[英语学习]英美文化基础教程Lecture 3_精品.pptVIP

* homework 1. Which of the following statements about the UK economy is not true? A. Britain remains one of the Group of seven large industrial economies. B. Britain has experienced a relative economic decline since 1945. C. There has been a period of steady decreasing of living standards D. Some smaller economies have overtaken the UK in terms of output per capita. 外国语学院 崔东 * 2. Britain’s largest manufacturing industry is_____ A. Textile industry B. iron and steel industry C. oil producing industry D. aircraft industry 外国语学院 崔东 * Main Contents I. Economic overview II. Economic Decline III. The current British economy 外国语学院 崔东 * I. Economic overview (from CIA) The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the strongest economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil resources, but its oil and natural gas reserves are declining. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. Since emerging from recession in 1992, Britains economy enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record during which time growth outpaced most of Western Europe. 外国语学院 崔东 * In 2008, however, the global financial crisis hit the economy particularly hard, due to the importance of its financial sector. Sharply declining home prices, high consumer debt, and the global economic slowdown compounded Britains economic problems, pushing the economy into recession in the latter half of 2008 and prompting the BROWN government to implement a number of measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial markets; these include nationalizing parts of t