Teenagers

The age between 14 and 17 is considered to be one of the best periods in people's life. Grown-ups remember it with excitement and tenderness. But most teens wouldn't agree with this opinion if they were asked. They're sure and that's quite true that they are overwhelmed with different problems. These problems are quite serious and they can't be considered trifles. Teenagers have psychological problems which can be explained by their psychological instability. This is the reason of their strange and sometimes aggressive behavior. Their aggression can be aimed at their friends, teachers, parents and people around them. If these problems aren't solved and regulated by experienced specialists, psychologists, teachers it can lead to far more serious problems.

Drinking and drug addiction have become the most actual problems of the modern society. As for drinking, teenagers don't realize the harm it does to their health. Government surveys on all aspects of drinking have found that about 40 percent of teenagers are attracted by bright and impressive advertisements of alcohol. So, we can say that the low level of self-appraisal is the main reason of drinking and drug problem.

Teenagers are greatly influenced by social problems such as unemployment, dysfunctional families and the stress of getting into new college. They don't know how to cope with the problems which do not depend on them. They're badly prepared for their solution mentally, spiritually and even physically. If they fail, they can be driven to despair and won't find the way out without help of their families, school and some other representatives of society.

Exercise 6. Read the text and write a suitable heading to each paragraph.

GRAMMAR COMMENT

Verbs of the senses

[1, p.138]

Verbs of the senses look\feel\smell\sound\taste 1 She looks tired. That smells good! These jeans don’t feel comfortable. 2 He looks like his father. This material feels like silk. This tastes like tea, not coffee. 3 She looks as if she’s been crying. It smells as if something’s burning. It sounds as if it’s raining. Use look, feel, etc. +adjective. Use look, feel, etc. +like +noun. Use look, feel, etc. + as if + clause.

Match the two halves of the sentence.

1 That group sounds like	A her mother
2 Those boys look	B completely out of tune
3 She looks like	C too young to be drinking beer
4 That guitar sounds	D he’s run a marathon
5 He looks as if	E REM

E xercise 7. Underline the correct form.

1 Can you put the heating on? It feels/feels like really cold in here.

2 You look/look like really happy. Does that mean you got the job?

3 Your new bag feels/feels like real leather.

4 Let’s throw this milk away. It tastes/tastes like a bit strange.

5 Can you close the window? It smells/smells as if someone is having a barbecue.

Exercise 8. Write an essay to the given situation (80 words).

Think about problems which you had when you were a teenager. What do you think about them now?

Do you think that there are several ways to solve them in an appropriate way? Write some suggestions about how to improve our society by the help of teenagers.

1.Choose the right variant. The sky’s very dark. It_____there’s going to be a storm.

a) looks

b) looks like if

c) looks as if

d) looked

2.Choose the right answer. What lovely material! It_____silk.

a) feels

b) feels like

c) feels as if

d) felt

3.Choose the right variant. What does a pickpocket do?

a) drug addicted

b) plays in a casino

c) drinks alcohol

d) steals a wallet

4.Choose the right variant. My car was stolen by a ….

a) robber

b) smuggler

c) gambler

d) hijacker