Loneliness

Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.

Mother Theresa

Pre - reading task

1. How many friends do you have? Are you surrounded by a large circle of people?

2. Can sociable people feel lonely?

3. What is the best way to fight loneliness?

Loneliness is not the same as being alone. A person can be just as lonely in a group of people as when home alone. And those who choose solitude may never be lonely. Rather, loneliness is a feeling of being uncon­nected with other people, of wanting to be with someone who isn't there, of having no one to turn to who can affirm one's essential human qualities. Dr. Robert Weiss, a sociologist at the University of Massa­chusetts in Boston, has identified two aspects of loneliness: emotional loneliness, marked by an absence of an intimate at­tachment, such as a love relationship or a marriage; and social loneliness, characterized by the absence of a community or network of friends to whom one feels attached.

According to Dr. Weiss, people need both emotional and social attachments to prevent loneliness; one cannot compen­sate for the lack of the other. Thus, a happily married woman with small children who is socially isolated is likely to feel lonely because she lacks friends. And someone involved in a bad mar­riage may not be lonely if the marriage provides a strong con­nection with another person.

From time to time, loneliness afflicts nearly everyone. It is usually provoked by a lost connection with significant people in one's life, such as the death of a loved one, going away to college for the first time, or moving away from close friends. This loneliness is usually temporary and decreases with time as one makes new friends and discovers that one can still en­joy life despite the loss. But some people are always lonely, and researchers have found that chronic loneliness comes more from within indi­viduals than it does from circumstances imposed from outside. The studies show that chronically lonely people see themselves and other people quite differently from the way those who are not lonely do. They also have different expectations from rela­tionships, expectations that serve to perpetuate their loneli­ness. According to Dr. Warren Jones, psychologist at the Univer­sity of Tulusa, lonely people tend to blame their loneliness on themselves, on their personality and appearance . Thoughts such as "I'm unattractive," "I'm uninteresting," and "I'm worthless," are common themes among the chronically lonely.

In addition, "Lonely people tend not to like the people they meet and assume those people don't like them," Dr. Jones says, in explaining why the lonely have trouble making friends or forming intimate relationships. Furthermore, many lonely people lack the skills needed to establish meaningful, caring contact with another person. In conversations with potential new friends, the lonely tend to talk more about themselves, to ask fewer questions of the other person, and to change topics more frequently than a person would who is not lonely, Dr. Jones's studies showed.

But although some lonely people shy away from topics that would be self-revealing, others are too quick to reveal inti­mate facts about themselves, causing new acquaintances to back away, according to Dr. Phillip Shaver, psychologist at the Uni­versity of Denver. He says, "The lonely tend to be self-focused and self-conscious, instead of focusing on the other person. You can't start a relationship unless you consider the other person's needs."

Other studies showed that lonely people know and inter­act with as many other people as the nonlonely do, but the lonely tend to have unrealistic standards or expectations about relationships that get in the way of forming close friendships. Though searching desperately for relationships to ease their loneliness, they tend to be overly sensitive to any sign of rejec­tion and often back out of relationships because the other per­son is less than ideally accepting. Given these characteristics, the data on who is lonely may seem less surprising. Surveys have shown that the loneliest people tend to be adolescents and young adults. Contrary to popular belief, the elderly are less lonely than people in other age groups, perhaps because the elderly have more realistic expectations, reports Dr. Dan Russell, psychologist at the Uni­versity of Iowa Medical School. In the young student, Dr. Russell has found, loneliness is commonly tied to the absence of satisfying friendships; in the older student, it is determined by the absence of a romantic relationship. In the elderly, loneliness is linked not to how in­frequently they see their children and grandchildren, but to the absence of relationships with peers. Thus, an elderly widow who lives with her daughter's family may be very lonely if she has little contact with friends her own age. The chances of being lonely are greater if you're poor be­cause you don't have the money to "reach out and touch some­one" by phone, or to hire baby-sitters and go out to places where you might meet people you would like. Studies have shown that the children of divorce are more likely to be lonely as adults, and the younger the child at the time of the divorce, the greater the chances of adult loneliness. Dr. Jeffrey Young of the University of Pennsylvania has de­veloped a specific therapy program for very lonely people that starts by focusing on the negative thought processes that per­petuate loneliness. He encourages people to stop blaming them­selves for their loneliness. He also encourages them to find a solitary activity that they enjoy so they can learn not to fear being alone and instead take pleasure in solitude. "The problem today is not that relationships are impossible, but that they take more initiative than they used to," Dr. Shaver said. "Also, people are much more idealistic about what a rela­tionship should provide."

solitude - самотність

attachment – прив’язаність

network - мережа

isolated – [ a i s q l e i t I d ] – ізольований, самотній

to afflict – чинити вплив, вражати

chronic - хронічний

meaningful – виразний

to shy away – соромитись

to reveal – розкрити

peers – ровесники

Discussion.

1. Have you ever felt lonely? What made you feel lonely? What happened to make you stop feeling lonely?

2. Do you think it is possible to live alone and not to feel lonely? Why or why not?

3. Is a person who lives alone is necessarily lonely? Explain the difference between loneliness and being alone.

4. What problems do chronically lonely people have in common? What do they feel about themselves?

5. According to the article which group is the loneliest? Why?

6. The author encourages lonely people to find a solitary activity that they enjoy so they can learn not to fear being alone. What are these enjoyable solitary activities? List as many things as you can think of. Then compare ideas with a partner.

RUN YOUR WAY TO HEALTH

Pre-reading task

1. What do you do to stay fit?

2. Why do people sometimes have problems with their health?

3. Do you believe that jogging is good for your health and makes your heart stronger?

When I started running seven years ago, I could manage only about a quarter of a mile before I had to stop. Breathless and ach­ing, I walked the next quarter of a mile, then I jogged the next quarter of a mile, alternating these two activities for a couple of miles. Within a few weeks I could jog half way round Hampstead Heath without stop­ping. Soon I started to run up the quarter-mile slope to the top of Parliament Hill, although I had to stop at the top to get my breath back. Eventually I found that I could even manage to get up the hill comfortably. I started to run because I felt desperately unfit. But the biggest pay-off for me was – and still is – the deep relaxation that I achieve by taking exercise. It tires me out but I find that it does calm me down. In those early days I saw few other runners. Now there are many more – and not just the macho sports freaks. Men and women of all ages have now taken up running. Some 25,000 runners aged five to 85 are attracted each year to the Sunday Times Fun Run in Hyde Park. In the last two years the London Marathon has become the biggest British sporting event – overtaking the boat race and the Derby in the number of spec­tators it attracts. When I started to jog I never dreamt of running in a marathon, but in 1982 I realized that if I trained for it, it was within my reach, and after a slow, six-month build-up I man­aged the 26.2 miles in just under four hours. A creditable perfor­mance for a first-timer and a far cry from those days when I had to stop for breath after a quarter of a mile.

What about heart attacks?

My story shows that an unfit 39-year-old, as I was when I started running, who had taken no seri­ous exercise for 20 years, can do the marathon – and that this is a sport in which women can beat men. But is it crazy to do it? Does it make sense to run in the expec­tation of becoming healthier? What about the chances of injur­ing yourself or dying of a heart attack? I was personally convinced of the health benefits of running because I felt unfit, and I wasn't worried about the risk of a heart attack, because I was not a smoker and I was sticking to a fairly low animal-fat diet. But one person I knew well did die immediately after a jog and plenty of people told me I was mad to start running. Reassuring evidence now comes from doctors in Seattle, showing that vigorous exercise actually reduces the chances of heart attack. They found that people who had a sudden heart attack when they appeared to be completely fit had taken less exercise than those of similar age. According to their findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association it is neces­sary to take 20 minutes of vigor­ous exercise at least two or three days a week to obtain some pro­tection from heart attack. Apart from jogging, the exercise might be swimming, singles tennis or squash, digging or chopping wood. Whatever it is, the exercise should leave you out of breath. There is a small risk of un­accustomed stress causing a heart attack when a person is very unfit, but this can be reduced if exercise is always increased in easy stages. My advice is: if you are under 40, are healthy and feel well, you can begin as I did by jogging gently until you are out of breath, then walking, and altern­ating the two for about two miles. Build up the jogging in stages until you can do the whole dis­tance comfortably. At first, two or three times a week will probably be enough. People over 40 who are in any doubt about their health should see their doctor before starting an exercise programme. Over-45 should begin by making a vigorous walk of at least two miles part of the daily routine. When you can do this comfort­ably you can start the mixed jog­ging and walking routine and progress from there. You will have to expect soreness of muscles and joints to begin with. If soreness changes to pain, or if you find that you suffer from deep tiredness which you cannot shake off, then stop jogging for a while and just walk.

marathon – [m x r q T q n ] –- марафон

creditable – той, що заслуговує на довіру і повагу

vigorous – енергійний

muscles and joints – х[ m A s l z ] – м’язи и суглоби

convinced, to convince - переконаний, переконувати

freak – дивак, фанатик

Comprehension check

1. How did the author feel when he started running?

2. According to the author what are the pleasures of running?

3. How much exercising do doctors recommend to prevent a heart attack?

Discussion

1. Do you think the author’s suggestions on how to start running are sensible?

2. How fit are you? What do you do to keep fit?

3. Is it true that we have become more aware of the need to look after our health in the past few years?

4. What are some of the things we should and shouldn’t do to stay healthy? (diet, smoking and drinking, exercise, work)

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Pre-reading task

1. In what way are modern feature films (movies) different from those made at the beginning of a century?

2. What movie genre is you favorite? Do you like action movies or science fiction? Why or why not?

3. What are the reasons for the commercial success of American movies?

Most teens enjoy spending some of their spare time at the movies. And some of the most popular movies today are those in which special effects are an important element.

Although we tend to think of special effects as a recent development in movies, they've been used since the early years of movie making. The 1902 movie A Trip to the Moon, for example, included many special effects and lavish sets. By 1926 there were 20,000 theaters in the United States. This was also the time of German influence on American films. German film makers had made generous use of fantasy and myth in their films, and soon actors like Boris Karloff and films like Frankenstein, The Mummy, and King Kong were popular. Flash Gordon and Batman in the 1940s altered the direction back to space science-fiction adventure. In the 1950s and 1960s many Sci-Fi films reacted to the horrors of nuclear war. Most recently, Sci-Fi films have become more fantasy-oriented, relying heavily on special effects.

One creative use of special effects was in the classic 1933 movie, King Kong. The giant gorilla that people saw on the screen was really only eighteen inches tall. Up to six models of Kong were used so that movie audiences could thrill to Kong marching down the streets of New York or climbing up the Empire State Building. The famous scene where the screaming actress Fay Wray is held in the palm of Kong's hand was produced in a unique way. An eight-foot model of Kong's hand and arm was built with moving parts that could be raised or lowered like a crane. Kong's fingers were wrapped around Wray's waist while she was still standing. Then the hand was raised about ten feet into the air with Wray kicking and screaming. The gorilla's fingers were loosened and Wray scrambled to hold on to keep from falling.

Another remarkable fact about Kong was the head section, which was built like the arm and hand with moving parts. The head was made out of wood, metal, and cloth and was covered on the outside by bearskin. Kong's nose was two feet across, and his teeth were up to ten inches long. Three operators stayed inside Kong's head, and with the use of pneumatic levers they were able to move the mouth, lips, eyes, and eyelids for the enraptured audience. King Kong's success was based on more than special effects; it also had an interesting plot. King Kong lives on one end of Skull Island, an island inhabited by a tribe of natives and prehistoric monsters. A movie crew hears about the monsters and wants to film them. An actress (played by Fay Wray) goes along and has the misfortune of being captured by the natives. She is tied up and offered as the Bride of Kong. When Kong sees her, he immediately falls in love with her and carries her off, fighting off prehistoric monsters and the sailors who come to rescue Fay. Wray is eventually rescued, and Kong is captured and brought to New York to be displayed as a tourist attraction. He escapes, finds Wray in her hotel room, and, in a famous scene, reaches through the open window and grabs her. He begins to climb, with her, up the Empire State Building. Military planes are called out, and they fly around Kong, shooting at him from all sides. Before he falls to his death, he tenderly places Wray in a safe place – King Kong is really a tender-hearted creature, after all.

Like King Kong, The Invisible Man created a sensation. At the beginning of this 1933 film, a man arrives in a small English village. He wears a heavy overcoat, his face is wrapped in bandages, and his nose is hidden behind a small shield. He wears dark glasses over his eyes and thick white gloves cover his hands. His appearance fills the villagers with curiosity and fear as they try to figure out what lies beneath the mummylike bandages. But the Invisible Man's chief problem is not his wardrobe. He is a scientist named Jack Griffin who discovered a formula that makes him invisible. He leaves his laboratory for the small village in the hopes that he will discover a cure for his condition. Unfortunately, his experiments do not work, the new chemical he uses drives him mad, and he begins to commit a series of crimes. The police officials in the village now have a problem of amazing proportions on their hands. Not only is there a criminal loose, but he is insane and invisible. This dilemma is finally solved when Griffin is forced to hide in a barn during a snowstorm. Police surround the barn. Griffin attempts to escape, an easy task for an invisible man, but Griffin's presence is revealed to the police by footprints he leaves in the freshly fallen snow. Filming The Invisible Man presented unique challenges to the special effects team. When Griffin was wrapped up, the actor could easily be photographed. But when he removed his bandages and wore only a suit, special filming techniques had to be used. The film was made in black and white, so the special effects person had an all-black set built. Then its walls and floors were completely covered in black velvet because velvet does not reflect light. Finally, an actor was dressed in a black velvet body suit, tights, gloves, and hood. He then put on a regular suit over the velvet costume. Photographed against the completely black background, all that was visible to the camera was a suit of clothes moving about the room. This film was then superimposed on film of the regular set, with visible actors and furniture. The film combination made an invisible man appear to delighted audiences, inspiring such sequels to the film as The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Woman, and Abbot and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.

Giant gorillas and invisible men were new creations, but stories of vampires had frightened people long before films were made. Legends about vampires, creatures who leave their graves at night to nip at the necks and drink the blood of their victims, date back at least to ancient Greece. These legends spread throughout Europe, where stories of vampires and their evil deeds continued for hundreds of years. The 1897 publication of Bram Stoker's book Dracula introduced the most famous vampire of all—Count Dracula, who lived in a spooky castle filled with cobwebs, huge staircases, and cold fireplaces.

But movie audiences had to wait until 1931 for the Count to stare at them with the eyes of a hypnotist and say, "Good e-e-evening." The special effects team had to transform the Count into a bat, but credit for the movie's most famous image goes to the make-up artists and costumers who created the Count's remarkably chilling appearance. His pale face has particularly sharp white teeth, which protrude over his lips. His hands are broad, with hairs in the center of his palm. Long fine nails are cut to sharp and menacing points. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is another amazing being who just wants to be left alone – in the bottom of the swamp. The Creature, half man, half fish, is covered with scales and has gigantic claws where his fingers and toes should be. Scientists discover his existence and try to remove him from his natural habitat. Clearly, the Creature does not much like being disturbed in that way and a battle begins. This film, originally released in 1954, inspired a series of sequels, and the Creature was soon reappearing in Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956). The early Creature movies were produced in a special technique called "3-D." The purpose of this technique was to make objects on the screen look three-dimensional, more lifelike. The characters looked as if they were coming out of the screen at the audience, a wonderful effect for a monster like the Creature. The problem with this technique was that viewers had to wear special 3-D glasses, which did not always work. Sometimes they were uncomfortable, and some viewers even complained about the smell of the plastic glasses. The 3-D revolution was rejected almost as quickly as it began. New standards for Sci-Fi films were set, however, with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Costing over $10 million, the movie began a period in which special effects were more important than the story itself. Along with the visual effects, special attention was given to the music. The story itself is 'hard to follow. It begins in a prehistoric time with groups of apelike creatures. Suddenly a large, black monolith appears and gives off a humming sound. This marks the dawn of a civilization. The movie then jumps quickly to the near future. A scientist travels to the moon to investigate the discovery of another monolith. Then, in the main portion of the movie, two astronauts are piloting a spaceship to Jupiter. It soon becomes apparent that the computer on board the spaceship is not working. It kills one of the astronauts. Before the other astronaut destroys it, the computer, which talks (although it is not much of a conversationalist), reveals the reason for the mission to Jupiter—to discover the source and power of the monoliths. The film ends with the astronaut dying of old age in a luxury apartment on Jupiter. His body becomes that of a human baby floating in space. Although often criticized for its illogical plot, 2001: A Space Odyssey greatly upgraded the technological standards for Sci-Fi films. Experimental techniques were used to create special effects. A galaxy of starbursts was created by dropping dribbles of dye from an eyedropper onto a glass plate. Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi make up a trilogy of Sci-Fi films. They feature an innocent farm boy, Luke Skywalker, who travels through strange worlds, and is continually encountering conflicts between good and evil. The first conflict begins with a search through space for the beautiful Princess Leia. She has been captured by agents of the evil Galactic Empire. Her trusted robot helper, Artoo-Detoo, delivers a message to the wise old Obi-Wan Kanobi. This sets in motion the climactic battle between Obi-Wan and Lord Darth Vader, the evil side of the Force. The Star Wars films have made huge box office grosses. One reason for their popularity is their realistic quality. The film makers went to great expense for, the right locations and effects. Much of the film was shot in Tunisia, which has a desert that gives the impression of a distant planet. Scenes of Luke's hole-in-the-ground house were shot in Matmata, an African town that was built underground and is hundreds of years old. Other scenes were constructed in film studios outside London, England. The spaceships that the heroes and villains seemed to ride in were actually elaborate "toys" made for the movie in California. These "ships" were only about two feet long and couldn't even fly. Instead, a special camera moved around them. The battle was fought with laser swords that actually were made of many tiny glass beads glued to a rod. A small motor in the sword's handle turned the rod. The glass beads reflected light from a bright lamp placed over the actors. Laser-beam sword fights, giant gorillas climbing the Empire State Building, and invisible men sneaking around villages may sound incredible, but in the movies, anything is possible.

spare time – вільний час

lavish – [ l x v i S ]

sets - декорації

to loosen – [ l H s (q) n ] - послаблювати

shield - щит

background – фон, задній план