1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

PHILOSOPHY

Most people have an idea of what is right and what is wrong, and why things are the way they are, and who they are and who to trust. Philosophers want to know the truth about life for themselves and spend their time studying, thinking and asking questions.

The first western philosophers lived in Greece. They encouraged people to find their own answers to questions about life instead of believing the Gods did everything. Socrates was the most famous of these. He is one of the most famous philosophers in the world, yet he said: “One thing I know an4 that is that I know nothing.” This is why he never wrote or lectured. He only discussed. He did not believe he could tell anybody anything, that it was better to encourage individual thinking.

Today philosophers are still encouraging people to think. Schools in some countries teach philosophy to children. Reading books written by old philosophers can be difficult because the language is from the past. So stories are used to help schoolchildren make their own decisions about what is right and wrong and think about the best way to solve problems.

Integrity

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Why do we need philosophy? There are plenty of people who think that killing animals is cruel, but eating animals is fine. If you are one of these people, you should ask yourself why. Why is killing animals cruel? Why is it okay to eat animals? You might find that the answer to each question is very different and you could have an argument by yourself using your own ideas! Go on and argue — you will understand. You will begin to understand the subject more deeply. And this helps you to feel comfortable with it. When we ask ourselves questions, we start to understand ourselves and our lives, and it’s up to us to make changes or not. If the ideas in your head agree, this means you have integrity*. What you say and what you do are the same. Everyone respects someone who has integrity!

By thinking and questioning, we can understand more and maybe prevent problems caused by misunderstanding.

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’. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

Culture shock

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prevent

Are you sure that you arc a polite person? Good manners are important across the globe, but that doesn’t mean they are the same all over the world. That’s what Marta Ingram, who is English, understood when she married Alexander, who is Russian.

When I first met Alexander and he said to me, in Russian, “Naley mne tchai — pour me some tea.” I got angry and answered, “Pour it yourself. ” Translated into English, without a ‘Couldyou?..’ and a ‘please’, it sounded really rude to me. But in Russian it was fine — you don’t have to add any polite words.

However, when I took Alexander home to meet my parents in the UK, I had to give him an intensive course in pleases and thank yous (which he thought was completely unnecessary), and to teach him to say sorry even if someone else steps on his foot, and to smile, smile, smile.

Another thing which Alexander just couldn’t understand was why people said things like, “Would you mind passing me the salt, please?” He said, “It’s only the salt, for goodness sake! What do you say if you want a real favour?”

He watched in amazement when at a dinner party in England we had to eat some really disgusting food and I said, “Mmm... delicious.” In Russia people are much more direct. The first time Alexander’s mother came to our house for dinner in Moscow, she told me that my soup needed some flavouring. After that when we argued about it my husband said, “Do you prefer your guest to lie?”

Alexander complained that in England he felt like a ‘village idiot’, because in Russia if you smile all the time people think that you are mad. In fact, this is exactly what my husband’s friends thought of me the first time I went to Russia because I smiled at everyone, and translated every ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ from English into Russian.

. What did Marta Ingram understand when she met Alexander? Read aloud the extract which says about it.

. Can you prove that the Russian and the English ideas of good manners are different?

. What sort of decision did Marta and Alexander make?

At home we now have an agreement, if we are speaking Russian, we can say “Pour me some tea”, and make just a noise like a grunt when I get it to him. But when we are speaking English he has to add a ‘please’, a ‘thank you’, and a smile.