Text 2: Michael Fay’s Caning

On May 5, 1994, Michael Fay, a 19-year-old American living in Singapore, received a caning (four whippings by a stick on his bare bottom) as punishment for a crime he committed. The crime: spray-painting graffiti on cars. In the United States, news of the lashings received both support and criticism. Many people who were fed up with violence and crime felt the lashings were a good lesson for Fay and other young people involved with crime. Other people felt the lashings were a cruel form of justice and that because Fay was an American, he should have been sent back to the United States to receive punishment.

(By Sarah Fenske and Tram Kim Nguyen – from “The Plain Dealer”)

Opinion 1

(1) Ages ago, Socrates wrote of the implied contract. This is the idea that if one voluntarily chooses to live in a country, one has the duty to obey that country’s laws and accept its jurisdiction. If you don’t intend to follow through on this contract, you have no business living there.

(2) When Fay chose to live in Singapore, he made the unspoken decision to obey its laws and accept its punishments. When Fay blatantly broke the law, he could expect to receive the harsh punishments that Singapore is known for. As a resident, it was clearly his duty to accept it. His very presence in the country indicated his agreement to receive what the government decreed, no matter how unusual.

Opinion 2

(1) Caning and other methods of corporal punishment do not have a place in our culture, where cruel and unusual punishment is deemed unacceptable. The most evident proof of the failure of violent punishments to deter crime is the death penalty. Death sentences have not mitigated the crisis of teeming prisons and a society of victims. Even the phrases death by electrocution and death by injection sound absurd and incongruous with modern society.

(2)Those who propose such violent methods to end teen crime are setting a precedent whereby younger children will learn the twisted idea that violence is acceptable and ends justify the means.

English phrasal verbs

PHRASAL VERB	DEFINITION	TRANSLATION
1. look after smb./smth.	to take care of smth.; to be responsible for smth.	ухаживать, присматривать за к.л., заботиться о к.л.
2. look (a)round	to look in different directions	оглядываться вокруг, озираться
3. look at smb./smth.	to turn the eyes so as to see smth.	смотреть на ч.л.
4. look back to/on smb./smth.	to remember	вспоминать прошлое, оглядываться назад
5. look down on smb./smth.	to despise smb.; to have a low opinion of smb.	презирать к.л., смотреть свысока на к.л., быть невысокого мнения о к.л.
6. look up to smb./smth.	to respect/admire smb.; to have a high opinion of smb.	уважать к.л., восхищаться к.л., быть высокого мнения о к.л.
7. look for smb./smth.	to search; to try to find	искать ч.л.
8. look forward to smth.	to expect with pleasure	с нетерпением ждать ч.л.
9. look into smth.	to examine; to investigate	расследовать, изучать (вопрос)
10. look on a looker-on = an onlooker	to watch while others take part	наблюдать, ничего не предпринимая, быть сторонним наблюдателем
11. look on/upon smth.	to consider smth.; to regard smth.	рассмаривать ч.л. как ч.л., считать что-либо чем-либо
12. look out look out for smb./smth.	to take care of smth. to watch in order to see/find smb./smth.	быть настороже высматривать, выискивать
13. look over/through smth.	to examine (esp. some points) quickly	изучать, рассматривать ч.л., проверять; быстро просмотреть
14. look up look up smth.	to improve to find information (in a book)	улучшаться смотреть по справочникам, словарям

Exercise 1: Fill in the gaps in the sentences with the correct preposition or particles from the table above. Some of the preposition and particles can be used twice.

1. She looks ………. ………. her father and wants to follow in his steps.

2. Our mother always looks angrily ………… the mess in our room.

3. I’m really looking ……………… ……..your party.

4. Look …………. this word in the dictionary.

5. Who looks …………..the baby when the parents are out?

6. I looked ………….the plans yesterday, but I didn’t study them in detail.

7. I look ……………. ………. receiving your reply as soon as possible.

8. Look …………..! There’s a car coming!

9. I can look ……..myself.

10. This report looks ………..the causes of unemployment.

11. Most graduates start looking ………… jobs in autumn, not in summer.

12. Trade often looks ………….. in spring.

13. He looks ………. ………. his housemaid and cook. In their turn, they hate him and discuss his private matters behind his back.

14. I look ………… …………… those days as the happiest time in my life.

15. We can look ………… a fire for hours.

16. Most people look ………. the government’s promises with complete disbelief.

17. She enters the building of the bus station, looks …………. and sees her sister.

18. When the police receive a complaint, they look ………….. it.

19. Look …………….. this proposal and tell me what you think.

20. Help us with the luggage! Don’t just look …………!

21. Go and look ……… ………… your aunt at the station!

22. Women are tired of employees who look ……….. ………… them and prefer to hire men.

23. The police and the villagers are out in the forest looking ………… the missing children.