学术英语社科Unit 1含答案

What is the author trying to prove?
What is the author assuming I will agree with?
Do you agree with the author?
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Example 1: the price of an apple How people respond to incentives?
When the price rises: It provides an incentive for buyers to consume less; It provides an incentive for sellers to produce more.
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
• Lead-in – Reading critically: questions for discussion
Unit 1
Decision-Making
Lead-in
Behaviors in Economic
Critical reading and thinking
Activities
Example 2: water vs. diamond
Why is water so cheap, while diamonds are so
expensive?
water
Necessary for survival
diamond
学术英语 社科
Academic English for Social Sciences
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Unit Contents
• Lead-in • Text A • Text B • Listening • Speaking • Writing
Cost of each seat: $500 (That’s to say, never sell a ticket for less than $500.)
Suppose: A plane is about to take off with 10 empty seats. A standby passenger will pay $300 for a seat.
How do you make the decision that you take this course?
What do you consider when you make this decision?
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Example 2: a tax on gasoline How people respond to incentives?
How a seat belt law alters a driver’s costbenefit calculation (Peltzman’s analysis): Seat belts reduce the likelihood of injury or death → make accidents less costly → drive faster and less carefully → a large number of accidents
Question: should the airline sell the ticket?
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Answer: Yes. Reason: If the plane has empty seat, the cost of adding one more passenger is tiny. Here the marginal cost is merely the cost of something to eat, like peanuts, coco, etc.
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Key terms
rational people: 理性人 Those people who systematically and purposefully do the best they can to achieve their objectives, given the available opportunities.
Are you a rational person?
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Rational people respond to incentives.
Economists’ explanation about decision making: There are rules behind people’s decision-making behaviors.
Unit 1
Decision-Making
Text A
Behaviors in
Critical reading and thinking
Conclusion: As long as the standby passenger pays more than the marginal cost, selling the ticket is profitable.
Unit 1
Decision-Making
Text A
Behaviors in Economic
Encourage people to □ drive small, more fuel-efficient cars; □ carpool □ take public transportation; □ live closer to where they work; □ drive hybrid cars; □ drive electric cars.
marginal change: 边际变化 small incremental adjustments to a plan of action
marginal benefit: 边际效益 the additional benefit from an increase in an activity
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Example 3: a seat belt law
American laws require seat belts as standard equipment on new cars.
diamonds are rare.
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Conclusion: Rational people think at the margin. (They make decisions by comparing costs and benefits.)
Unnecessary for survival
The marginal benefit The marginal benefit
of an extra cup is of an extra diamond
small because water is large because
is plentiful.
Lead-in
Reading critically: questions for discussion
Does the author adequately defend their argument?
What kind of proof do they use?
Is there something they leave out that you would put in?
Reading critically: questions for discussion
Activities
Reading critically:
Every text is written on a purpose, some are supposed to make you believe. It is important to learn to read critically to get the point. One way of training critical reading is to ask yourself the following questions:
Does putting it in hurt their argument?
Unit 1
Decision-Making
Lead-in
Behaviors in Economic
Reading critically: questions for discussion
Activities
Discuss the following questions:
• Text A – Key terms
– Critical reading and thinking
– Difficult sentences
– English language for
ห้องสมุดไป่ตู้
academic purpose
• Specialized vocabulary • Collocations • Formal and informal English • Signpost language
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Key terms
marginal cost: 边际成本 the additional cost from an increase in an activity
marginal decision-making: 边际决策 the additional cost from an increase in an activity
Economic
Activities Rational people think at the margin.
Example 1: standby tickets What a rational airline can do?
Situation: Flying a 200-seat plane across the U.S. costs the airline $100,000.
incentive: 激励 something that induces a person to act
Unit 1
Decision-Making Behaviors in Economic Activities
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
How People Make Decisions