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Unit Eight Competition and Cooperation

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Competition and Cooperation Text A

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Unit One Text A: 1. Teaching Aims and Requirements 2. Teaching Focus 5. Abstract of the Text 4. Text organization 6. Text A study 7. Summary of Text A 3.Cultual Background

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1. Teaching Aims and Requirements

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Teaching Aims and Requirements A. Grasp the main idea and structure of the text. B. Master the key language points and grammatical structure in the text. C. Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme if the unit.

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Cultural Background 1. A brief introduction to Ford Company Ford Motor began a manufacturing revolution with its mass production assembly lines in the early 1900s. Now the company has firmly established its status as one of the worlds largest makers of cars and trucks. It makes vehicles with such brands as Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury. Among its biggest successes are the redesigned Ford Mustang and F-Series pickup. Ford owns a 33% stake in Mazda and also controls the Land Rover, Jaguar, and Volvo nameplates through Premier Automotive Group. The Ford family owns about 40% of the companys voting stock.

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A Brief Introduction to General Motors (GM) So far General Motors (GM) has steered around competitors to remain the world s No. 1 maker of cars and trucks, with brands such as Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn. GM also produces cars through its Holden, Opel, and Vauxhall units. GM also has stakes in Suzuki Motor, and GM Daewoo Auto & Technology. Subsidiary GMAC provides financing. GM has been selling off non-core assets including stakes in Fiat and Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru), as well as its locomotive manufacturing business. Like its US counterparts Ford Motor and Chrysler, GM is in the midst of restructuring its sprawling North American operations.

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4. Text Organization Part OneParas1-3 Part TwoParas 4-6 Part ThreeParas 7-9 Part Four Para 10 After reading each part, well sum up the main idea.

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Part One: Main Idea Although free-market competition is often described as cutthroat and wasteful, competition and cooperation exist side by side in free-market economy.

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Part Two: Main Idea Competition arises from scarcity while cooperation becomes appropriate when coordinated efforts and knowledge of many people are necessary to achieve the common good.

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Part Three: Main Idea Not all forms of competition and cooperation are beneficial, but in competitive markets, firms compete by means of serving the customers as well as they can and only those who cooperate best can survive.

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Part Four: Main Idea Far from undermining cooperation, free-market competition enhances cooperation.

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5. True or False 1. In a symphony orchestra, there is only cooperation( F ) No. There are both cooperation and competition. 2.Competition and cooperation do exist side by side in human society.(T) 3.In bidding competition, someone gets something by force, which other people also want to get. ( F ) In bidding competition, people are willing to sacrifice their great quantity of other goods to get something they want. 4.Cooperation is a distinctive feature of all economic activities in a competitive market..(T)

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Unit Eight Competition and Cooperation Unit Eight Book Three Text A

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Paragraph 1: Free market competition is often described as cutthroat and wasteful. Dog-eat-dog rivalries are fueled by greedy self-interests operating according to the law of the jungle in which survival of the fittest is the only rule. In contrast, government regulation is said to have the potential to promote genuine cooperation in which citizens pull together to advance the common good.

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But those who deplore free-market competition simply do not understand it. Competitive markets excel at promoting cooperation. Indeed, to succeed in the market requires great cooperative skills. A person buying a wool coat gains his comfort as a result of the willing cooperative efforts of many workers in widely varied activities from raising sheep to spinning yarn to retailing. Every wool coat requires that very

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Dog-eat-dog rivalries are fueled by greedy self- interests operating according to the law of the jungle in which survival of the fittest is the only rule. 1. What do the phrases the law of the jungle and survival of the fittest mean? 1) The law of the jungle means everyone cares for himself only. 2) Survival of the fittest means only the strongest reatures will stay alive. 2.Translate the sentence into Chinese.

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Words and Expressions: rivalry: n. 1.[+ with/between] the state or condition of competing There has always been intense rivalry between New Zealand and Australia. 2. Collocations friendly rivalry intense/acute/bitter/fierce/keen/strong rivalry between sibling rivalry enter/get into rivalry with sb. stir up rivalry

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Paragraph 2-3: large numbers of people coordinate their efforts cooperate in production and distribution. Similarly, the existence of a pencil would be impossible without the cooperation of countless people and firms from around the globe. Still, private firms selling coats and pencils are described as competitive, not as cooperative. And so they are in a genuine sense. Each firm, each producer, competes for the advantage of satisfying consumer demands. But these firms are no less cooperative. Competition and cooperation exist side by side. Each has its own roles to play in building a peaceful and prosperous society..

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Competition and cooperation exist side by side. 1. More examples: again and again ; ; through and through out-and-out , day after day word for word eye to eye man-to-man hand in hand 2. Translate the sentence into Chinese.

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globe: n. 1) the Earth The cities were beautiful and adorned with all the fine things of the globe. 2) a round object with a map of the Earth drawn on it At that time in every classroom of the school there was a big globe.

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Paragraph 4: A symphony orchestra is an unequaled example of cooperation, yet competition has a role to play even in orchestras. Different musicians compete for each seat in the orchestra. Moreover, different orchestras compete for the privilege of making recordings with prestigious recording studios. Football and baseball teams parallel orchestras in these respects: different players compete for slots on the team, and different teams compete against each other for the championship. And the production of steel, the operation of a department store, and the publication of a magazine all involve both cooperation and competition. Competition and cooperation are unavoidable in human society.

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Words and Expressions: privilege: n. a special advantage that is given only to one person or group of people Parking in this street is the privilege of the residents. 2. Collocations an exclusive privilege diplomatic privileges abuse a privilege accord/award sb. a privilege offer special privileges

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Paragraph 5-6: Competition is inseparable from scarcity. Scarcity exists when there is not enough of some goods to provide consumers. It follows that we must find some way to decide who gets how much of any scarce goods. The accepted way in free-market competition is to allow those who want a particular kind of goods say, a bushel of apples to bid for it. The bushel of apples will then go to the person who voluntarily sacrifices the greatest quantity of other goods in exchange for the apples. We call such bidding competition, but note that such competition differs fundamentally from another kind of competition physical terror: he gets the apples by beating up all others who want the apples.

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We call such bidding competition, but note that such competition differs fundamentally from another kind of competition 1. What does the first such refer to here? It refers to what has been mentioned in the previous sentence. 2. Paraphrase the sentence. These two words have different parts of speech. The first one is a pronoun while the second one is an adjective.

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Words and Expressions: in exchange for: 1.by way of exchange by way of exchange Tom gave Helen an apple in exchange for a piece of cake.

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Paragraph 7: Cooperation is appropriate, of course, when the coordinated efforts and knowledge of many people are necessary to produce a particular kind of goods, such as the wool coat or the pencil. People who competed for jobs now find themselves cooperating with others to produce a product. This cooperation takes place not only among fellow employees but also firms with their customers, stockholders, creditors, and with all manner of suppliers. Sellers cooperate with buyers so that buyers will become repeat customers. Employers cooperate with workers to improve productivity. Customers cooperate with suppliers to ensure reliable service and quality supplies. Cooperation is indeed a hallmark of all economic activities in a competitive market. This book embodies the works of many young writers.

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Words and Expressions: all manner of: every kind of This small portable oven is capable of cooking all manner of baked goods. The British Isles have been conquered by all manner of people.

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Paragraph 8: Not all varieties of competition are beneficial, just as not all varieties of cooperation are desirable. Indeed, competition can be bad. If the owners of General Motors spread nails on the roads leading to Ford factories and dealerships, this is a form of non- economic competition and a most undesirable formGeneral Motors benefits not only at the expense of Ford, but also at the expense of consumers because the nails on the road effectively eliminate consumers option of buying Fords. But notice that identically undesirable consequences occur when General Motors and Ford cooperate with each other to lobby successfully for import restrictions on foreign automobiles. Tariffs hurt consumers no less than do nails on the road. Few people, however, refer to tariffs, dumping laws, and costly regulations as examples of cutthroat competition or business cooperation. Instead, such legislation is typically revered as desirable social policy.

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Instead, such legislation is typically revered as desirable social policy. 1. What can we infer from this sentence? From this sentence, we can infer that the author doesnt think much of this kind of legislation.

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Words and Expressions: legislation: n. [U] a law or set of laws The government has promised to bring in new legislation to combat this problem. 2. Collocations: adopt/enact legislation amend legislation abrogate/repeal legislation pass legislation veto legislation remedial legislation drastic legislation emergency legislation

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Paragraph 9: The phrases dog-eat-dog and survival of the fittest are harsh- sounding phrases, and they vastly misrepresent competitive activity within private-property markets. In competitive markets, firms do not attack each other savagely. Rather, firms do battle by seeing who can best serve the customer. That is, in competitive markets, firms compete by seeing who can best cooperate with consumers. Kmart and Wal-Mart strive to offer consumers better deals because each firm knows that if it fails to offer good deals, customers will patronize other, more responsive firms. Both firms survive as long as each cooperates with consumers effectively enough to earn profits. To protect firms from the competition of rival firms would be to encourage protected firms to be less cooperative with consumers.

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Words and Expressions: patronize: vt. 1.to use or visit a shop, restaurant etc It s a charming little restaurant which is mostly patronized by locals. 2. to support or give money to an organization or activity At last, the rich man decided to patronize that young musician. Nowadays some people in cities patronize the children in poverty-stricken area.

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Paragraph 10: Of course, in any competitive industry only the fittest firms do survive. In the 1930s, groceries were distributed mainly by mom- and-pop stores. Today, supermarkets each of which carries on average about 50,000 different kinds of products have replaced the mom-and-pops. Supermarkets offered consumers a new shopping choice. Consumers voluntarily switched their patronage from mom-and-pops to supermarkets because, as judged by consumers, supermarkets cooperated better with consumers than did the mom-and-pops. No supermarket literally killed mom or pop. Some of these small-store owners retired while others moved into other lines of work. Today, the descendants of the owners of mom- and-pops are surely better off than they would have been had supermarkets never come along.

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Today, the descendants of the owners of mom-and- pops are surely better off than they would have been had supermarkets never come along. 1. What can we infer from the sentence? By citing this example, the author just wants to tell us sometimes the competition is not a bad thing. 2. Translate the sentence

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Words and Expressions: distribute: v. 1) to supply (goods) in a particular area, especially to shops Milk is distributed to the local shops by Herald s Dairies 2) [+ to/among] to divide and give out among several people, places, etc. Copies of the report were distributed shortly after the meeting.

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Questions and Answers of Text A 1.Does the author really think free-market competition is cruel? Why do you think so? No, he doesnt. His usage of quotation marks on the phrases which means cruel or bad shows that they are not what you think they really are. 2. Does the author really think overnment has the function to promote cooperation? Why or why not? No, he doesnt. The reason is almost the same as the previous sentence. He also uses quotation marks on the phrases pull together to show that he doesnt think people will really do so.

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After Reading_5.1_1 HOMEWORK Directions: For this part, you are required to write a composition on the topic Competition and Cooperation. You should write at least 150 words and base your composition on the outline given n Chinese below: 1. 2. 3.