※ Shipping was the essential lifeline for the nation’s economy. Ninety-nine per cent of the trade in and out of the country went by ship- and over half of it in British ships. Shipping was also a significant British success story. It earned over ￡1,000 million a year in foreign exchange earnings: without the merchant fleet, the balance of payments would be permanently in deficit, despite North Sea oil. Now it was greatly threatened by other countries. ※ Today Britain has discovered 50 oil fields in the North Sea, with a reserve of 2.2 billion tons. Production began in the second half of 1975 and went up gradually. In 1976 production of crude oil reached 52.8 million tons. It was estimated that by 1980 production rose to about 110 million tons. And if so, Britain was selfsufficient in oild War II
A. By the mid-1950’s , things were definitely rosy for Britain: unemployment was low; wages were far higher than before the war; more and more people were buying cars and going on holidays. B. By the 1960s, Britain was one of the world’s leading industrial as well as nuclear powers, a “permissive age” for many British people. C．In the 1970s, Britain was beset with troubles both at home and abroad. Although Britain’s rate of economic growth averaged 2%—3% annually up to 1971, yet the rate dropped considerably in subsequent years. The optimism of the 1960s disappeared. The oil embargo(石油禁运) declared by Opec and coal-miners’ strike at home forced the government to declare the State of Emergency in 1973. Edward Heath’s Conservative Government was brought down at the general election.
3. British disease A. low growth of productivity, B. soaring inflation and devaluation of the currency C. high unemployment rate 4. The causes of the disease (according to some of the western economists) A. excessive socialism ( one-fourth of production and service industries were nationalized . Many of the state-owned enterprises made thin profit (微利) or ran at a loss.( 亏 损经营) B. its from—cradle—grave social welfare program e.g. 1) the National Health Service 公共医疗卫生服务， providing free treatment for all English people.
2) the Social Security System 社会福利保障体系，securing a basic standard of living for people in financial troubles, transferred too much money from the haves to the have-nots through the system, thus, dampered people’s enthusiasm for self-reliance and encourage “dependency culture”, being contented themselves with relying on social welfare benefits and refused to make efforts to improve themselves. That is called the redistribution or transferring money (from the haves to the have-nots) C. the workers’ attitude to high technology (over-anxious to keep their jobs, reluctant to use labor-saving techniques that implies firing more workers e.g. Murdoch’s newspaper plant
3） During the 2nd World War and post-war era, the UK had experienced an economic decline since 1945. This is a relative decline rather than an absolute one. Actually Britain was more wealthier and more productive than it was in 1945, but since other countries developed more rapidly , people have such an impression. A. It has dropped from being the 2nd largest economy to being the 6th. This causes relative declines after the 2nd World War : B. Britain had gone heavily into debt in order to finance the 2nd World War. During the war, it sold many of its accumulated overseas assets (长期积累的海外资产，英 国在历史上有很多海外殖民地)and borrowed large amount from U.S. and Canada.
AKA Keith Rupert Murdoch
• Born: 11-Mar-1931 Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia • Gender: Male Religion: Christian Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Business • Nationality: United States
• Keith Rupert Murdoch默多克（1931-）名闻欧、美、澳洲的报业巨子。 • 出生于墨尔本。父亲为著名的战地记者和出版商。在牛津大学获硕士 • 学位，经他父亲的朋友比弗布鲁克勋爵推荐，进伦敦《每日快报》任 • 副编辑。其父去世后，他返回澳大利亚继承父业，接管《新闻报》和 《星期日邮报》。之后立即采用两年来从《每日快报》所学的危言耸听 的报道方法，不久把《新闻报》由持重的报纸变成以色情、丑闻充斥的 报纸，销售量因此激增。后来打入英国报界，如伦敦的《世界新闻》周 刊，以色情、丑闻为内容，使其销售量增至600万份。后打入美国德克 萨斯州的《快报》，不久又购入《新闻晚报》将其办成色情，丑闻满篇 的报纸，压倒了所有对手，垄断了晚报市场。1976年转向纽约市，买进 了历史最悠久的报纸之一纽约《邮报》晚报。同时还购入《纽约》杂志 等。他很注意运用他早年从比弗布鲁克勋爵处学得的经验，善于利用高 善于利用高 科技、善于利用色情和丑闻扩大销售、善于在适当的时刻用低廉的价格 科技 购入其他报刊因此他的事业已发展成为世界上最大的出版企业之一。
D. Britain’s membership in the European Community (now called the European Union) was endorsed by the national referendum of 1973(全民公决). It was a major step to link Britain with other Western European countries. ※ The EU consists of 3 communities set up by separate treaties: 1) the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) 欧洲煤钢联营 2) the European Economic Community (EEC) 欧洲经济共同体 3)the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) 欧洲原子能共同 体