Добавил:
Upload Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз: Предмет: Файл:
Textbook-1.doc
Скачиваний:
3
Добавлен:
01.07.2025
Размер:
3 Мб
Скачать
☆

10. Before discussing the article scan the text again and do the linguistic analysis outlined below.

1) Separate the author’s words from quotations given in the article.

2) Single out the words that highlight the author’s position, e.g. icon, predicament, lament, culprit, preponderance etc. Bring out their connotational meaning.

3) Write out all the nouns, adjectives and participles characterizing men and women. Group them according to their connotation. Sum up the results of your analysis and state, whether these words reflect the author’s opinion or that of the quoted publicists.

11. Discussion

1) What is the author’s criticism targeted at?

2) What recent economic and social changes have influenced the position of men?

3) The author refers to statistics concerning boys’ performance at school. Do you think it has anything to do with their future and the role they play in social life later? Does performance at school prove anything? Why do you think girls often study better?

4) What do you think is the most common cause of the recent breakdown of marriage/ family life? Give evidence to prove your point of view.

5) Comment on the statement that “fatherless households” have replaced “female-headed households”. Can you explain the difference? What social tendency does this shift manifest?

6) Can a single-parent family be happy?

7) What’s your attitude to cohabitation (a common-law marriage)?

8) What do you think the author means by saying that “men are emotionally illiterate, and women are not”?

9) How can you account for the fact that full-time working women in America still earn, on average, only 72% of the wages men receive? Does it have anything to do with gender discrimination?

10) Do you think that the social status of men is really a problem or is it far-fetched? Is “the rubbishing of men” part of Western culture? Is the situation in Russia in any way different from that in European countries and the USA?

12. Read the article MARGARET THATCHER. BIOGRAPHY (Reader) and discuss the following questions using the material of the unit.

1) Compare the general tone of the given article with that of The Downsized Male. How can you account for their difference?

2) Try to class Margaret Thatcher’s marriage: marriage of convenience, marriage based on love, mixed marriage (intermarriage) etc. Give evidence from the text to prove your point of view.

3) Who is the head of the Thatcher family? Give your reasons.

4) Did their marriage offer equal opportunities to both Denis and Margaret (in terms of spiritual growth, fulfillment, social life)?

5) How did Margaret’s feminist views affect her own family life?

6) Collect all epithets the author uses to describe Denis and Margaret and define what kind of a partner each of them made.

7) Comment on the caricatures of Denis in The Private Eye and other tabloids. Was their attitude just and grounded?

8) What do you think made their marriage successful: mutual love, compromise, forgiveness or something else?

9) Do you think Margaret Thatcher’s marriage contributed a great deal to her political career? Give facts to support your opinion.

Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]