The Flaws of Age Discrimination

1. The British employment laws have encouraged younger people to value the wisdom that age and experience brings - often confounding their prejudices and establishing a new respect and friendship that bridge the age-gap. There is also a measurable change in the recognition of age-linked capability. "60 is the new 40" people are fond of saying. And it's true. Given better health, education and opportunity, the middle-aged are far more ambitious, adaptable and teachable than they used to be, just a generation ago.

2. In the case of ageism, there must be very few who would want to return to that old workplace atmosphere, in the UK, where the over 40's lived in permanent fear of redundancy, just because their boss might feel one morning that they were past their 'sell by date'. That was a type of institutionalized, bullying behaviour, and was certainly a stress factor to the employee involved. Also fear itself is known to inhibit performance out of all proportion to the actual risk and a constant mood of apprehension would certainly impact upon both team and individual productivity. But if the UK can claim to be at the forefront of anti-ageism, I can assure you that some profoundly mixed messages can come out of the whole ageism agenda. Take the selection of TV news presenters. The television stations have to achieve ratings based on viewer choice, so it is possible to argue that the bias in favour of young, female newscasters is justified, as it's clearly an appearance-based role.

3. Sometimes it appears that it may soon become an offence to remunerate people in respect of their valuable experience and qualification! I certainly hope not. A job should be given on the person's ability to do it - whether the applicant is 20 or 60, a slim young female with a pretty face or a middle-aged man with a moustache. The person specification should relate closely to the criteria of the job specification.

7. Определите, являются ли приведенные ниже утверждения (1, 2, 3)

а) истинными (true)

б) ложными (false)

в) в тексте нет информации (no information)

1) The British employment laws have improved peace of mind.

2) It never appears that it may soon become an offence to remunerate people in respect of their valuable experience and qualification!

3) Ageism leads a person to a stress.

8. Прочитайте абзац 3 и ответьте письменно на следующий вопрос:

What are the criteria to be given a job?

Контрольная работа №2 Вариант №1

1. Переведите письменно существительные (1-10). Выберите определения

(a – j), соответствующие существительным:

1) commerce	a) the activity of buying, selling, or exchanging goods within a country or between countries
2) trade	b) a country or area that is under political control of a more powerful country
3) import	c) the people who live in the same area, town, etc.
4) colony	d) the sale of goods in shops to customers for their own use
5) equipment	e) the buying and selling of goods and services
6) currency	f) very large shop
7) community	g) place where you buy things
8) retail	h) the system or type of money that a country uses
9) shop	i) the tools, machines, clothes etc. that you need to do a particular job
10) supermarket	j) a product that that is brought from one country into another

2. a) Выполните КОПР № 2, 3.

б) В следующих предложениях подчеркните глагол-сказуемое, определите его видовременную форму и залог. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

1) Japan’s growth is becoming much less dependent on exports.

2) The end of Britain’s supremacy was hastened by an unhappy combination of economic circumstances.

3) The value of goods and services can be measured in money.

3. a) Выполните КОПР № 1.

б) В следующих предложениях подчеркните герундий и инфинитив. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

1) American consumers cannot keep spending more than they earn.

2) Tracing the complex flows of funds is often difficult.

3) Congress failed to approve a proposal that the two countries normalize trade relations.

4. a) Выполните КОПР № 1.

б) Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения. Помните, что инфинитивные обороты часто соответствуют придаточным предложениям.

1) Russia’s population is expected to fall by 22 % between 2005 and 2050.

2) Insurance companies consider manual workers to be high risk.

3) Price rises are likely to exceed the authorities objective substantially.

5. Прочитайте и устно переведите на русский язык весь текст. Перепишите и письменно переведите абзацы 1, 3.