📚 Year 7 CIE Economics: Quick Vocabulary Memorisation Guide | CIE 七年级经济：词汇术语速记指南
Welcome to your Year 7 CIE Economics journey! Mastering the subject begins with a clear understanding of its special language. This quick guide introduces the most important terms you will meet, with simple definitions and memory helpers to make learning fast and enjoyable. We have paired every English explanation with a Chinese one so you can build vocabulary in both languages. Dive in and start memorising the words that unlock economic thinking.
欢迎来到 CIE 七年级经济学的世界！掌握这门学科要从理解它独特的语言开始。这份速记指南为你整理了最重要的术语，配有简易定义和记忆妙招，让学习又快又有趣。每个英文解释都配有中文对照，帮助你在双语环境中积累词汇。现在就开始记住这些解锁经济思维的词语吧。
1. What is Economics? | 什么是经济学？
Economics is the social science that studies how people make choices to satisfy their unlimited wants using limited resources. It asks questions like 'What should we produce?', 'How should we produce it?', and 'For whom should we produce it?'. Learning this subject trains you to think about costs, benefits and trade-offs in everyday life.
经济学是一门社会科学，研究人们如何运用有限的资源去满足无限的欲望。它提出的问题包括“应该生产什么？”“应该如何生产？”以及“为谁生产？”。学习这门学科能训练你在日常生活中思考成本、收益和权衡。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Economics | 经济学 – 研究稀缺资源分配的科学 |
| The basic economic problem | 基本经济问题 – 有限资源与无限欲望之间的矛盾 |
| Resources | 资源 – 用于生产商品和服务的投入 |
2. Scarcity and Choice | 稀缺性与选择
Scarcity exists because resources such as time, money and raw materials are limited, while our desires are endless. This forces individuals, businesses and governments to make choices. Every choice involves giving up something else — the next best alternative. Understanding scarcity is the very first step in thinking like an economist.
稀缺性的存在是因为时间、金钱和原材料等资源有限，而我们的欲望却无穷无尽。这就迫使个人、企业和政府必须做出选择。每一个选择都意味着放弃其他东西——即次优替代品。理解稀缺性是像经济学家一样思考的第一步。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Scarcity | 稀缺性 – 资源有限而欲望无限的状态 |
| Choice | 选择 – 面对稀缺时对不同选项的决策 |
| Trade-off | 权衡 – 为了得到某物而放弃的另一项利益 |
3. Needs and Wants | 需要与欲望
A need is something essential for survival, such as food, clean water, shelter and clothing. A want is something that makes life more comfortable but is not necessary for survival, like a smartphone or a holiday. In economics, we separate these ideas to understand how people prioritise spending when money is tight.
需要是维持生存必不可少的东西，比如食物、干净的水、住所和衣物。欲望则是让生活更舒适但并非生存必需的东西，比如智能手机或度假。在经济学中，我们区分这两个概念，是为了理解人们在金钱紧张时如何安排支出的优先顺序。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Needs | 需要 – 生存必要品（食物、水、住所） |
| Wants | 欲望 – 非必需的舒适或娱乐物品 |
| Prioritise | 优先排序 – 按重要程度分配有限资源 |
4. Goods and Services | 商品与服务
Goods are tangible items that you can touch and use, such as a book, a bicycle or a sandwich. Services are intangible activities provided by others, like a haircut, a bus journey or education. Both are produced to satisfy wants and needs, and together they form the output of an economy. We further classify goods into free goods (like sunlight) and economic goods (which have a price).
商品是你能够触摸和使用的有形物品，如书、自行车或三明治。服务是他人提供的无形活动，如理发、乘坐公交车或教育。二者都是为了满足欲望和需要而生产，共同构成一个经济的产出。我们进一步将商品分类为免费品（如阳光）和经济品（有价格）。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Goods | 商品 – 有形的物质产品 |
| Services | 服务 – 无形的经济活动 |
| Economic goods | 经济品 – 稀缺、需要付出代价才能获得的商品 |
| Free goods | 免费品 – 不稀缺、无需支付的物品（如空气） |
5. Factors of Production | 生产要素
To produce any good or service, four main resources are needed. Land includes all natural resources like soil, minerals and water. Labour is the human effort, both physical and mental. Capital refers to man-made tools, machinery and factories. Enterprise is the willingness to take risks and bring the other three factors together. In economics we remember them with the acronym CELL: Capital, Enterprise, Land, Labour.
生产任何商品或服务都需要四种主要资源。土地包括所有自然资源，如土壤、矿产和水。劳动是人的体力和脑力付出。资本指人造的工具、机器和厂房。企业家精神是承担风险并将前三种要素组合起来的意愿。在经济学中我们用缩写 CELL 来记忆：资本 (Capital)、企业家精神 (Enterprise)、土地 (Land)、劳动 (Labour)。
| Factor (English) | 中文要素与解释 |
|---|---|
| Land | 土地 – 自然界提供的资源 |
| Labour | 劳动 – 工人的体力和脑力贡献 |
| Capital | 资本 – 人造的生产工具和机器 |
| Enterprise | 企业家精神 – 组织生产并承担风险的能力 |
6. Opportunity Cost | 机会成本
Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative that you give up when making a choice. It is not simply the money spent; it is the benefit lost from the option not chosen. For example, if a student spends one hour playing video games instead of studying, the opportunity cost is the higher test score that could have been achieved. This concept helps us understand the true cost of every decision.
机会成本是指做出选择时所放弃的次优替代选项的价值。它不只是花掉的钱，而是未选选项所失去的收益。例如，一名学生花一小时玩电子游戏而不是学习，机会成本就是原本可以获得的更高考试成绩。这个概念帮助我们理解每一个决策的真实代价。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Opportunity cost | 机会成本 – 次优选择被放弃后的损失 |
| Next best alternative | 次优替代品 – 放弃的选项中价值最高的那个 |
| True cost | 真实成本 – 包含货币和非货币代价的总和 |
7. Specialisation and the Division of Labour | 专业化和劳动分工
Specialisation occurs when individuals, firms or regions concentrate on producing a narrow range of goods or services. The division of labour breaks a production process into small, separate tasks performed by different workers. These ideas raise productivity and quality, but they can also make work repetitive. Adam Smith famously illustrated this using a pin factory example.
专业化是指个人、企业或地区集中生产较窄范围的商品或服务。劳动分工则是将生产流程分解为若干小任务，由不同工人完成。这些思路能提高生产率和质量，但也可能使工作变得重复。亚当·斯密曾用别针工厂的例子著名地阐释了这一点。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Specialisation | 专业化 – 专注于生产某一特定产品 |
| Division of labour | 劳动分工 – 将工作分解为专门的任务 |
| Productivity | 生产率 – 单位投入的产出量 |
8. Markets and Money | 市场与货币
A market is any arrangement that brings buyers and sellers together to exchange goods or services. This can be a physical place like a shopping centre, or an online platform. Money serves as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and a standard of deferred payment. Without money, economies would rely on barter, which is far less efficient.
市场是将买卖双方聚集到一起交换商品或服务的任何安排。它可以是一个实体场所如购物中心，也可以是一个线上平台。货币充当交换媒介、计价单位、价值贮藏和延期支付标准。没有货币，各经济就得依赖以物易物，效率会低得多。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Market | 市场 – 买卖双方互动的机制 |
| Barter | 以物易物 – 不使用货币的直接交换 |
| Functions of money | 货币的职能 – 交易媒介、计价单位等 |
9. Supply and Demand | 供给与需求
Demand is the quantity of a product that consumers are willing and able to buy at different prices, usually falling as price rises. Supply is the quantity that producers are willing and able to offer for sale, generally rising with price. The interaction of supply and demand determines the market price and quantity traded. A quick memory tip: 'Demand downward, supply upward' — imagine the two curves on a graph.
需求是消费者在不同价格下愿意且能够购买的产品数量，通常随价格上升而下降。供给是生产者愿意且能够提供销售的产量，一般随价格上升而增加。供给与需求的相互作用决定了市场价格和交易量。一个速记小窍门：“需求向下，供给向上”——想象图像上的两条曲线。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Demand | 需求 – 消费者在特定价格的购买意愿 |
| Supply | 供给 – 生产者在特定价格的销售意愿 |
| Equilibrium price | 均衡价格 – 供给量等于需求量的价格 |
10. Economic Decisions and Systems | 经济决策与体制
Every society must choose how to answer three fundamental questions: What to produce? How to produce? For whom to produce? The answers depend on the economic system. In a market economy, decisions are made by individuals and firms. In a command economy, the government decides. Most real-world economies, including the UK and China, are mixed economies that combine both market forces and government intervention.
每个社会都必须回答三个基本问题：生产什么？如何生产？为谁生产？答案取决于经济体制。在市场经济中，决策由个人和企业做出。在计划经济中，由政府决定。大多数现实世界的经济，包括英国和中国，都是混合经济，结合了市场力量与政府干预。
| Key Term (English) | 中文术语与解释 |
|---|---|
| Market economy | 市场经济 – 由价格机制引导资源配置 |
| Command economy | 计划经济 – 由政府集中做出经济决策 |
| Mixed economy | 混合经济 – 市场与政府共同发挥作用 |
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