Unit_3_教师用书.doc

UNIT 3 READINGPassage ANOTES1. central planningCentral planning refers to a planned economy or directed economy. It is an economic system in which the state or workers councils manage the economy and the central government makes all decisions on the production and consumption of goods and services. Its most extensive form is referred to as a command economy, centrally planned economy, or command and control economy. In such economies, central economic planning by the state or government is so extensive that it controls all major sectors of the economy and formulates all decisions about their use and about the distribution of income. The planners decide what should be produced and direct enterprises to produce those goods. Planned economies are in contrast to unplanned economies, such as a market economy, where production, distribution, pricing, and investment decisions are made by the private owners of the factors of production based upon their own interests rather than upon furthering some overarching macroeconomic plan. A planned economy may consist of state-owned enterprises, private enterprises directed by the state, or a combination of both. Important planned economies that existed in the past include the economy of the Soviet Union, which, according to CIA Factbook estimates, was for a time the worlds second-largest economy, China between 1949 to 1978, and India, prior to its economic reforms in 1991. Beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, many governments presiding over planned economies began deregulating (or as in the Soviet Union, the system collapsed) and moving toward market-based economies by allowing the private sector to make the pricing, production, and distribution decisions. Although most economies today are market economies or mixed economies (which are partially planned), planned economies exist in some countries such as Cuba, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, and Burma.The shift from a central planning economy to a market economy has proven to be difficult; in particular, there were no theoretical guides for doing so before the 1990s. One transition from a command economy to a market economy that many consider successful is that of the Peoples Republic of China, in which there was a period of some years lasting roughly until the early 1990s during which both the command economy and the market economy coexisted, so that nobody would be much worse off under a mixed economy than a command economy, while some people would be much better off. Gradually, the parts of the economy under the command economy decreased until the mid-1990s when resource allocation was almost completely determined by market mechanisms.2. Gosplan Gosplan (前苏联国家计划委员会) or State Planning Committee was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. The word Gosplan is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvennyi Komitet po Planirovaniyu, which means State Committee for Planning. One of its main duties was the creation of Five-Year Plans. The Five-Year Plan was a comprehensive plan that set the economic goals for a five- year period. Once the Soviet regime stipulated the plan figures, all levels of the economy, from individual enterprises to the national level, were obligated to meet those goals. Gosplan was headquartered at the building now occupied by the State Duma, in Moscow.3. Wall StreetWall Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood. Wall Street is also shorthand (or a metonym) for the influential financial interests of the American financial industry, which is centered in the New York City area. Several major U.S. stock and other exchanges remain headquartered on Wall Street and in the Financial District, including the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange纽约证券交易所), NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations纳斯达克股票市场), AMEX (American Stock Exchange美国证券交易所), NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange纽约商业交易所), and NYBOT (New York Board of Trade纽约期货交易所).4. The City of LondonThe City of London, also called the one square mile, is a geographically small city within Greater London in England. It is the historic core of London around which, along with Southwark and then Westminster, the modern conurbation grew. The Citys boundaries have remained almost constant since the Middle Ages, and hence it is now only a tiny part of the much larger London metropolis. It is often referred to as the City or the Square Mile, as it is just over one square mile (1.12mile / 2.90km) in area. These terms are also often used as metonymies for the United Kingdoms financial services industry, which is based here.In the medieval period, the City was the full extent of London. The term London now refers to a much larger conurbation containing both the City of London itself and the 32 London boroughs, constituting Greater London. The City is today a major business and financial centre, ranking on a par with New York City as the leading centre of global finance; in the 19th Century, the City served as the worlds primary business centre. Today, this area is the financial center of Europe. The City has a resident population of under 10,000, whilst it employs 340,000 professional workers, mainly in the financial sector, making the areas transport system extremely busy during peak times on weekdays, but during the weekend it is almost deserted.In the City you find one of Londons most famous landmarks: the St. Pauls Cathedral. Beside this domed masterpiece, you can find the oldest remains of London in the City: the London Wall, which was built by the Romans, can be seen from the sidewalk. More of Londons Roman (and other) history can be found at the Museum of London, which is built on the site of a Roman Fort. Besides, many of Londons tallest office towers can be found in the City, including the National Westmister Tower (or Natwest Tower), Londons tallest skyscraper when it was built in 1980. The area is also famous for the Barbican Arts Centre. This 35-acre urban complex is a city inside a city: it is one large network of apartment buildings, gardens, garages, exhibitions halls and offices connected to each other by pedestrian bridges and walkways. Some of Londons most prominent cultural organizations, like the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare company are located in this complex. 3495. Americas Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve, and informally as the Fed) (美联储) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created in 1913 by the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely as a response to a series of financial panics or bank runs, particularly a severe panic in 1907. Over time, the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System have expanded and its structure has evolved. Events such as the Great Depression were some of the major factors leading to changes in the system. Its duties today, according to official Federal Reserve documentation, fall into four general areas: 1. Conducting the nations monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. 2. Supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nations banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers. 3. Maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets. 4. Providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nations payments system. The Federal Reserve is regarded as a quasi-public banking system, since it has aspects of both a government run system and private enterprise. According to the Federal Reserve, there are presently five different parts of the Federal Reserve System: 1. The presidentially appointed Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, a governmental agency in Washington, D.C. 2. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which oversees Open Market Operations, the principal tool of national monetary policy. 3. Twelve regional privately-owned Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, which divide the nation into 12 districts, acting as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury, each with its own nine-member board of directors. 4. Numerous other private U.S. member banks, which subscribe to required amounts of non-transferable stock in their regional Federal Reserve Banks. 5. Various advisory councils. The structure of the central banking system in the United States is unique compared to others in the world, in that an entity outside of the central bank creates the currency. This other entity is the United States Department of the Treasury.6. hedge fundsA hedge fund (对冲基金) is an investment fund open to a limited range of investors that is permitted by regulators to undertake a wider range of investment and trading activities than other investment funds, and that, in general, pays a performance fee to its investment manager. Every hedge fund has its own investment strategy that determines the type of investments and the methods of investment it undertakes. Hedge funds, as a class, invest in a broad range of investments including shares, debt and commodities.As the name implies, hedge funds often seek to hedge some of the risks inherent in their investments using a variety of advanced investment strategies, most notably short selling and derivatives (衍生品), inboth domestic and international marketswith the goal of generatinghigh returns. The name is mostly historical, as the first hedge fundstried to hedge against the downside risk of a bear market by shorting the market (mutual funds generally cant enter into short positions as one of their primary goals). Nowadays, hedge funds use dozens of different strategies, so it isnt accurate to say that hedge funds just hedge risk. In fact, becausehedge fund managers make speculative investments, these fundscan carry more risk than the overall market to maximize return on investment. Hedge funds are typically open only to a limited range of professional or wealthy investors. For example, in the U.S., laws require that the majority of investors in the fund beaccredited. That is, theymust earn a minimum amount of moneyannually and have a net worth ofmore than$1 million, along with a significant amountof investment knowledge. Investments inhedge funds areilliquid as they often require investors keep their money in the fund for at least one year. Hedge funds are similarto mutual funds in that investments are pooled and professionally managed, but differ in that the fund hasfar more flexibility in its investment strategies. 对冲（hedge）一词，原意指在赌博中为防止损失而采用两方下注的投机方法，因而把在金融市场既买又卖的投机基金称为对冲基金，又称套利基金或避险基金。对冲基金的对冲手法，就是指通过买进那些“价值低估”的股票并卖空那些“价值高估”的股票来获利，这样一来一部分股票在市场看涨时获利，另一部分则在市场下跌时获利，就可以期望不论市场的行情如何，都可从中获得利润。此外，对冲基金还通过金融期货（financial futures）和金融期权（financial option）等金融衍生品与金融组织结合后以高风险投机为手段获得巨额盈利。7. bank-runA bank run (also known as a run on the bank) (银行挤兑) occurs when a large number of bank customers withdraw their deposits to avoid losing their money, because they believe the bank is, or might become, insolvent. As a bank run progresses, it generates its own momentum, in a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy (or positive feedback): as more people withdraw their deposits, the likelihood of default increases, and this encourages further withdrawals. This can destabilize the bank to the point where it faces bankruptcy. A banking panic or bank panic is a financial crisis that occurs when many banks suffer runs at the same time. A systemic banking crisis is one where all or almost all of the banking capital in a country is wiped out. The resulting chain of bankruptcies can cause a long economic recession. Much of the Great Depressions economic damage was caused directly by bank runs. Several techniques can help to prevent bank runs. They include temporary suspension of withdrawals, the organization of central banks that act as a lender of last resort, the protection of deposit insurance systems such as the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and governmental bank regulation. 8. University of California at BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, California, Berkeley, and UC Berkeley) (加州大学伯克利分校) is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The university occupies 6,651acres (2,692ha) with the central campus resting on approximately 200acres (80.9ha). The University was founded in 1868 in a merger of the private College of California and the public Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College. Berkeley was a founding member of the Association of American Universities. Sixty-two Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the university as faculty, researchers, or alumni.The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked UC Berkeley 3rd internationally. Newsweek and Webometrics Ranking of World Universities ranked Berkeley 5th in the World. UC Berkeley ranks 1st among public universities and ranks 21st overall in the USNWR National University Ranking. It ranked 2nd for undergraduate engineering and 2nd for its undergraduate business program. The official colors of the university and its athletic teams are Yale Blue and California Gold.9. Rutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey (also known as Rutgers University) (罗格斯大学), is the largest institution for higher education in the state of New Jersey. It was originally chartered as Queens College in 1766 and is the eighth-oldest college in the United States. Rutgers was originally a private university affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church and admitted only male students, but evolved into and is presently a nonsectarian, coeducational public research university that makes no religious demands of its students. Rutgers is one of only two colonial colleges that later became public universities. (The other is the College of William and Mary.) Rutgers was ranked 54th in the world academically in a 2008 survey conducted by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The university offers more than 100 distinct bachelor, 100 master, and 80 doctoral and professional degree programs across 175 academic departments, 29 degree-granting schools and colleges, 16 of which offer graduate programs of study. 10. University of ToulouseThe University of Toulouse (法国图卢兹大学) is a consortium of universities and other institutions of higher education and research, named after one of the earliest universities established in Europe in 1229, and including the successor universities to that earlier university. The present-day University of Toulouse was founded on 27 March 2007. The University of Toulouse has more than 120,000 students, making Toulouse the second-largest university city in France (after Paris). 11. Nordic countriesThe Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories which include the Faroe Islands, Greenland and land. Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, although within the Nordic countries the terms are considered distinct.The regions five nation-states and three autonomous regions share much common history as well as common traits in their respective societies, such as political systems and the Nordic model. Politically, Nordic countries do not form a separate entity, but they co-operate in the Nordic Council. Linguistically, the area is heterogeneous, with three unrelated language groups, the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages and the Baltic-Finnic and Sami branches of Uralic languages as well as the Eskimo-Aleut language Greenlandic spoken in Greenland. The Nordic countries have a combined population of approximately 25 million spread over a land area of 3.5 million km (Greenland accounts for 60% of the total area).12. current-account deficitCurrent-account deficit (经常帐赤字) occurs when a countrys total import of goods, services and transfers is greater than the countrys total export of goods, services and transfers.This situation makesa country a net debtor to the rest of the world. A substantial current account deficit is not necessarily a bad thing for certain countries. Developing counties may run a current account deficit in the short term to increase local productivity and exports in the future. 13. Financial TimesThe Financial Times (FT) (金融时报) is a British international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and is printed at 24 sites. Its primary rival is New York City-based The Wall Street Journal.Founded in 1888 by James Sheridan and his brother, the Financial Times competed with four other finance-oriented newspapers, in 1945 absorbing the last, the Financial News (founded in 1884). The FT specialises in business and financial news while maintaining an independent editorial outlook. Printed as a broadsheet on light salmon paper, the FT is the only paper in the UK providing full daily reports on the London Stock Exchange and world markets.14. collateralised-debt obligation