Text 5. How do teenagers deal with their parents rules?

Ida, 17: I live in a strict Italian home. Sometimes my parents are really great, but their rules for me are absolutely ridiculous. So I get around them. My friends will tell you I'm a good kid. I don't drink, I don't do drugs. But my parents think that, if I've gone out on a Friday night and I ask to go out on Saturday too, I'm asking for the world. If I'm going to a big party, and I have to get all dressed up they'll say: "Fine.Go." But if I say I'm going to hang out, they don't see the point. So I lie a lot.

Christopher, 18: My parents never make their punishments stick. Like, I'll get my Jeep taken away for a week, but I'll get it back within six hours. Because my parents hate to see kids unhappy. I play right into it. They will punish me by not letting me go out, and after a while they feel bad, and they let me out. In a way, I wish it wasn't like that. I haven't learned my lessons. I've repeatedly done things that should have deserved harsh punishment - not anything like stealing a car, but still... And now that I'm going away to college, I kind of wish my parents had been tougher with me.

Matt, 18, son of a Marine colonel: When my father yells at me - and he doesn't yell, he explains - he does it the same way he will do it to a major in the Marine Corps. Very calmly and coldly, he says what he wants done. But you don't want to pass a line. He and I get along fine. His rules are set rules. You do not break them, or you face the consequences. I do not like to face his consequences. So I abide by the rules. Besides, his rules are fair. They're not overly protective or constrictive.

(1328)

Notes:

to hang out – зд. тусоваться;

a Marine colonel –полковник морской пехоты.

Text 6. Survey Showed Increasing Drug Use Among Youth

In the teenage years, parents start discussing the most important issues with their kids, such as alcohol and drugs, violent situations and AIDS, etc. Teens know that drugs do a lot of harm to their brain, lungs, memory, coordination skills. Addicts become lazy, skip school, feel depressed. Moreover, drug addiction is linked to criminal behavior. More than half of arrested juveniles tested positive for marijuana.

The Institute of Social Research at the Russian Government Academy has carried out a detailed survey to determine public attitudes and experts’ opinion towards drug taking and drug users. The results of this search were the following: the age of drug users is falling. 51% of teens say they will never use drugs. 31% say "drugs can ruin your life and cause harm".

Experts say that the highest risk category is school and university students. Teenagers also consider that it is under-18s who suffer most from drug addiction. The next group is 18-30, after which the problem almost disappears.

To the question “Where is the easiest to get hold of drugs?” experts and relatives of drug-users stated: “Mainly in markets, and then discotheques and parties for the young, and finally, in the drug pushers’ flats”. Teenagers told about first of all about the drug pushers’ flats, then parties, and finally markets. The young didn’t mention the mass media as a source of information on the dangers of drug abuse.

The absolute majority of experts believe the present situation with drug abuse is the result of the decline on morals and culture, the poor work of the health protection agencies and the explosion in crime. Young people mentioned the influence of friends who are already drug users, lack of interesting work, boredom and nothing to do, and finally too much money.

The most frightening is that half of high-school leavers have used illegal drugs at least once. Many of them start doing drugs out of curiosity or because they want to be accepted. Others find in them a way out of their problems. The drug epidemic is also encouraged by popular culture, especially by rock and rap music. In a recent study of 12- to 17-year-olds 76 % said that the entertainment industry encourages illegal drug use. They say, "Almost every song you listen to says something about it. It puts it into your mind constantly. When you see the celebrities doing drugs, it seems okay." Children receive pro-drug messages through their computers too. On the Internet, they can find detailed instructions on how to use drugs.

Relatives of drug takers expressed the view that if a member of one’s family shows signs of drug adduction; one should immediately seek specialist help. A half of respondents demand the more serious laws to fight the drug mafia. 64% of experts are categorically against the legalisation of drug use.

(2389)

Notes:

A survey – опрос;

juvenile – несовершеннолетний.