andreeva_ln_volkovinskaia_lv_korziuk_nn_liudi_i_obshchestvo

a) Match the supporting statements with the opinions. Each opinion has two supporting statements.

1.True love is deeper than physical beauty.

2.In any relationship, people have to be understanding.

3.We were born without holes in our bodies.

4.Our bodies are gifts that we should not change or damage.

5.Phil needs to be patient. People can get used to almost anything.

6.Michelle should not be overly concerned about fashion.

b) Now compare with a classmate.

Task 4. Work in a group of three. Ask your partners.

Do you agree with Amber? Do you agree with Anton? Do you agree with Monica?

Answer for each person: I really agree /1 agree /1 disagree /1 really disagree.

SPEECH PRACTICE

Task 1. Being members of the debating club work in two teams. Try to find arguments and examples for and against the following quotation: “Natural rights are those which appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of the acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the natural rights of others…” (Thomas Paine, American political theorist and writer 1737 — 1809).

Do not forget to elect a spokesman who is supposed to coordinate debates and summarize the results.

Task 2. Think about a students’ charter for our university.

Task 3. Imagine you have been asked to advise the government on the necessity of the bill introducing an alternative military service. As one political decision often has far-reaching effects, sometimes never thought of, you are to examine possible effects. Work in groups. Then present some of your thoughts to “the government”.

Task 4. You are invited to lecture at the University about undemocratic forms of rule. Reflect on such human right abuse as censorship. The students are expected to ask you questions.

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Task 5. Role-playing. Situation: You are invited to the TV studio to discuss the problem of euthanasia, the present situation, its further development. You discuss changes in medicine, possible effects of making the process of mercy killing legal.

Role-Assignments

Student 1

You are a TV programme host. You are to lead the discussion, trying to cover all important points, helping the invited people to share their points of view.

Student 2

You are a representative of the first Hospice in Belarus. Speak about the present situation.

Student 3

You are a member of Belarusian Parliament where the problem is about to be debated.

Student 4

You are a member of the Dutch Government. Focus on the effects of the legitimating euthanasia.

Students 5, 6

You are hospice physians from the UK and the USA and familiar with the problem.

Student 7

You are a student of Medical University. You are collecting data for your course project.

Students 8, 9 ... You are ordinary citizens. You ostensibly are critical about the present situation.

WRITING PRACTICE

Task 1. Write an essay in which you discuss those freedoms that are being limited in today’s society.

Task 2. Do you believe life-support systems, respirators and feeding tubes are devices that sustain life or prolong dying? Write an essay in which you express your opinion.

Task 3. React to the following statement in an essay: “Censorship cannot eliminate evil — it can only kill freedom”.

Task 4. Write an essay: Freedom: mirage or reality?

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ACHIEVEMENT TEST

I. Give appropriate terms to the following definition.

a)the right or power to do as one wishes;

b)a minor change or addition to a document etc.;

c)breaking a law, rule, principle, rights;

d)painless killing of people who are terminally ill;

e)a reason for not accepting or not agreeing to;

f)trying to change what sb else is doing.

II. Match the synonymous pairs.

III. Choose the most suitable word to complete the sentence.

4.The UN Convention defines the right and needs of children and the duties and … of governments and other adults to children.

IV. Fill in the blanks with the proper words given below.

Recent medical advances mean that, with special (1)… women of almost any age can give birth. In most countries, this is only (2)… for women up to about 50, but in Italy until recently there were no laws to limit this, with the (3)… that several women in their sixties have given birth. Some experts remain (4)… that women of this age have the same (5)… to have children as women in their forties, provided they are mentally and (6)… fit.

Treatment, physically, right, allowed, result, convinced

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UNIT III

LAW AND ORDER

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Successful societies are those

which focus on people...

Social problems, as the words imply, are problems which concern not only society as a whole but also each of us individually. It has been possible for a man to succeed in landing on the moon and yet he has so far failed to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, unemployment, racism, terrorism etc.

Crime, violence, drugs... what are the forms of young people’s reaction to all these problems?

To encourage you to speak, start with one-minute talk, choosing any of the points below:

what I know about social problems

the most serious social problems my country faces

TV programs on social problems I watch

what I read in the newspapers about social problems.

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VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

Task 1. Study the following words, add missing words of the same family.

Word-Form Chart

Task 2. Arrange the following words

a) close in meaning,

offender, to protect, aggressive, be convicted, to result in, agreement, engaged, adolescent, to depend on, to defend, staggering, be charged, severe, consent, to mutilate, minor, to hinge on, criminal, shocking, violent, stern, to ensue, to cripple, involved

b) opposite in meaning.

of age, worthwhile, guilty, decrease, result in, attractive, innocent, retribution, to curb, safe, to shatter, minor,, to lead to, reward, disgusting, to restore, dangerous, worthless, to get out of control, to increase.

Task 3. Match the terms with their definitions.

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Task 4. Fill in the blanks choosing the appropriate word from the following list.

Worsen, legalize, carry, “soft”, opposed, Dutch, authorities, special, approach, sell, abuse, heroin.

In the Netherlands, people are allowed to (1), small amounts of (2) drugs such as cannabis for their personal use. However, only (3) cafes licensed by local

(4) are allowed to (5) these drugs. The (6) government believe that this (7) has helped to control the (8) of “hard” drugs, sucn as (9). Similar attempts to (10) cannabis in other countries have been (11) by those who believe that this would (12) the drug problem.

Task 5. Translate from Russian into English:

В штате Калифорния в США недавно ввели закон, по которому любой осужденный за три самых незначительных преступления автоматически приговаривается к 25 годам тюремного заключения. Это привело к пожизненным заключениям за очень небольшие преступления, как например кража пиццы. В Европе некоторые политики хотели бы последовать калифорнийскому примеру в надежде уменьшить преступность.

READING PRACTICE

T E X T 1

Pre-reading Activity

Task 1. Before you read the text give your opinion on the following.

a)What’s the law?

b)Are laws necessary and why?

c)What are laws made for?

Task 2. Discuss your answers in pairs.

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Reading Activity

(!) Read the text to find the answers to the above questions.

YOU AND THE LAW

If every person on earth were a hermit and had no contact with other people, there would be no need for laws. Fortunately, human beings live in social groups. This helps each person in the group live a better life. But this also means that people must work and cooperate with each other. Unfortunately, it seems that some people in society behave in antisocial ways. Some individuals are irritable, some angry, some selfish, some aggressive and some violent. These hostilities may be turned against other persons or groups in society. Laws are made to protect people from the “bad” actions of others . In effect, the idea of law is to put limits on people’s greed, drives and emotions. As individual, we all have certain freedoms and rights. Sometimes, for the protection of society, the law places limits on the rights. As a famous judge once pointed out, ”Your right to swing your fist ends at the point where the other fellow’s nose begins”.

Imagine for a moment what your world would be like without laws. None of your possessions would be safe — your radio, television, stereo player, bicycle or even your clothes. Someone bigger, stronger or faster could take them from you. Even your person could not be safe from attack. The law of the jungle, “might makes right”, would take over.

We may not always agree with the laws we live by. In fact, we may not always know what the laws are. However, we are expected to live by these laws. Ignorance is no real excuse and no guarantee against being charged. If we feel that a certain law is unfair, we have the right to appeal it or work to change it. We do not have the right to break it.

Laws basically exist to maintain order and stability. The most obvious function of the law is social control. Other functions include dispute settlement, innovation or social engineering and allocations of goods and services. Modern law in Western societies is adapted to a market society that puts high value on freedom to buy and sell.

Post-reading Activity

Task 1. Compare the answers from the text with the ones you gave before reading.

Task 2. Are you a law-abiding person? Give the reasons why you think so. Would you do something against the law? (what? why?)

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Task 3. Skim this information to figure out your eventual behaviour in the same situation as described.

Would you hand in a windfall?

How honest are you? A local businessman who recently stumbled on* a briefcase containing more than $ 2,500 in cash handed it straight in to police. The owner, a shopkeeper, was so relieved he gave the man a $ 100 reward.

Would everyone else be as honest if the same thing happened to them?

It depends how much was in it. If it was a lot of money, say $10,000, then I would take it to the police. But if it was not so much I would probably be very tempted to keep it.

I would take it to the police station.

I think you would just think to yourself what if it this happened to you and lost a lot of money.

I would definitely take it to the police station. I am an honest person. It would never occur to me to do anything other than that.

I would be very tempted to keep it, but I think I would probably have to hand it in, so there was no comeback*.

It could be anything — something dodgy*.

Notes: windfall: an unexpected gift of money, piece of good luck etc.; comeback: (here) trouble that comes later; stumbled on: found by chance; dodgy: dishonest (slang).

Task 4. Try to recollect some similar episodes you read about (heard of) or speak on your personal experience.

T E X T 2

Pre-reading Activity

Task 1. Answer the following questions.

1.Is it easy to be young? Give your reasons why? (why not?)

2.What legal right does a teenager have in our country?

Reading Activity

Task 1. Scan and analyse the guide of what you can do from the ages of 10 to 21 in Britain.

WHAT A TEENAGER CAN DO IN BRITAIN

Age 10: Be convicted of a crime. If convicted of homicide be detained “during Her Majesty’s pleasure”.

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Age 12: Buy a pet.

Age 13: Get a part-time job but not for more than two hours on a school day or a Sunday.

Age 14: Go into a pub but not buy or drink alcohol there. Own an unassembled air gun.

Age 15: Open a Girobank account with a guarantor.

Age 16: Leave school. Work full-time. Marry with parental consent. Ride a moped. Join the armed forces with parental consent (boys). Drink cider, beer or wine with meal in pub or restaurant. If you leave home the law is

unlikely to enforce your return.

Age 17: Drive most vehicles. Buy or hire any firearm and ammunition. Join the armed forces with parental consent (girls).

Age 18: Vote.

Be dealt with by adult criminal courts. Make a will. Own a house, apply for a mortgage. Apply for a passport. Open a bank account without a parent’s signature.

Join the forces without parental consent. Donate your body to science. Age 21: Be an MP. Drive a heavy goods vehicle.

Task 2. Skim an additional text “On a fast road with no map”(p.141) and say what legal rights a teenager has and if they give helpful guidelines for a youngster’s life.

Post-reading Activity

Task 1. Are these sentences true or false according to the information you read.

Teenagers have strong feelings about their rights.

At the age of 17 you can fight in a war but not vote.

At 17 one can’t be tattooed.

At 16 one can’t work full-time.

The legal frame work is inconsistent and ambiguous.

Task 2. What do you think.

a)When is child no longer a child?

b)Do adults in general and parents in particular always know best?

c)Do Belarusian adolescents have similar legal rights as their British peers?

d)Why should teenagers’ legal rights be discussed and thought through?

e)What really annoys you in legal rights you have (haven’t)?

Task 3. Make a similar guide to the teenagers of Belarus.

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T E X T 3

Pre-reading Activity

Task 1. a) Look up the meaning of the following words and learn them.

Abyss (n), astute (a), augmentation (n), cripple (v), curb (v), evanescence (n), minor (n), retribution (n), shatter (v), staggering (a), stern (a), strive (v), subsequently (adv), hinge on (v), warrant (n).

b)Give your own sentences with these words.

c)Explain the meaning of these phrases: drug doom; crime boom.

Task 2. Answer the following questions.

1.Can you define the term — delinquency?

2.Are you aware of juvenile delinquency problem in Belarus?

3.What are the causes of this phenomenon?

4.What solutions do you find realistic?

Reading Activity

Task 1. (!) Read the article bellow and think of a caption to it.

The society of the Republic of Belarus has a pile-up of problems that require a great deal of efforts to be solved. Juvenile delinquency is one of the urgent problems of Belarus. As any social phenomenon it has its own peculiarities, causes and ways of solution.

The problem of juvenile delinquency in today’s Belarus includes a lot of “subproblems”. The most important of them are: street violence, drug abuse, and involvement of minors in the organized crime. A whole bunch of articles on mugging by teenagers appears in press today. About 60 percent of all assaults on the streets involve minors. The dangerous increase of the rate of this crime committed by the teenagers may lead to the establishment of relations among people based on regular and fierce display of power.

Drug abuse is another serious problem to be dealt with without delay. About 50 % of all drugs sold today in Belarus are consumed by teenagers. Last years Belarus has plunged into the abyss of the “drug doom.” Subsequently, it resulted in a significant increase of all other crimes, one of the most dangerous of which is organized crime.

It is widely known that Mafia recruits its members among teenagers engaged in street or neighbourhood gangs. To shatter or at least to deal a

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