we continue to study for a doctors degree or find a job after gr
27、aduation?On what grounds do you choose one and give up another?Q3Q3:How do you understand opportunity cost?What is the cost of your graduate study?Q4Q4:We live in a society,so our personal choices affect each other.In economic term,personal choices impose cost on the society.For example,many choose
28、to own cars and this,in turn,increases the cost of environmental protection.Can you give more examples of this?Pre-reading QuestionsPre-reading Questions1.Think for a moment about your own life the activities of your day,the possessions you enjoy,the surroundings in which you live.Is there anything
29、you dont have at this moment that you would like to have?Anything that you have,but that you would like more of?If your answer is“no,”then congratulations either you are well advanced on the path of Zen self-denial,or else you are a close relative of Ted Turner.The rest of us,however,would benefit f
30、rom an increase in our material standard of living.This simple truth is at the very core of economics.It can be restated this way:we all face the problem of scarcity.Text A Opportunity CostText A Opportunity Cost1.1.想一想你的生活:你每天从事的活动,你所拥有的财产,你所居住的环境。此时此刻,你是否希望拥有一些你所没有的东西?对于那些你已经拥有的,你是否希望拥有更多?如果你的答案是否
31、定的,那么恭喜你:你要么早已看破红尘,要么就是腰缠万贯。然而,我们大多数人的答案却是肯定的,我们都希望拥有更多,从而进一步提高物质生活水平。这一简单的真理就是经济学的核心。我们或许可以重新表述这个问题:我们都面临稀缺。Robert E.Hall&Marc LiebermanRobert E.Hall&Marc Lieberman2 Almost everything in your daily life is scarce.You would benefit from a larger room or apartment,so you have a scarcity of space.You
32、have only two pairs of shoes and could use a third for hiking;you have a scarcity of shoes.You would love to take a trip to Chicago,but it is difficult for you to find the time or the money to go trips to Chicago are scarce.3 Because of scarcity,each of us is forced to make choices.We must allocate
33、our scarce time to different activities:work,play,education,sleep,shopping,and more.We must allocate our scarce spending power among different goods and services:food,furniture,movies,long-distance phone calls,and many others.2几乎日常生活中的一切都是稀缺不足的。比如说你希望你的房间或公寓能再大点儿,那么对你而言,居住空间就是稀缺的;比如说你只有两双鞋,你还想拥有一双适于
34、徒步旅行,那么鞋子对你来说就是稀缺的;再比如说你很想去趟芝加哥,可是你既没有余钱也没有空闲去,那么芝加哥之行对你而言就是稀缺的。3因为稀缺,我们不得不进行选择。我们不得不把稀缺的时间在工作、娱乐休闲、教育、睡眠、购物等不同的活动中进行分配;我们也不得不把稀缺的金钱在食物、家具、电影、长途电话等不同的产品和劳务中进行分配。4 Economists study the choices we make as individuals and how those choices shape our economy.For example,the goods that each of us decides
35、 to buy ultimately determine which goods business firms will produce.This,in turn,explains which firms and industries will hire new workers and which will lay them off.4.经济学家研究社会中个体的选择及这些选择对个体经济状况的影响。例如,个体对产品的选择最终决定了企业生产什么产品,这继而又决定了哪些企业要招工,哪些企业要裁员。5.Economists also study the more subtle and indirect
36、 effects of individual choice on our society.Will most Americans continue to live in houses,or like Europeans will most of us end up in apartments?Will we have an educated and well-informed citizenry?Will museums and libraries be forced to close down?Will traffic congestion in our cities continue to
37、 worsen,or is there relief in sight?These questions hinge,in large part,on the separate decisions of millions of people.To answer them requires an understanding of how people make choices under conditions of scarcity.5经济学家也研究个体的选择对社会所产生的细微的间接的影响。多数美国人的家的归宿是独立的房子还是像欧洲人那样的公寓?国民受教育程度会越来越高吗?博物馆和图书馆以后都得关
38、门歇业吗?城市里的交通堵塞会越来越严重还是会缓解在即呢?这些问题在很大程度上都取决于成千上万个个体的决定。若想回答这些问题必须明白人们如何在稀缺的前提下进行选择。296.Think for a moment about the goals of our society.We want a high standard of living for all citizens:clean air,safe streets,and good schools.What is holding us back from accomplishing all of these goals in a way tha
39、t would satisfy everyone?You probably already know the answer:scarcity.6.想一想我们社会的目标:全体国民生活水平的提高、清新的空气、良好的治安、好的学校。是什么原因使我们不能实现这所有的目标而使人人都满意呢?你想必已经知道答案了:稀缺。7 Societys problem is a scarcity of resources the things we use to make goods and services.Economists classify resources into three categories:lab
40、or,capital,land.Anything produced in the economy comes,ultimately,from some combination of these resources.Think about the last lecture you attended at your college.You were consuming a service a college lecture.What went into producing that service?Labor was supplied by your instructor.Many types o
41、f capital were used as well.The physical capital included desks,chairs,a blackboard or transparency projector,and the classroom building itself.It also included the computer your instructor may have used to write out his or her lecture notes.7社会的稀缺主要是资源的稀缺。资源是指我们用于生产产品和劳务的东西。经济学家把资源分为三类:劳动力、资本和土地。经济
42、社会中任何产品和劳务的生产都需要这三种资源。比如你刚听过的一节大学课,你正在消费一种劳务大学讲课。这种劳务都需要什么资源呢?既需要教师提供劳动力,也需要各种各样的资本,如桌子、椅子、黑板、电脑、投影仪、教室等物质资本。Inaddition,therewashumancapitalyourinstructorsspecializedknowledgeandlecturingskills.Finally,therewaslandthepropertyonwhichyourclassroombuildingsits.Theseverysameresources,however,couldinstea
43、dbeusedtoproduceotherdesirablethings,suchasprimaryschools,hospitals.Asaresult,everysocietymusthavesomemethodofallocatingitsscarceresourceschoosingwhichofourmanycompetingdesireswillbefulfilledandwhichwillnotbe.它还需要人力资本,即教师的专业知识和讲课技巧。最后,还需要教室所占用的土地。然而,这些资源亦可用于生产其它人们想要的东西,如新的民宅、医院、汽车厂,或是学校。因此,每一个社会都必须采
44、用一些分配其稀缺资源的方法一选择满足哪些最紧迫的需求。8.Many of the big questions of our time center on the different ways in which resources can be allocated.The cataclysmic changes taking place in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union arose from a very simple fact:the method these countries used to allocate resources w
45、as not working.8我们这个时代的许多大问题都与资源的分配密切相关。东欧和苏联巨变的根本原因只有一个:这些国家资源分配方式行之无效。9What does it cost you to go to the movies?If you answered seven or eight dollars,because that is the price of a movie ticket,then you are leaving a lot out.Most of us are used to thinking of cost as the money we must pay for so
46、mething.A Big Mac costs$2.50,a new Toyota Corolla costs$15,000,and so on.Certainly,the money we pay for goods or service is a part of its cost,but it is not necessarily the entire cost or even the largest part of the cost.Economics takes a broader view of costs,recognizing monetary as well as nonmon
47、etary components.9看一场电影的成本是多少?如果只因电影票的价钱是7或8美元,你就回答说7或8美元,那么你就大错特错了。的确,我们已经习惯了把支付了多少钱视为购买某物的成本,如买一个巨无霸要付2.5美元,买一辆新的丰田花冠要付l万5千美元。可是我们为一件产品或一项劳务所支付的钱并不是其全部成本,有的甚至只占其全部成本的极小份额。经济学家赋予成本更广泛的含义,涵概了钱和非钱的因素。10The total cost of any action buying a car,producing a computer,or even reading a book is what we mu
48、st give up when we take that action.This cost is called the opportunity cost of the action,because any economic activity uses up scarce resources and therefore requires us to give up the opportunity to enjoy other things for which those resources could have been used.11The opportunity cost of any ch
49、oice is what we give up when we make that choice.10任何行为的全部成本一购买汽车、电脑,甚至是读书一都是我们为此所必须放弃的一切。因为任何行为都要耗掉稀缺的资源而迫使我们放弃享受其它事物(其它事物也需要这些资源)的机会,所以这种对其它机会的放弃被称为该行为的机会成本。11任何选择的机会成本就是为其所放弃的其它机会。12 在决策时,人们应考虑的是机会成本。13 几乎个人的每一个行为都要耗掉稀缺的金钱或时间或二者兼而有之,因此我们的每一次选择都迫使我们牺牲掉其它的产品和劳务,因为那些也需要时间和金钱。12Opportunitycostistheco
50、nceptofcostthatshouldbeusedindecisionmaking.13Virtuallyeveryactionwetakeasindividualsusesupscarcemoneyorscarcetimeorboth.Hence,everyactionwechooserequiresustosacrificeotherenjoyablegoods,services,andactivitiesforwhichwecouldhaveusedourtimeandmoney.例如,写这本教材需要作者很多时间,而这些时间亦可以用于(1)攻读法律,(2)写一本小说,(3)经商。Fo