Like America a century ago, Hong Kong in the past few decades has been a haven for people who sought the freedom to make the most of their own abilities.
There are people who seek freedom. What kind of freedom? Freedom to do what? They seek freedom to use their abilities. They want to use their abilities to make their life better. They want to make the most of their abilities. People have abilities in science, in sports, in mathematics, in learning foreign languages. Some people have abilities in business. They understand the market, they are able to think ahead, to understand what people want, to organize production, buying and selling things. They seek freedom to make the most of their abilities.
A century ago, America was a haven for such people. It was a haven for people who sought to make the most of their abilities.
Like America a century ago, Hong Kong in the past few decades has been a haven for such people.
has been a haven In this lesson, Friedman uses the Present Perfect tenses often because he describes conditions that started some time ago and continue in the present.
haven a safe place, usually for ships, but also for people.
seek To look for, try to find. Irregular verb: seek, sought sought (compare think, bring)
make the most of X - use X to achieve the best result. ( Irregular verb: to make, made, made )
Many of them are refugees. Refugees from where? They are refugees from countries that don't allow freedom. What kind of freedom? Economic freedom and political freedom. In Hong Kong, people have economic and political freedom. People do not have to fight for it or even think about it. They assume it's there. It is taken for granted. Many countries don't allow the economic and political freedom that is taken for granted in Hong Kong.
refugees People who runs away from their country because they are not safe there (singular: refugee).
take X for granted Assume that X is normal and always present. (Irregular verb to take, took, taken)
Despite rapid population growth, despite the lack of natural resources, the standard of living is one of the highest in all of Asia.
Hong Kong has a high standard of living. It is one of the highest in all of Asia. (Today, in 2007, it is the highest in Asia and one of the highest in the world.)
Hong Kong's population has been growing rapidly. Hong Kong has rapid population growth. Hong Kong has no natural resources. Hong Kong lacks natural resources. Hong Kong has a high standard of living despite rapid population growth and despite the lack of natural resources.
despite In spite of, notwithstanding, contrary to what you expect
growth Noun form of the irregular verb to grow (grew, grown).
natural resources Substances and materials from nature that are valuable to a country’s economy.
standard of living How well (high standard of living) or how badly (low standard of living) a group of people live, especially how easy or difficult it is for them to get the goods and services they need.
highest Superlative of high
Exploitation means: people work hard but they are not paid well. They are not paid a fair wage. Hong Kong's success is not based on exploitation because workers are paid well.
Workers are paid wages. For instance, a worker in America can be paid the wage of $10 an hour. Wages in Hong Kong have been growing. They have been going up. They are four times more than they were right after the War (World War II). They have gone up fourfold since the War.
They have gone up even more than fourfold, but some of the increase is the result of inflation. They have gone up fourfold after correcting for, or allowing for, inflation.
work hard the word hard is both an adjective and an adverb, used with such verbs as work, study, play. The word hardly (= barely, scarcely) is NOT related to the adjective hard.(Contrast this with easy - easily and many such adjective - adverb pairs.)
is not based Passive form: They make cheap toys here. = Cheap toys are made here. This factory produces sophisticated automobiles = Sophisticated automobiles are produced by (or at) this factory.
wages have gone up since the War A common use of Present Perfect with a since phrase. (Irregular verb: to go up, went up, gone up)
after allowing for inflation = After we take inflation into consideration, after we allow for inflation.
move to other jobs = Change jobs
choose (v) - choice (n) There are many such verb-noun pairs like that in English and other languages.
The market gives them that choice The noun choice comes from the verb choose (irregular verb: choose, chose, chosen) There are many such verb-noun pairs in English and other languages.
otherwise If things are / were different; if the situation is / were different.. If it rains, we'll stay home, otherwise we'll go for a walk. Somebody must have been smoking here; otherwise, why would it smell of cigarette smoke.
Competition from places like South Korea and Taiwan has made cheap products less profitable.
less profitable A negative comparative: less profitable, the least profitable. Competition has made cheap products less profitable. Wheat was one of the least profitable crops for farmers to grow in this climate.
they've been developing Another Present Perfect Progressive.
more sophisticated Comparative form of adjective: sophisticated, more sophisticated, most sophisticated. One-syllable adjectives add -er and -est to form their comparative and superlative: high, higher, the highest. Most words with two or more syllables insert more/the most or less/the least before the adjective: popular, more/less popular, the most/the least popular. Important exception: two-syllable adjectives ending in "y": early, earlier, earliest; pretty, prettier, prettiest.
X matches Y Here, X is as good as Y, X is no worse than Y; Y is not better than X Match can also mean "to be similar or the same": These shoes match. (= They are a pair.) This scarf matches your shoes. (= It is the same color as your shoes.)
Nobody says anything in this segment. Even Dr. Friedman is silent.
A busy street is a street with many people and much activity in it.
This thriving, bustling, dynamic city, has been made possible by the free market — indeed the freest market in the world. The free market enables people to go into any industry that they want; to trade with whomever they want; to buy in the cheapest market around the world; to sell in the dearest around the world. But — most important of all — if they fail, they bear the cost. If they succeed, they get the benefit and it's that atmosphere of incentive that has induced them to work, to adjust, to save, to produce a miracle.
The free market has made this city possible. It is the free market that made it possible. It's been made possible by the free market. Friedman thinks that Hong Kong is the freest market in the world.
To enable something is to make something possible. To enable people to do something is to create conditions in which people can do it.
To go into an industry is to start working in that industry or start a business in that industry. You can start your business career by first going into textiles, then into silks, then into carpets and Persian rugs.
A cheap market is where products cost little and are sold cheaply. An expensive, or "dear," market is where products cost much and are sold at high prices. The dearest market is the most expensive market.
In Hong Kong, when people succeed, or do well in business, they get rewards. They receive benefit for their work. Everywhere in Hong Kong, people feel that it's possible to get benefits if you work, adjust, or adapt to changing conditions and save money. Since people feel this way, there is an "atmosphere of incentive." People believe they will be rewarded for working hard and running businesses well. That atmosphere of incentive is what induces, or causes, people to work so hard.
has been made possible Another example of a passive (see 29 above) and the Present Perfect Progressive (see 0 above)
freest, cheapest, dearest, most frequent superlative forms of adjectives
freer, cheaper, dearer, more frequent comparative forms of adjectives
in the dearest market The word dear can mean "expensive" in British English. Most Americans use dear only to mean "lovely" She is a dear child. In addressing a person, it can mean warm feeling (My dear) but in correspondence it is simply a polite formula: (Dear Sir or Madam, Dear Mr. Jones, Dear Customer).
It's that atmosphere of incentive that has induced them to work. The atmosphere of incentive, more than anything else, has induced them to work.
bear the cost = To be responsible for the cost, to have to pay the cost.
It's that atmosphere of incentive that has induced them to work. = The atmosphere of incentive, more than anything else, has induced them to work. (See It's the ordinary people who 100 above.)
Hong Kong is an economic miracle. Some people think that economic miracles can happen only if the government does something to enable the miracle. In order to achieve a miracle, says Friedman, the government doesn't have to tell people to do anything. Many economists do not agree with Friedman. They believe that governments have to set economic policies. But Friedman thinks that markets work best when the government does not interfere. Friedman believes in a free market.
This miracle hasn't been achieved ... It's been achieved More examples of Present Perfect Passive.
It's been achieved by allowing the market to work. The miracle has been achieved because the market has been allowed to work. The word allowing is a Gerund. It acts as a noun (follows a preposition) and a verb (is followed by a direct object).
by . . . sitting . . . telling . . . . by allowing All examples of Gerund phrases.
Walk down any street in Hong Kong and you will see the impersonal forces of the market in operation.
Nobody has ordered Mr. Chung to make metal containers. He makes good money making and selling metal containers. He does well for himself by making metal containers. He can do better for himself by making metal containers than by making anything else.
Many people want to buy metal containers. Metal containers are in demand. There is demand for metal containers. Demand for metal containers is high. If it goes down, Mr. Chung will know because nobody will buy his metal containers. This is what it means when we say the the demand has gone down. If the demand goes down, Mr. Chung will get the message. Low demand is a message from the market. If the demand went down, Mr. Chung would soon get that message.
If the demand went down, Mr. Chung would soon get that message. The form went does not mean past tense; it means that we are talking about something that may happen but has not yet happened. We are talking about a contrary-to-fact condition. In the main clause we use the auxiliary verb would: If demand went down, Mr. Cheng would get than message. For the verb to be, the correct form for contrary-to-fact conditions is were, even if the subject is singular. If Jane were here, she would help us. If the demand were low, Mr. Chung wouldn't be making metal containers. Many people would use was in that sentence, but were is considered more correct.
by making anything else Another Gerund phrase.
A few doors away, Mr. Yu's firm has been making traditional Cantonese wedding gowns for 42 years. But the demand for these elaborate garments is falling. The firm has already gotten that message and is now looking for another product.
The firm has already gotten that message. The adverb already is often used with Perfect tenses, Present, Past of Future.
Not only what to produce but how best to produce it This is called a paired construction. The word also is often added: not only what to produce but also how best to produce it.
If these workers could earn more doing something else, Mr. Ho would soon find a way to mechanize his production. Another example of contrary-to-fact condition.
mechanize Do something with a machine that used to be done by hand.. Sewing in factories is now mostly mechanized.
Inside this Chinese medicine shop, a market transaction's going on. The customer's confidence that this painful-looking ordeal will help him doesn't rest on any official certification of the bone doctor's qualifications - it comes from experience, his own or his friends. In his turn, the doctor treats him not because he has been ordered to, but because he gets paid.
transaction Commercial interaction between two people or companies, a business deal.
he has been ordered to Another example of the Present Perfect Passive
gets paid Get plus a Past Participle is a variation of the passive, especially common in conversation. Because he is paid = Because he gets paid. He was killed in the war.= He got killed in the war. She was promoted to a better-paying position. = She got promoted to a better-paying position.
not because . . . but because Common way to deny one explanation and propose another.
voluntary Freely chosen, not forced.
take place = Occur, happen. (Irregular verb: to take, took, taken)
to make the most of to take for granted to move to another job to bear the cost not because . . . but because to take place
haven, despite, population growth, natural resources, standard of living, exploitation, fourfold, competition, profitable, adapt, adjust, transaction, cost, benefit, incentive, voluntary
In this exercise, you are given two sentences. One sentence describes a present condition, the other gives the time when this condition started. Combine the two sentences into one using a time adverb with since. Note that you can combine since and before or after, as in "since before the Great Depression." Also note that the since clause can come at the beginning of the sentence (followed by a comma) or at the end (with no additional punctuation).
Given: All American workers work an eight-hour day. This
started in 1938.
Answer: Since 1938, all American workers have been working an
eight-hour day. (or All American workers have been working an eight-hour day since 1938.)
This exercise is like Exercise 1 except that the second sentence gives the event that started the condition. (Here the since clause is almost always at the end of the sentence.)
Given: John studies ten minutes a day. It started when he got
a high grade on the last test.
Answer: John has
been studying ten minutes a day since he got a high grade on the last test.
Adverbs of time for and over with Progressive, Perfect, and Perfect Progressive tenses
Add the adverbs of time for or over and make two sentences: (1) from the Progressive to the Perfect Progressive and (2) from the Progressive to the Perfect. Note that the second set of sentences have almost the same meaning; although the Present Perfect Progressive emphasizes that the action is continuous and ongoing.
Given: Unemployment is increasing. Six months.
Answers (1):
For the last six months, unemployment has been increasing.
OR
Over the last six months, unemployment has been increasing.
Answers (2):
For the last six months, unemployment has increased.
OR
Over the last six months, unemployment has increased.
Make sentences from the phrases below, making the verb (1) Simple Past and then (2) Present Perfect. Note that in and since are used if the time expression marks a starting point, and ago and over the if it expresses length of time.
Given: 1930, many businessmen, lose their money
Answers (1) In 1930,
many businessmen lost their money.
(Simple Past)
Answers (2) Since 1930, many
businessmen have lost their money.
(Present Perfect)
Given: 50 years ago, many banks fail
Answers (1) Fifty years ago, many banks failed. (Simple Past)
Answers (2) Over the last 50 years,
many banks have failed. (Present Perfect)
Given: The city solved its housing problem. It built
a lot of affordable apartments.
Answer: The city solved its housing problem by
building a lot of affordable apartments.
Passives
Change the sentences below into passives using either to be or (more conversational) to get. Be careful to use the correct tenses and the word by to indicate a person or thing doing the action.
Given: The British occupied Hong Kong in 1841.
Answer: Hong Kong was occupied (or got occupied) by the British in 1841.
Passives
Make sentences from the phrases below, using the passive with to be or the (more conversational) passive with to get. Give the tense indicated in brackets, and be careful to use by when the person or thing doing the action is mentioned.
Given: bill, pay, on time [Past]
Answer: The bill was paid on time
OR
Answer: The bill got paid on time.
Contrary-to-fact conditionals
Change the first sentence (a Present/Future conditional) into a contrary-to-fact conditional.
Given: If the demand goes down, Mr. Cheng will soon get that message.
Answer: If the demand went down, Mr. Cheng would soon get that message.
Given: I'm not rich, but I'd (= I would) like to buy an expensive car.
Answer: If I were rich, I'd buy an expensive car. OR
Given: George is so stupid. He will never get into a university.
Answer: If George weren't so stupid, he would get into a university.