Солнцева Практический курс английского языка Ч.1 2011

тратить деньги на адвоката, я все могу сделать сама.

5. «Я больше не буду тратить на него мои слезы», сказала героиня сериала. 6.Интересно, сколько кофе она изведет, прежде чем поймет, что работать по ночам – не самая хорошая идея?

7. Мы потратили всю краску на одну стену, пришлось идти докупать.

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How should you translate sentences like this one: Я потратил два года на написание этого сценария, это была непростая работа.

Reading and Speaking: What‟s in the News?

1. In pairs. Read the headlines and opening sentences of the articles. Guess what each story is about. Then choose one article you would like to read.

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2. Read the article carefully. Use the matching task to help you with the unknown vocabulary:

Stardom has always guaranteed wealth and abundant media attention, but now, it seems, it attracts something more sinister: stalkers. Stalkers are fans whose relationship with their idol becomes obsessive: they know everything there is to know, including where the celebrities live, where they go to relax and how they spend their days. But some go even further than that. In January this year, a woman was arrested after she was found in actor Brad Pitt's Santa Monica home. She wanted to be close to him and dressed up and slept in his clothes. But this is just another list in a long list of similar cases: Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Steven Spielberg and Ricky Martin are just a few of the stars who have been targeted in recent years.

Celebrity stalking is not new, but the issue came to the world's attention in 1980 when Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon and later said: 'I was Mr Nobody until I killed the biggest somebody on earth.' The tactics used by celebrity stalkers can vary, from sending letters, to a full scale break-in of their home.

Dr Sandy Wolfson, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Northumbria, believes that the seeds of stalking are deep-rooted and that it may only take something small - like a family row - to push a potentially obsessive fan over the edge. She adds, 'When an obsessed fan becomes violent, it is because something has made them lose their grip on reality and control of what is happening around them.' However, most fans, says Dr Wolf son are levelheaded, responsible individuals.

It seems that stalking can happen to all sorts of people in all walks of life. In the UK, more than 2,500 stalking cases were brought before the courts and

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research carried out in the USA estimated that over one million women and 370,000 men were stalked each year.

A Nation of Shopaholics

It's the sort of thing men joke about in the pub. 'My wife's addicted to shopping,' they'll say, while their mates grin and nod sympathetically.

A study suggests however, that the compulsion to buy may be a growing problem, affecting as many as one in five people, and in extreme cases leading to family breakup and financial ruin.

The number of people who confess to being shopaholics has grown from fifteen percent to twenty-two percent of the population in five years. And while twenty-nine percent of women admit to being addicted, so do fifteen percent of men. Shopping is no longer simply a way of providing essentials for the family, say market researchers, to many women it is more like a hobby.

True, many people have more money to spend these days. Personal disposable income has risen by seventy-five percent in twenty years. However, what they buy is not necessarily what they can afford.

Over the same period, the number of people using credit cards has increased by four times, and consumer debt has trebled.

Spending sprees can be a symptom of serious personal problems, according to researchers who have studied the subject. There are 'revenge shoppers', who want to spite their husbands or boyfriends because they are unhappy with their relationships. There are those who need shopping trips to add excitement to their lives. Dr Helga Dittma, of the University of Sussex, believes habitual shopping - particularly for designer clothes and jewellery - is a symptom of a collapse of self-esteem. 'Addicts want not only the latest fashions, they want to feel like the

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sort of person who would normally own them, and to feel important, glamorous and loved.'

Woman banker stole €150,000 for clothes

A bank executive stole more than €150,000 from her employers and blew it on clothes and make-up to 'escape the stresses of being a working mother'. Lyne Harding hid her purchases from her husband, who had no idea of what she was doing. And she got away with it for four years, until Lloyds Bank became suspicious of the assistant branch manager and called in auditors.

Now the thirty one year-old mother of two is facing a jail sentence. A court heard that Harding would open bank accounts using fictitious names and

authorise loans of up to €15,000 a time.

Harding went on huge spending sprees, sometimes spending thousands on designer make-up in one day. The only other luxury she allowed herself was a car paid for with a cheque from a bogus account.

'It was a vicious circle. I couldn't stop spending,' she told the police after her arrest in February. 'It all started as a way of escaping the demands of a fulltime job, combined with looking after a home and two children,' she said. 'Although I had a boss, he did not take a very active part in running the bank. I dealt with almost everything, and was finding it extremely difficult.'

She awaits sentence at Southwark Crown court.

The show must go on for pop diva

Serbian pop star Goca Trzan got the shock of her life when she walked onstage for her sell-out show at the Sava Concert Hall in the capital city of her country, Belgrade.

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Imagine Goca's horror, then, when she walked out to find ... one person in the audience, sitting alone in row twenty, the middle of the auditorium. A thirty- year-old businessman had bought all the tickets for the show in order to have his own private performance. After she had initially refused to perform, her manager persuaded her to carry on with the show, on the grounds that her 'audience' had paid an estimated €20,000 for the pleasure of seeing her, and deserved value for money... and perform she did ... although it seems that tears and singing were served up in fairly equal measure during the two-hour spectacular.

It seems that the show was a big hit with her Number One fan, because at the end, he presented her with 101 roses, a diamond ring, a one-way air ticket to Switzerland ... and an offer of marriage!

3.Decide how to summarise the article. Prepare the summary. (Useful language a)

4.Work in groups with students who have read different articles. Listen to the summary of each article and then give your own opinions. (Useful

language b)

Vocabulary and Pronunciation: Words with Variable Stress

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6. Make up a story using as many words with shifting stress as possible. Ask your fellow students to read it.

Read other students‟ stories. Whose story is the best?

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3.Translate into English:

1.В ближайшее время мне придется быть очень экономным – я растратил кучу денег на совершенно не нужные мне гаджеты, и теперь я сильно нуждаюсь. Я банкрот!!!

2.Если бы ты знал, как тяжело зарабатывать деньги, ты бы не стал тратить их попусту, делая ставки на всякую ерунду!

3.В детстве я хотела стать бухгалтером или кассиром – меня всегда манил звон монет и приятное шуршание банкнот.

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Vocabulary: Collocations

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