UNIDAD 6

VERBOS DE MODO

VERBOS DE MODO

ACTIVIDAD 1
De acuerdo con el texto, elige la letra que mejor complete o conteste cada reactivo. Argumenta tu
respuesta.

OPPORTUNITY COST
A Economists are concerned with how we make choices in a world of scarce resources.
Individuals, families, business firms and governments all must make decisions about how best to allocate
the limited resources at their command.
B When resources are limited, choices are limited as well. This means that the decision to have one thing
5 is, at the same time, the decision not to have something else. Suppose, for example, that a government
chose to pay for an increase in the size of its air force with the money it saved by building fewer schools. In
that instance, an increase in defense was paid for by a reduction in the number of schools.
C The opportunity cost of any decision is the value of the next best alternative that is given up. It is the
relevant cost to use when trying to make the best (optimizing) decision. This is true whether the decision
10 relates to consumption, production, or investment.
D Even though we usually think of the money cost of producing something, the opportunity cost provides a
much more sensible way of measuring economic cost. If more resources (labor, plastic, steel, etc.) are used
to increase the production of computers, then the production of something else that requires those same
resources (such as stereos) must be cut back.
E 15 If every computer requires the same resources as two stereos, then the opportunity cost of producing a
computer is two stereos. It makes sense to evaluate the cost in terms of what we do not get because we are
producing computers.
F In fact, the concepts of money cost and opportunity cost are very closely tied together in a market
economy. In general, a good that has a high opportunity cost will also have a high monetary cost. This is
20 because the price is one way to allocate resources among competing uses. Let’s think of some of the ways
that opportunity costs play fundamental roles in our lives. Many high school students consider going to
college for four years after graduating from high school. What is the cost of acquiring a college education?
G Obviously, the cost of tuition, the cost of books and other supplies, and the cost of living in a dorm
represent the money cost of going to college. The other uses this money might have been put to represent
30 its opportunity costs. But what else is the cost of going to college? If a student did not go to college, then he
or she would likely find a job instead.
H The money that those who choose college might have earned during their years of study is described by
economists as foregone earnings. Foregone earnings represent another, very important cost of a college
education. Thus, the opportunity cost of going to college is the goods and services represented by the money
35 cost of the education, plus the value of the foregone earnings.
I Another example of this concept can be seen in the opportunity cost of capital. Let us assume that a
manufacturing firm is considering the addition of microwave ovens to its product line. What will it cost to
produce them?
J In addition to materials and labor costs, the firm must also consider the return it might receive if, instead
40 of for using those funds to manufacture microwaves, it put the money into U.S. Treasury bonds or some
other safe investment (its opportunity cost). Let us assume, for example, that the firm could earn 10 percent
on the money simply by investing it in government bonds.
K That being the case, the complete cost of production would have to include both production costs and
the opportunity cost of the firm’s capital.

1. The report tells individuals, families, business firms and governments that
a. it is expected that they may make certain decisions.
b. it is certain that they will make decisions about the allocating of resources.
c. it is necessary to make decisions about how to allocate limited resources.

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2. The decision to increase the country’s air force

a. may give as a result the construction of fewer schools.
b. is recommended instead of benefiting society as a whole with more schools.
c. must result fewer schools.

3. If the production of computers increased

a. the same would happen to the production of stereos.
b. less commodities using the same inputs would be produced.
c. The production cost and money cost would be equal to opportunity cost.

4. When a student opts to go to college

a. his/her monetary costs are equal to the wage he might have received.
b. the money he spends on his education is the whole opportunity cost.
c. the money he spends on his education plus the money he does not receive in wages is the opportunity cost of his
education.

5. The opportunity cost of a firm’s capital

a. must consider the rate of interest in some safe investment.
b. must be equal to the rate of interest on government bonds.
c. is the cost of labor and materials used to produce its products.

ACTIVIDAD 2
De acuerdo con el texto, elige la letra que mejor complete o conteste cada reactivo. Argumenta tu
respuesta.

A Resources can be said to be limited in both an absolute and a relative sense: the surface of the Earth is
finite, imposing absolute scarcity; but the scarcity that concerns economists is the relative scarcity of
resources in different uses. Materials used for one purpose cannot at the same time be used for other
purposes; if the quantity of input is limited, the increased use of it in one manufacturing process must cause
5 it to become less available for other uses.
B The cost of a product in terms of money may not include its true cost to society. The true cost of, say, the
construction of a supersonic yet is the value of the schools and refrigerators that will never be built as a
result.
C Every act of production uses up some of society's available resources; it means the foregoing of an
10 opportunity to produce else. In deciding how to use resources most effectively to satisfy the wants of the
community, this opportunity cost must finally be taken into account.
D In a market economy the price of a good and the quantity supplied depends on the cost of making it, and
that cost, eventually, is the cost of not making other goods. The market mechanism enforces this relationship.
The cost of, say, a pair of shoes is the price of the leather, the labor, the fuel, and other elements used up
15 in producing them. But the price of these inputs, in turn, depends on what they can produce elsewhere -if
the leather can be used to produce handbags that are valued highly by consumers, the price of leather will
be raised in the same way

1. What does the author mainly discusses?

a. The scarcity of manufactured goods c. The value of scarce materials
b. The manufacturing of scarce goods d. The cost of producing shoes

2. According to the passage, what is the relationship between production and resources?
a. Available resources stimulate production c. Resources are totally independent of production
b. Production increases as resources increase d. Production lessens the amount of available resources

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3. What determines the price of a good in a market economy?

a. The cost of all elements of production
b. The cost of making other goods
c. The efficiency of the manufacturing process
d. The quantity of materials supplied

4. According to the passage, what are the opportunity costs of an item?

a. The amount of time and money spent in producing it
b. The opportunities a person has to buy it
c. The value of what could have been produced instead
d. The value of the resources used in its production

5. Which of the following examples best reflects a cost to society as defined in the passage?
a. A family buying a dog
b. Eating in a restaurant instead of at home
c. Using land for a house instead of a park
d. Staying at home instead of going to school

6. With which of the following statements would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?
a. The price of a good reflects its usefulness to society.
b. Opportunity costs are reflected in the price of a good.
c. Opportunity costs increase with availability.
d. The cost of a good depends on its quality.

ACTIVIDAD 3
De acuerdo con el texto, elige la letra que mejor complete o conteste cada reactivo. Argumenta tu
respuesta.

The planet Mars has always captured the human imagination. There is its redness. We know now that the
color comes from chemical reactions that long ago locked up Mars's oxygen in reddish minerals on its surface,
causing the "rusting” of the planet. To the ancients, the red color meant only one thing: blood. From the earliest
times, Mars-named for the Roman god of war has been associated with bloodshed. Even the astronomical
5 symbol for Mars, a circle with an arrow pointing at 2 o'clock, is supposed to represent a shield and a spear.
As astronomers acquired telescopes, Mars mythology increased. It was the Italian astronomer Giovanni
Schiaparelli who, in 1877, offered the most lasting bit of Martian myth. He saw what he took to be long, thin,
unnaturally straight lines on the Martian surface. He called them canali, a word that can translate into English
either as "channels” or "canals." Unfortunately, the latter translation was used, and the canals of Mars were
10 born. Obviously, if there were canals, there had to be canal builders, so once more Mars was peopled with all
manner of intelligent life forms!
In 1965 Mariner 4 sent back our first close-up pictures of the Martian surface. Not only were there no canals,
but Mariner 4 and the spacecraft that followed showed a planet that was a largely cratered, apparently lifeless
desert. We have subsequently learned that Mars is home to Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the entire
15 solar system, and to a canyon system stretching for almost 3,000 miles around the Martian equator. The
atmosphere is extremely thin (equivalent to that at 130,000 feet above Earth) and made up almost entirely of
carbon dioxide. The surface is cold, almost never getting above freezing even at the summertime equator.
Perhaps the greatest surprises were the photographs from Mariner 9 in 1971-72 that showed channels on the
surface. Now, these were not Schiaparelli's canali- there's no way these channels could be seen by even the
20 most powerful earthbound telescope. They are unmistakable water courses, however. There is no water in them
now, but they trace out the path of water that flowed in the past. They resemble the arroyos of the American
West, through which water from infrequent storms runs, but which are bone-dry most of the time. Water once ran
on the surface of Mars.

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New explorations on Mars by the spacecraft Pathfinder, due to arrive on the planet's surface in 1997, are planned
25 to give scientists more information about possible past life on Mars. One of Pathfinder's missions will be to lay
the groundwork for future efforts to find fossil remains of living things. The landing site for the Mars Pathfinder is
going to be the mouth of an old flood channel called Ares Vallis.

1. According to the passage, the redness of Mars is a result of

a. a chemical reaction on the planet surface
b. the old age of the planet
c. the reflection of the sun
d. an abundance of oxygen in the planet’s atmosphere

2. In line 9, “the latter “refers to

a. canals c. canali
b. channels d. unusual straight lines

3. The author implies that the English translation of the Italian word canali as canals was unfortunate because
a. it contributed to the myth of life in Mars
b. Schiaparelli’s discovery was not given proper credit
c. no telescope on Earth could see canals accurately
d. the misconception help up scientific space travel for centuries

4. The photographs from Mariner 9 were surprising because

a. they verified Schiaparelli’s canali
b. they show that water may once have existed on Mars
c. they were not as good images from Earth’s telescopes
d. they were first shown in the America West

5. Why do scientists think that the cannels of Mars were waterways?

a. They still have a little water in it.
b. They resemble a similar system on Earth.
c. Bones have been found there.
d. They are straight and narrow

6. According to the passage, Pathfinder’s mission to Mars includes

a. checking for flood damage
b. placing specialized equipment on the planet’s surface
c. preparing for future fossil-finding expeditions
d. bringing back fossils for further study

7. Which of the following has not been a source of information about Mars?
a. Spacecraft
b. Telescopes
c. Conjecture
d. Astronauts

8. It can be inferred from the passage that myths about Mars

a. are widely believed today
b. have been dispelled by current space exploration
c. are based on scientific facts
d. depict it as a lifeless planet

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