Ignorance – [ I g n q r q n s ]

Discussion:

1. Why do you think people have allowed so many animals to become rare and endangered?

2. What is being done in your area to preserve wildlife? Do you think enough is being done? If not, what else do you think should be done? What can you do personally?

3. Do you agree with the statement that "Someday, even humans may become extinct"? Why or why not?

4. According to the author what are some causes that contribute to the extinction of animals? What might be some other causes?

5. What does the author mean by the statement, "Biologists are especially concerned that humans may simplify life on Earth too much"?

6. Explain how some farming methods have endangered wildlife.

7. Wolves have been thought of as dangerous, "bad" animals. How does the author show that wolves have good effects on the balance of nature?

Why do people emigrate?

Pre-reading task

1. Is emigration common nowadays?

2. Have you ever seriously considered emigration? Why or why not?

Many people around the world are dissatisfied with their living conditions. They suffer from poverty, discrimination, lack of education, lack of job opportunities, lack of freedom, etc. One way to try to solve these problems is to move to another country. This doesn't necessarily mean that their problems will be solved. In fact, they will encounter many new problems upon arriving in a new country, such as having to learn a new language, getting used to new customs, etc. Nevertheless, people continue to emigrate. One of their most common destinations is the United States.

It is hard. It is hard to turn the key and lock the door. Hard to leave, probably forever, the little white house in the Peloponnesian town of Argos. The little house was given to Nikki Kaffas when she married Theodosios twelve years ago, and the tears come to her eyes as she speaks of "the wonderful garden and the birds that sing all day. Now we must leave it all behind. But they tell me America is a nice place." Theodosios Kaffas is determined to make it so. A barber who had to go out of business, a restaurant cook who couldn't earn more than $300 a month, he has dreamed of going to America ever since he was a boy. Now he is 36. "Argos is a good place for those who own fields and orange trees." says Kaffas, "but the workers are better paid in America. I want a better life for my family. I want to educate my children." Victor Valles Solan, too, is greatly concerned about his children. He has five of them, and in Cuba, where he once had a small steel factory, he began to feel that they were becoming slaves of the state. "We were allowed only one liter of fresh milk every other day," says Valles, 46, "but what is more important is that every day the children learned Communist ideas in the schools and going to church was never talked about. I realize that I am going to the United States with many illusions," but for me your country is the place on earth where democracy is strongest."

Dr. Brian Pethica already knows the U.S. well, and he has no problems, political or financial. Now 49, a chemist at the Unilever Company in Port Sunlight, near Liverpool, Pethica has been crossing the Atlantic at least once a year since 1958, and he likes his job. But he wants to teach. He says, "The university system in England seems somehow less open. In the U.S. there are many different kinds of schools, which allows you to educate everyone as far as he can go. That opportunity to have a richer life is an American quality." Last week, these voyagers all left for America, just in time to celebrate their first July 4 holiday. The Kaffases, with their two children of 11 and 8, were going to Philadelphia, where Nikki's brother hopes to find Theodosios work in a restaurant. Victor Valles Solan took his family to Melrose Park, Illinois, where he has a job in a factory. Dr. Pethica was going to Potsdam, New York, where he will become a dean of the school of arts and sciences at Clarkson College. These are just a few of the new immigrants who today are entering America. Their goals are somewhat different from those of earlier immigrants. Political problems are still an important cause of immigration, but religious problems are no longer a major cause. The new immigrants do occasionally talk of getting rich, but they know this is no longer a land of gold rushes and oil discoveries. Yet they do see in America something that many Americans take for granted or even forget they possess – freedom. That means not only freedom from discrimination and hunger but also from unbreakable social class systems and ignorance. To many, America is still the promised land. The newcomers find out soon enough that the United States too has its share of poverty and prejudice, but in their eyes it is nevertheless a kind of Utopia.

determined – [d i t e r m I n d ] - рішучий, рішуче настроєний

concerned about – стурбований чимось

dean - декан

somewhat – трохи, певною мірою

gold rush – золота лихоманка

Discussion:

1. What do you feel about emigrating? What is your attitude to emigrants?

2. What’s the best reason to emigrate?

3. What is the worst problem immigrants face in a new country?

4. Under what circumstances would you advise someone to emigrate?

5. What’s the best thing about life in the US?

6. What do you think immigrants miss about their native country?

7. What would you need in order to be happy in another country?

Roleplaying: 1. Explain why you are going to leave Ukraine to your children. 2. A husband is trying to convince his wife that they should emigrate to the US. 3. After they have emigrated to the US, a husband is trying to convince his wife that they have made a mistake and should go back to their native country.

MESSAGE TO THE STARS

Pre-reading task

1. Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life?

2. Some people claim that they have seen aliens and UFO’s. Do you believe them?

Our planet Earth is one of nine planets revolving around the Sun, a fairly small and ordinary star, which lies in the outer areas of the Milky Way galaxy. There are about 250 billion stars in our galaxy and billions of galaxies in the universe. People have always wondered about the possibility of intelligent life forms on other planets. In recent years this has become serious scientific speculation. Some scientists believe that there must be large numbers of stars with planets that could support living intelligent beings. Perhaps we will never know. The nearest star is 4.3 light-years away. A light-year is the distance covered by light traveling at about 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers a second) in one year. It would take the fastest Earth spacecraft about 40,000 years to reach the nearest star. For a number of years radio telescopes have been trying to pick up signals from outer space, so far without success. There are, however, millions of possible radio frequencies, and there is no reason why a completely alien civilization should not use a different type of communication, such as X-rays or even a type of wave we have not yet discovered. Suppose contact were made with beings 300 light-years away. By the time we had sent our reply and received their response, the earth would be 600 years older. It would be an interesting, but rather slow-moving, conversation!

The first man-made object to leave our solar system was the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. It was launched from Cape Kennedy cm March 2, 1972. It was designed to pass close to the planet Jupiter. In 1983 it left the outer limits of the planetary system. A gold plaque, 6 inches by 9 inches (15.2 cm x 22.9 cm), was placed on the spacecraft. On the plaque is a diagram showing the solar system and its location in the galaxy. There is also a drawing of a man and a woman, standing in front of a picture of the spacecraft. The mail's right hand is raised in a gesture of friendship. It is unlikely, however, that the plaque will ever be seen again. If it were found by an alien civilization, it seems improbable that they would be able to interpret it.

Every 175 years the large outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - are in such a position that a spacecraft from Earth can fly past all of them. The two Voyager spacecrafts were launched in 1977 to photograph and investigate these planets. Voyager 7 reached Jupiter in February 1979, and Saturn in November 1980. It sent back dramatic pictures of the rings of Saturn and discovered previously unknown moons. It then left the solar system. Voyager 2 reached Jupiter in July 1979, Saturn in August 1981, Uranus in January 1986, and Neptune in August 1989, before leaving the solar system to travel silently through space. Its next stop-no one knows. As well as a pictorial plaque, Voyager 2 carries a gold-sprayed disc. The disc contains greetings in 60 languages, 140 photographs, and one and a half hours of music and songs, ranging in style from Beethoven and Mozart to the Beatles and Chuck Berry.

beings – гуманоїди, люди, створіння

plaque – [p l Q: k ] табличка

alien - інопланетянин

frequency – [ f r I : k w e n s I ] - частота

X-rays – рентгенівські промені

Discussion

1. If you had to put a number of articles into a spaceship capsule which could tell other civilisations about the life in the Earth what would you choose?

2. Do you think that the attempts to make contacts with extra-terrestrial civilizations are futile?

3. Why could the space exploration programs be useful while there are a lot of other important concerns on the Earth? Do you think that space exploration is worthwhile?

American dream

Pre-reading task

1. What is Arnold Schwarzenegger famous for?

2. What should a person do to become famous and rich?

I was born in a little Austrian town, outside Graz. It was a 300-year-old house. When I was ten years old, I had the dream of being the best in the world in something. When I was fifteen, I had a dream that I wanted to be the best body builder in the world and the most muscular man. It was not only a dream I dreamed at night. It was also a daydream. It was so much in my mind that I felt it had to become a reality. It took me five years of hard work. Five years later, I turned this dream into reality and became Mr. Universe, the best-built man in the world. "Winning" is a very important word. There is one that achieves what he wanted to achieve and there are hundreds of thousands that failed. It singles you out: the winner. I came out second three times, but that is not what I call losing. The bottom line for me was: Arnold has to be the winner. I have to win more often the Mr. Universe title than anybody else. I won it five times consecutively. I hold the record as Mr. Olympia, the top professional body-building championship. I won it six times. That's why I retired. There was nobody even close to me. Everybody gave up competing against me. That's what I call a winner. When I was a small boy, my dream was not to be big physically, but big in way that every­body listens to me when I talk, that I'm a very important person, that people recognize me and see me as something special. I had a big need for being singled out.

Also my dream was to end up in America. It is the country where you can turn your dream into reality. Other countries don't have those things. When I came over here to America, I felt I was in heaven. In America, we don't have an obstacle. Nobody's holding you back. Number One in America pretty much takes care of the rest of the world. You kind of run through the rest of the world like nothing. I'm trying to make people in America aware that they should appreciate what they have here. You have the best tax advantages here and the best prices here and the best products here. One of the things I always had was a business mind. When I was in high school, a majority of my classes were business classes. Economics and accounting and mathematics. When I came over here to this country, I really didn't speak English almost at all. I learned English and then started taking business courses, because that's what America is best known for: business. Turn­ing one dollar into a million dollars in a short period of time. Also when you make money, how do you keep it? That's one of the most important things when you have money in your hand, how can you keep it? Or make more out of it? Real estate is one of the best ways of doing that. I own apart­ment buildings, office buildings, and raw land. That's my love, real estate. I have emotions. But what you do, you keep them cold or you store them away for a time. You must control your emotions, you must have command over yourself.

Sport is one of those activities where you really have to concentrate. You must pay atten­tion a hundred percent to the particular thing you're doing. There must be nothing else on your mind. Emotions must not interfere. Other­wise, you're thinking about your girlfriend. You're in love, your positive energies get channeled into another direction rather than going into your weight room or making money. You have to choose at a very early date what you want: a normal life or to achieve things you want to achieve. I never wanted to win a popularity contest in doing things the way people want me to do it. I went the road I thought was best for me. A few people thought I was cold, selfish. Later they found out that's not the case. After I achieve my goal, I can be Mr. Nice Guy. You know what I mean? California is to me a dreamland. It is the absolute combination of everything I was always looking for. It has all the money in the world there, show business there, wonderful weather there, beautiful country, ocean is there. Snow skiing in the winter, you can go in the desert the same day. You have beautiful-looking people there. They all have a tan. I believe very strongly in the philosophy of staying hungry. If you have a dream and it becomes a reality, don't stay satisfied with it too long. Make up a new dream and hunt after that one and turn it into reality. When you have that dream achieved, make up a new dream. I am a strong believer in Western philosophy, the philosophy of success, of progress, of getting rich. The Eastern philosophy is passive, which I believe in maybe three percent of the times, and the ninety-seven percent is Western, con­quering and going on. It's a beautiful philosophy, and America should keep it up.

obstacle - перешкода

to single smth out – виділяти, виокремлювати

consecutively - підряд, один за одним

Discussion

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a believer in the Western philosophy which is to be active, “to conquer and go on”. How far do you agree with this statement?

2. Schwarzennegger’s dreamland had always been America where he came and made his achievements. Do you think that America offers great opportunities for such personalities as Schwarzenegger?

3. Not a long time ago Schwarzenegger managed to become the Governor of California. What in your opinion are the reasons which explain his success?

4. “After I achieve my goal I can be Mr. Nice Guy.” Do you share this idea? Why or why not?

A job interview

Pre-reading task

1. Have you been for a job interview at some time? If so, how did you feel before, during and after the interview?

2. What are some of the things that you feel create a good impression in an interview?

Do you feel terrified when you go for a job interview? I think we all feel the same way to a greater or lesser extent! Basically you have to learn to 'sell' yourself. You have to convince yourself that you deserve to get the job and, what's more, that they are lucky to get someone like you to work for them! All it takes is practice and a little confidence.

It's natural for us, during the course of the interview, to think of the reasons why we shouldn't get the job rather than why we should — for example — the qualifications aren't quite right, the job sounds far too demanding, can I take the responsibility? Have I been out of the work­force for too long? Have I got the communicative ability to cope with it? Instead of concentrating on your weaknesses, concentrate on your strengths. Instead of worrying about the fact that you're 'too old', think about all the wisdom and experience you can bring to a job which a younger person perhaps can't.

It's a good idea to spend some time trying to sort out what the employer wants. Don't go into an interview 'blind' — do some home­work. Even if the job functions seem obvious, make a list of them start­ing with the most important ones. Then under each function put down two or three things you have done that are relevant. For example, if the job calls for 'organising ability', list all the things, inside and outside of employment, that you have organised - even if it's only a local 'bring and buy' stall! If you're changing jobs, emphasise your skills and not your official title of employment. Many skills are transferable and what you must emphasise is how your skills can be transferred from one field to another. Such skills could include selling, writing and editing, speaking, organising, managing, supervising, raising money. If you think about your skills and experience and how they could be relevant to the job you're seeking, you'll feel much more prepared and confident. Talking to people, in the same or related fields, and looking through professional journals are other hints for successful preparation for the job you deserve!

Looks do count unfortunately! If you're going for a high-powered secretarial post or an important managerial job, don't wear your jeans! Wear something that you know looks good and is suitable for the type of job you're seeking. Pretend it's your first day — what would you wear? It's always the first few minutes of the interview that are worst! You could try breaking the ice by asking a general question about a book you've noticed on the interviewer's shelf. As the interview progresses, don't be afraid to ask questions about the job. For example, 'What is the day-to-day routine like?'; 'Where did the person who had the job before me go?'; 'What are the possibilities for growth and expansion'?; 'When are the busiest times?'; 'What are the biggest problems?' You can also be much more specific: 'I see your sales are up this year, can you tell me why?' Showing your knowledge reveals commitment and interest.

Remember that selling yourself means that you are in charge of what you want to communicate about yourself. You don't have to be pushy or aggressive to get your points across. The interviewer wants to hear your ideas, particularly if they reveal the way you'll approach your job. Finally, when answering the very common question, 'Why do you want this job?', try to reply with the view of your employer's needs in mind rather than your own. Talk about the job — what challenges it presents and why you are the person to handle it. Discuss your aspirations in terms of the company's growth. For example, 'I plan to be a top sales­person one day and I believe this firm will offer me the opportunity to show what I can do.' And after all this, don't be discouraged or lose confidence if you don't get the job!

to sort out – разсортувати, розібрати, навести порядок, владнати

stall – кіоск, “розкладка”

to emphasise – підкреслити, наголосити

looks – зовнішній вигляд

to break the ice – зняти усі бар’єри для спілкування

routine – [ r u : t I : n ] - розпорядок

pushy – агресивний, нав’язливий

Discussion

1. To which extent do you think personal looks matter during a job interview?

2. Do you believe that it is necessary to sell yourself at an interview? Do you think that you should hide your weaknesses and show your strongest points?

3. Does an interviewee have to tell the truth about himself/herself and nothing but the truth? Why or why not?

4. Do you think it is important to find out about a position offered as much as possible? If so, how would you do that?